Billionaire Elon Musk wants ‘high-IQ’ task force workers, but the pay is zero

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and now tasked with helping Donald Trump’s administration slash government spending, is asking super smart people to come work for him — but only if they can afford to work for free.
Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who were named to lead of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the incoming Donald Trump administration, put out a call for volunteers on Musk’s X platform this week, using the official DOGE account to ask for “super high-IQ small government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.”
We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE. We don’t need more part-time idea generators. We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting. If that’s…
— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) November 14, 2024
The statement thanked the “thousands of Americans” who have already expressed an interest in joining DOGE. It continued by asking those who resonate with the job description to send the X account a direct message with their resume, and promised that “Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
Musk followed up the post, using his own personal account, to confirm that the position “will be tedious work, make lots of enemies & compensation is zero.”
Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lots of enemies & compensation is zero.
What a great deal! 😂 https://t.co/16e7EKRS6i
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 14, 2024
“What a great deal!” he wrote in capping off his post, using a laughing emoji.
A week after Trump’s victory, the president-elect announced the pair would lead DOGE, calling the concept “‘The Manhattan Project’ of our time,” which refers to the U.S.-led research program during the Second World War that sought to create the nuclear bomb, which killed an estimated 214,000 people in Japan in 1945.
The department, which is not part of the federal government, appears to be a response to Musk’s promises to reduce federal bureaucracy by a third and cut US$2 trillion from U.S. government spending.
pic.twitter.com/4K0ruu7UMS
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2024
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Earlier this week, Trump announced the appointment, saying: “Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies – essential to the ‘Save America’ movement.”
Intense labour demands appear to be part of Musk’s M.O.; when he bought Twitter in 2022, he warned existing employees to be “extremely hardcore” in their work ethic or leave the company. He also warned that they’d have to work “longer hours at high intensity.”
Musk, one of Trump’s most prominent boosters (financially and otherwise) on the campaign trail, has been glued to the president-elect’s side since last week’s victory. In return, he’s been appointed to DOGE alongside Ramaswamy, a former GOP presidential candidate and steadfast Trump supporter.
It is unknown so far how DOGE will operate or how many people will be employed — or asked to work for free — on the project.