National Weather Service

When Leadership Matters Most, MarCom Group Delivers the Talent

The National Weather Service (NWS) and an arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) needed help finding a new Director for its National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). This critical leadership position had been vacant for some time and though NWS posted the position on USAJOBS for an extended period, it had not yielded any qualified applicants.

A Senior Executive Service (SES) position, the Director of the NCEP is responsible for oversight, budgeting, and operational aspects for nine national weather centers, including the Aviation Weather Center, Climate Prediction Center, Environmental Modeling Center, National Hurricane Center, Ocean Prediction Center, Storm Prediction Center, Space Weather Prediction Center, Weather Prediction Center, and of course, NCEP Central Operations.

MarCom Group’s customized strategic recruitment campaign resulted in 2,149 inquiries on the campaign microsite and 22 applications. A final selection was made from among the three applicants who were determined to be highly qualified, having met both the SES Executive Core Qualifications and the Professional Technical Core Qualifications. The campaign also delivered an increase in brand recognition and awareness due to the wide net cast to attract qualified candidates.

Here's how we did it:

To identify and reach qualified candidates, MarCom Group developed a candidate sourcing strategy in collaboration with the COO of the NWS and our partner in HR support, the experts at Your Recruiting Company Incorporated (YRCI). With a clear situational perspective, MarCom Group developed and implemented a six-part sourcing and marketing communications strategy.

Part 1: Identify Sources of Talent

  • Professional organizations (American Meteorological Society (AMS), National Weather Association (NWA), etc.)
  • Businesses and other private sector groups
  • Academia
  • Public sector and government agencies
  • Sourced databases

Part 2: Select Media to Reach the Targeted Professionals

  • Digital banner ads delivered to mobile devices, laptops, and tablets
  • Advertising (e.g., social media, professional organizations)
  • LinkedIn, job boards (e.g., AMS, NWA)

Part 3: Develop Creative

  • Create an integrated communications campaign
  • Identify messaging themes, key selling points, and headlines
  • Write supporting copy and develop graphics
  • Design advertising materials (digital display banner ads, email templates, etc.)

Part 4: Build a Campaign Microsite to which all advertising is linked

  • Prepare website content that fully explains the NCEP position
  • Design an engaging layout and user experience
  • Launch site on YRCI server

Part 5: Finalize & Implement the Marketing Communications Strategy

  • Select the most promising sources
  • Establish a schedule for campaign launch and follow through
  • Roll out the outreach campaign

Part 6: Evaluate Response & Optimize

  • Tabulate and analyze response rates and identify trends
  • Optimize advertising delivery algorithms
  • Adjust the schedule, sources, or messaging to improve response

Hiring senior level leaders is never an easy task. Let MarCom Group customize your recruitment strategy, considering federal staffing regulations, to identify highly qualified talent available to meet your unique executive and technical hiring needs.

by Morgan Jemerson