About the job

Job summary

We’re looking for an exceptional Early Careers Lead to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Early Careers Lead, your job may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in the office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and the location advertised will be your contractual place of work.

Our opportunity is full time, 37 hours per week, but we would also consider applicants wishing to work part time and we will also try our best to consider those intending to work a job share. Our people are at the heart of what we do and we'll do our best to agree a working pattern that works for everyone.

World changing work

From science to technology, from meteorology to management, and from planning to communication, our expertise helps us stand out as the authority on weather accuracy and climate prediction. We help individuals, industries and government to make better decisions to stay safe and thrive. This is the Met Office. This is who we are.

• We’re a force for good - focusing on our environmental and social impact
• We’re experts by nature - always learning and developing to do things better
• We live and breathe it - putting our purpose at the heart of decision-making
• We’re better together - understanding partnerships and inclusivity make us greater
• We keep evolving - pushing boundaries to make tomorrow better for our customers

Job description

Your world of expertise

As one of two Early Careers Leads in the People Development Team, you manage the delivery of our Early Careers programme, working alongside colleagues in the People Development team, wider Met Office and external collaborators. An expert by nature, you help evolve our programme, building on its successes and growing its reach and impact. Initially, this role will be focused on the delivery and evaluation of our newly established Graduate Development Scheme, but with the opportunity to work across the breadth of our Early Careers programme over time.

Your key duties

• Apply cross-Met Office knowledge and wider understanding of the early careers sector to develop, deliver and evaluate our Early Careers programme, aligned to the Met Office’s objectives and values.  
• Effectively align our Early Careers programme with Education Outreach, Resourcing and ED&I priorities, to help grow our future workforce pool, address recruitment challenges, and increase the work-readiness of young people.   
• Proactively identify, build and maintain relationships between the Met Office and other key local, regional, national and international organisations involved in early careers, using these relationships to encourage collaboration, maximise impact and to share best practice. 
• Based on data and feedback, continuously seek better or more innovative early careers approaches that could enhance our audiences’ attraction, experiences, engagement, inclusivity and deepen our impact.  
• Provide short-term task management and support the personal development of colleagues and managers involved in delivering our Early Careers programme, fostering a culture of self-help, creativity, curiosity and in-the-flow-of-work learning.  

Person specification

Essential Criteria, skills and experience:

1. You have a good understanding of how a successful Early Careers programme, one with inclusion at its heart, could contribute to the Met Office’s future success. 
2. You have experience in the development, delivery and evaluation of a wide-ranging portfolio of early careers activities and initiatives, using data and evidence at all stages to inform decision-making.
3. You are able to successfully develop and manage relationships with internal and external stakeholders and partners, working closely with these to understand how we can maximise our reach and impact and broaden the relevance of our work.  
4. You are able to operate, and successfully deliver, outcomes with significant degree of autonomy, acting on own initiative to successfully pursue opportunities against an agreed strategy. 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £41,725, Met Office contributes £11,265 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

How to apply

If you share our values, we’d love to hear from you. Apply below with your CV and provide evidence against each of the essential criteria in the supporting statement questionnaire. We recommend candidates use the CARL method (Context, Action, Result and Learning) for presenting evidence of experience and skills.

Closing date Tuesday 04/06/2024 at 23:59 with interviews commencing from 25/06/2024. You will hear from us once the closing date has passed.

How we can help

If you are considering applying and need support to do so, please contact us via careers@metoffice.gov.uk. You can request adjustments either within your application or by contacting us. Should you be offered an interview, please be aware there may be a selection exercise which could include a presentation, written test or a scenario-based activity. You can select in your application to be considered under the Disability Confident Scheme. To be invited to interview/assessment under this scheme, your application must meet the essential criteria for the role.

We understand that great minds don’t always think alike and as an equal opportunities employer we welcome applications from those with all protected characteristics. We recruit on merit, fairness, and open competition in line with the Civil Service Code.

We can only accept applications from those eligible to live and work in the UK - please refer to GOV.UK for information. We require Security clearance, for which you need to have resided in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years to be eligible. You will need to achieve full security clearance within your first 6 months with us.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.