Met Office |

The Met Office is the UK’s national meteorological service. We are the experts in weather and climate forecasting, and we skilfully predict the weather for today, tomorrow, next week and next season while looking further ahead at how the climate may change over the coming decades.

Through world-leading science and cutting-edge technology, our teams support government, business and industry, emergency responders, the military and the public to make informed decisions to keep people safe and help them to thrive. We provide forecasting services for sporting events and music festivals. We also collaborate with organisations around the world to provide vital weather and climate services and advance global understanding through research. And our forecasts reach as far as space.

The breadth and depth of our work is incredibly varied but whatever area you work in, you’ll be developed and fascinated in a career where whatever you do, your work will make a valuable contribution to the bigger picture. A career to be proud of.

In helping you to stay safe and thrive, we have a set of values that are at the heart of the Met Office. These are: We’re A Force For Good, We’re Experts By Nature, We Live and Breathe It, We’re Better Together and We Keep Evolving. They inform how we work, our behaviours, how we engage with our customers and how we recruit talented and diverse people to help us achieve our aims now and in the future.

We offer a variety of early career opportunities such as apprenticeships and placements. Further details can be found on our careers pages.

Our Early Career programmes

The Met Office Early Career Strategy includes interns, industrial placements, apprentices, graduates and PhDs.  The strategy has been developed to improve inclusivity, maximise and embrace diversity and support the Met Office long term skills requirements. We take great pride in our programmes, the personal approach and quality support surrounding all participants. We are always evolving our thinking in this key area to ensure the best experience and development possible.

Met Office Industrial Placement Programme 

Our paid Industrial Placement programme is a 12-month programme offering the opportunity to gain valuable industry experience. Gaining hands-on, real-world experience, placements will work in a team with Met Office experts in their field. This programme has included placements in all areas of our business including the Flood Forecasting Centre, Science, Technology, Communications, and our Property directorates.

The programme is open to those currently studying for an undergraduate degree (sandwich course) that incorporates a placement year. This programme supports undergraduate students with work experience and preparing you for the world of work, helps you think about your future career, network with a wide range of employees, obtain guidance on how to apply for future roles, have a great CV and fill in application forms, manage your wellbeing, time and programme.

The Met Office values the contribution made by industrial placements and wishes to create a pipeline of early career talent, therefore for those who complete the Industrial Placement programme successfully, there is the opportunity to return after obtaining their degree as a Graduate trainee on an immersive development scheme. 

Graduate Development Scheme

The Met Office graduate development scheme is an entry-level programme that provides opportunities for graduates to launch their career without the need for previous experience, although previous Met office experience will be considered as part of the scheme.

The graduate development scheme will last between 12-24 months and involve a range of specialist guidance to help set graduates on a successful career path after college or university. It will include a focused immersive induction into the Civil Service, the Met Office and develop a graduate to be able to manage themselves and their scheme effectively. The Induction will be followed by a structured training scheme involving a series of assessed, placement rotations that focus on an individual’s chosen profession, associated business areas and career path.

The graduate development scheme gives the opportunity to gain invaluable, first-hand experience and take on real professional responsibilities from the start, helping individuals expand a broad knowledge base and build key skill sets. Working within functioning internal teams, they have the chance to learn from our internal experts, in real life situations. They also have a chance through gaining experience and personal coaching to find their passion and align to a chosen profession through exploration.

1. Complete a values based application form which shows you what our values are and how you meet them. We might use some Pychometrics at this point too if necessary.
2. Attend first interview which will be Technical and understanding your thoughts about a career with us
3. Second interview upon successful first interview will be around our values and expectations

We aim to keep our recruitment process as personal and efficient as possible giving both sides the chance to explore a fit. We are focused on fair and equal resourcing practices and pride ourselves in an inclusive approach.

Over the past few months we’ve been working together across the organisation to refresh our values. In a time when we’re having to make crucial decisions linked to our purpose, the way we go about taking effective action is as important as ever. We believe they capture why our people are so proud to work for our organisation. They truly reflect who we are.
We’re showing that we’re a force for good with the great work being done by our STEM ambassadors to promote our ‘Met Office For Schools’ downloadable education resources to support teachers and parents over the coming weeks. The easy-to-access, free resources are designed to help young people understand and prepare for the impact of weather and climate change on their communities.

We really are experts by nature and take huge pride in our work and push ourselves to be the best in our field. At the start of March three of our scientists were invited to present posters at the final of the prestigious STEM for Britain competition in Parliament. Their participation at such a respected event was an excellent opportunity to showcase our position in the UK’s science landscape, and is a testament to the high quality of their work.

The commitment by all of our people to continue our operational capability and deliver our core services during challenging times, is a clear illustration that we live and breathe it. Whilst the weather has been kind in recent weeks, we’re making sure that we’re ready and able to inform, advise and help when it matters to you.

We’re better together now more than ever. We recognise that we need to support each other, and our Random Coffee initiative is a great way of doing this. These random meetups, which are now virtual, allow small groups from various areas of the Met Office to chat and share experiences and ideas over a coffee. A valuable way of keeping in contact in what are difficult times for many.

And we keep evolving. We never stand still, even in the face of adversity. Despite the restrictions of the last few weeks, a cross-office team has developed a new visualisation product – Global Map – which has launched in private beta. Based on feedback from our website users, the new product will allow users access to more detailed information and enable them to visualise a wider range of Met Office data including other providers models.

Although we’ve only recently introduced them, they were created by our people and so already capture a lot of the qualities we share. They will help to guide our actions and keep us delivering our purpose, helping you make better decisions to stay safe and thrive. Because it’s who we are.

Equality, diversity and inclusion is a journey. We are well on the way on the journey and we are committed to continuous improvement. Our aspiration is a working culture which actively values difference and unlocks the potential of a diverse workforce.

We are committed to providing an environment that respects and celebrates diversity and inclusion, and is free from discrimination, prejudice, harassment and bullying.  

Our aim is to have a workforce that is representative of the public we serve, so that our services are relevant to the whole of the UK, and beyond.

The Met Office values reflect who we are and the work we do now and in the future and the Civil Service Code sets out the values and behaviours expected of all civil servants.

Our Employees Commitments and our Code of Conduct policy sets out our expectations for employees:

As a Met Office employee, you should:

• Afford dignity, trust and respect to all
• Be aware of the effect of your behaviour on others and make only reasonable and manageable demands on them
• Communicate honestly and openly, clearly stating what we mean and expect
• Provide honest feedback based on evidence and be open to constructive criticism
• Be open to modifying our behaviour where appropriate
• Work together to create a positive environment; to enable us to perform to the best of our ability

• Annual discretionary bonus
• Company pension
• Cycle-to-work scheme
• Flexible/remote working
• Generous holiday allowance
• Wellbeing initiatives