"Work 80 Hours a Week Unpaid, Super IQ Welcome"…Musk Starts Hiring for Government Efficiency Department

Official Job Posting on the Ministry of Government Efficiency's X Account

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, who is set to take the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the upcoming Donald Trump administration, has begun recruiting team members willing to work with intense passion and high effort alongside him.

The official social media account for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) posted a job announcement on X (formerly Twitter) on the 14th (local time), saying, "We sincerely thank the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping DOGE."

AFP Yonhap News

The account stated, "We no longer need people who work part-time and only come up with ideas," adding, "We need 'small government revolutionaries' with super high IQs who can work more than 80 hours a week on boring cost-cutting tasks."

On the same day, Musk confirmed the recruitment on his X account, saying, "It will actually be boring, make many enemies, and compensation is zero. How wonderful is that?"

The Department of Government Efficiency's X account has surpassed 1.3 million followers, and the job posting has nearly 8.5 million views. The account also requested applicants to send their resumes via direct message (DM), stating, "The top 1% of applicants will be personally reviewed by Elon and Vivek." Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur-turned-politician who once competed against Donald Trump in the Republican primary, is expected to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency alongside Musk.

Musk is already well-known in the industry as a demanding boss. According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), during the early days of his Twitter acquisition in 2022, Musk sent an email to employees stating, "You must work intensely and for long hours," and told those unwilling to do so to leave the company with severance pay. In an interview with the media in early 2023, Musk revealed that 6,000 employees, or 80% of the workforce, were laid off.

The specific roles and legal status of the Department of Government Efficiency have not yet been disclosed. However, President-elect Trump has indicated that the department will operate as an advisory body outside the government, working in cooperation with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to complete its tasks by July 2026. Musk, who is leading the department, has stated that the 428 federal agencies are too large and that 99 would suffice, forecasting government spending cuts of around $2 trillion.

However, actual spending cuts are expected to be challenging. The $2 trillion reduction Musk mentioned represents about one-third of the U.S. federal government's annual spending of $6.7 trillion, making it likely to face political opposition. NBC reported that unless Congress passes legislation to establish this new department, the Department of Government Efficiency cannot become an official federal agency and will only hold the status of an advisory body.