When Molly Hardy — the National Endowment for the Humanities’ 2024 employee of the year — was laid off in 2025 because of DOGE, she checked a box that she’d like to be considered for future employment.
In March of this year, NEH emailed Hardy to schedule a virtual interview. The agency, which lost two-thirds of its staff during DOGE cuts last year, was hiring again. The email was “affirming, but in a way that was so sick and twisted,” Hardy said.
She didn’t take the job. “It didn’t feel good, it just felt really sad.”