Posted on 05/06/2026 3:00:43 AM PDT by cotton1706
Jennifer Erie had planned to spend 20 years working in foreign public service. Instead, her 17-year career ended abruptly when the overseas public health office she led was dismantled.
Seven months later, back home in Prince George’s County, she has submitted more than 250 job applications — and landed just two interviews. “It was such a shock to my system,” Erie told The Baltimore Sun in a phone interview. “I have so much trauma. …This came out of nowhere, and I was unprepared.”
Her experience reflects a broader strain across Maryland, where a wave of federal layoffs, layered onto an already cooling job market, has left thousands struggling to find stable, comparable work.
snip
For 15 years, Erie directed U.S. Agency for International Development public health programs in Thailand, overseeing efforts to prevent outbreaks of diseases such as malaria and AIDS. Within months, by September, her 100-person regional office was eliminated.
Since returning to Capitol Heights in June, Erie — who holds a master’s degree in international development — has applied across sectors, including for lower-paying roles outside her field, with little success.
“I get ghosted by so many: private companies, federal agencies, local and state offices,” she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
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Agreed…. And she wonders why she can’t get a job here….treating aids in Thailand? Go to Thailand!
In the immortal words of somebody or other, she should learn to code.
Given what’s been happening to older software people under the H1B flood, I find it difficult to shed a tear for government bureaucrats.
It takes time to find a job!
“master’s degree in international development”
What? There aren’t thousands of jobs available in that field?
One day they will look back and think -— “Damn! That Fed job was the best I ever had. What a scam-a-lama-ding-dong it was!”
100-person regional office
________________
Yes, Thailand seems to be country of some means, they should be able to take care about all that themselves.
And why 100! people?! to work on this in DC?
“master’s degree in international development”
I am sure she did NOT have to pay in one thin dime. That all her university expenses were paid by USAID.
So learn a real life practical life skill and do something productive with your life instead of suck off the government teat.
No sympathy.
They rode the gravy train long enough.
No employable skills, totally a personal problem. Long past due to make an accounting of healthy able-bodied people who have failed to add value to society to finally meet the consequences.
America should have never bene in the business of world police, world medical care and world food aid. All of that is an egregious misuse of hard-earned American income stolen in the form of taxes.
Thailand?
Federal jobs, ie., money we send to the IRS every year? I don’t care if the operation was shut down and they lost their jobs.
When Obama was elected and Fed money became scarce for funding defense contractors, Hubby’s employer was seriously impacted. DH didn’t whine; he found another position across the country.
His mother, however, DID whine that we had to leave the area. We reminded her that it was Obama’s fault, and that she voted for him. So ... sort of her fault. “Why don’t we give that nice young black man a chance?” 🤮
Better put some ICE on that, they are hiring.
Federal paychecks, compared to the same job in the private sector, aren usually 150% of the same wage.
Plus, the feds pay percentage per diem,depending on locale.
“Instead, her 17-year career ended abruptly when the overseas public health office she led was dismantled.”
LOL, I love their cover stories - PUBLIC HEALTH, in this case. Probably spent 90% of her time trying to overthrow the Thai government, and, maybe the other 10% handing out condoms and abortions.
...as I say in these cases - “Learn to Pipe Wrench”.
I am sure she is very qualified to work behind the counter at Starbucks.
Seriously, this lady is getting a reality check.
She will need to move or get a totally different type of job.
My brother worked in DC at the VA after graduating college forty years ago.
He left after a year because he was told that if you worked for the Federal government in DC for two years nobody in the area would want to hire you.
This is because the private sector around the DC area knew you were a lazy slug.
There were exceptions to this like the FBI and a few other Justice department jobs. Generally though, anyone who works for the Federal government in the DC area long term is going to have a tough time finding employment in the private sector. Especially in that area.
““I count every penny,” she told The Sun. “I’m not contributing to the economy like I would be otherwise.””
There are these chemicals in plants, call anti-nutrients. What they do is literally pull nutrients out of the human body when consumed. It’s one of their self-defense mechanisms and it’s one of the reasons that I try to minimize my eating of plants.
In the quote above, she would be NOT be “contributing”, but rather she is an anti-contributor, meaning she’s helping to drag-down our economy, simply by doing her government job. Like anti-nutrients, it’s best if they’re kept far, far, away from power.
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