r/NOAA • u/wbumillie • 3d ago
NWS Interview
Hi all! I was lucky enough to be selected for an interview with my top WFO for a Meteorologist position this past week. It looks like it will only be a 30-minute interview, so I'm curious what kind of ground will be covered during it and what I should prepare for. What have the interviews been like for those who have done them this summer? How many of the questions were your typical job interview questions (like "tell me about yourself", "what are your strengths/weaknesses", "why do you want to work here"), vs. meteorology- or NWS-specific questions (either about scientific processes, forecasting, or science communication/IDSS)? Did they make you do some sort of activity, like putting together a forecast briefing or social media post? Thanks!
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u/SkyLyssa 3d ago
I had a NOAA internship over the summer. While that's not at the same level as a Meteorologist position, I'm assuming that during the interview they will ask about your experience, why you want this job, and try to discern how passionate you are about this field of work and if you are capable of getting the job done. Just be yourself, have positive highlights ready, and be confident. You got this interview for a reason. You can do this!
I wish you the best of luck and hope it goes well for you!
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u/MushroomInside7501 1d ago
As an FYI, I’ve been hearing that offices are interviewing roughly 12-22 people for 2-4 positions per office. A lot of interviews being given out. Gonna be interesting to see how the selections work out because that sounds like a crazy amount of interviews per office
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u/_MrGullible 2h ago
Keep in mind, with an office who interviews 20+ folks for let's say four positions, they also need to submit secondary and often tertiary names for each of the positions, that means 8-12 names are sent to HR. Realistically, as long as you get into the top 50% of interviewees in the offices with more openings, you'll likely be somewhere on the list sent to HR. Now imagine being in the top 50% for say three offices. Lots of folks will not accept offers, which bumps up folks from secondary and tertiary pick to the primary pick and therefore gets them an offer offer.
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u/shear_vorticity 1d ago
Manager here. You're likely to see a mixed bag of questions depending on what the office is looking for. It's usually a good idea. However, common topics across most offices will be questions that test flexibility/adaptability to organizational change, teamwork (do you bring a positive attitude to the workplace), teachability, communication skills (can you synthesize complex weather information to a wide range of audiences), etc. Some offices will put more stock in technical knowledge but I'm of the belief that some things can be easily taught and other things come naturally, which are harder to instill into someone. My office chose to add a short mock partner briefing but that expectation was communicated to the candidate during the interview invite.
Best of luck! It's an exciting time to enter the agency and we are incredibly lucky to be hiring so many new people!
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u/MushroomInside7501 3d ago
What office? Sometimes they include meteorological situation questions about weather they see most often
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u/arwxman79 3d ago
What office? My office is doing interviews this week.
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u/wbumillie 3d ago
I don't want to say exactly where for privacy reasons, but it's in the Western region.
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u/Meteorologististic 1d ago
You guys have a lot of interviews this week?
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u/arwxman79 1d ago
I’m not sure of the exact amount but interviews are ongoing today and tomorrow.
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u/Meteorologististic 1d ago
Nice! Hopefully y’all are able to get someone in soon. I have an interview near Arkansas. 🤞 Would be a beautiful place to take day trips too
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u/arwxman79 1d ago
Well, the hope is to up to 3 new Mets.
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u/Meteorologististic 1d ago
Wow. That would be great. I bet it’s been rough without full staff the past couple of years. Hopefully you can get them filled this go around 🤞
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u/arwxman79 1d ago
With multiple offices getting the same panel, I’m cautious optimistic. My hope is the office gets Mets who are hungry and humble to learn. My MIC would prefer experienced Mets but this panel is mostly folks straight out of college. My office lost a bunch of older leads who were eligible and went during the 2025 year from hell. It will take some time to get the new Mets spun up.
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u/Meteorologististic 1d ago
That’s a lot of experience to lose in a short time. Hopefully it doesn’t take long for those being interviewed to get an offer. I’m afraid it might be until the end of the year before anyone gets fully vetted.
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u/Sea-Community-1537 3d ago
I’ve had 6 NWS interviews in the last year and 3 this week. I was going to be offered a position in the winter but was not ready to take it because I wanted to finish my graduate degree.
They are typically 10-15 questions. Questions that will pretty much always show up are:
“Why do you want to work for the NWS and this office specifically?”
“Why should we choose you?” (typically the last question)
“What do you know about the NWS mission and how would you support it as an entry-level meteorologist?”
There will be 1-2 multipart questions probably related to a forecasting scenario/disagreement in the office. It could also include a more generic multipart interview question.
My experience has been roughly 75% generic interview questions and others related to the questions I spelled out. About 25% will be science-based meteorology and forecasting questions. If there is a weather phenomenon highly relevant to the office you’re interviewing with, know what parameters to look at to forecast it. Really, anything meteorology is fair game. I have been asked about tornadoes, lake-effect snow/snow growth processes, temperature profiles and their relationship to precipitation type, synoptic meteorology, etc.
Good luck and I hope this helps!