Like much of the weather enterprise, careers within the National Weather Service (NWS) are undergoing a rapid change. Multi-disciplinary skills are becoming the norm at every level rather than a focus on niche and specific program areas. The implications are that the NWS will need to attract a workforce equipped with diverse skills, backgrounds, and perspectives in order to maintain its role as a core entity within the broader weather community. 

To achieve this tall order, the broad career field within the NWS is rapidly advancing to align with the pace of change in the technology going in and coming out of the agency. As the primary duties and responsibilities of each position within the NWS changes, so too must the applicant pool of future agency leaders.

This session will feature a series of panelists focused on the broad range of career options, locations, and paths within the NWS to assist in recruitment and retention of personnel that will help meet the ever-increasing demands from its constituents and catapult the agency forward into the latter half of the 21st century.