Last week, the United States swore in a new commander-in-chief, leaving the global development community to wonder what it will mean for our work.
With any transfer of political power comes uncertainty — but more doubt and ambiguity than ever is swirling around the incoming Trump administration when it concerns development. Since the election results were confirmed in the wee hours of Nov. 9, the most frequent question I’ve received has been: How will a Trump presidency impact global development jobs?
Whenever I am asked to make hiring trend predictions, my answer is always simple: follow the money. Where the funding goes, so too go the jobs. Predicting the funding priorities of the new administration is still mostly guesswork, but there are a few expected trends already, as well as ways to prepare for them.