Fostering a Culture of Belonging for Early Career Professionals at NOAA

NOAA’s Professional Early career Engagement Roundtable (PEER) Employee Resource Group (ERG) was launched in October 2022 and is the first group to be established at the agency focused on early career development. PEER is unique in that it expands the scope of “early career” to individuals beyond just finishing school and starting their careers to include professionals that are new to civil service, new to NOAA, had a career change, or want to brush up on transferable skills. Ultimately, the goal of the group is to foster a welcoming network across the NOAA line and staff offices for any individual who associates as an early career professional to network and discuss topics related to career development.

This presentation will summarize the efforts the PEER ERG has undertaken over the past several years to advance NOAA’s strategic efforts to deepen workforce equity, inclusion, accessibility, and belonging within the agency and across the Weather, Water, and Climate Enterprise. It will specifically discuss high-profile activities conducted by PEER addressing key interests of the early career workforce, including burnout, recruitment of next-generation of public sector professionals, mentoring, and as well as the development of transferable skills. In addition, future directions for PEER can expand its impact by partnering with other federal and non-profit organizations will be highlighted.