Navigating the labor market can be a challenge, but it’s one NNSA’s Office of Management & Budget is prepared to meet. With more than a third of the nuclear security enterprise’s workforce eligible for retirement within the next five years, attracting and recruiting top talent is a high priority for NNSA.

“NNSA has been pursuing an aggressive hiring strategy with a goal of adding an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 employees across the Nuclear Security Enterprise annually,” said Lew Monroe, Director of NNSA’s Office of Human Resources. “Although the pandemic presented a unique challenge, we made adjustments to our recruitment approach to ensure there were no gaps in our efforts. Our number goal in the Office of Human Resources is to do everything possible to assure NNSA has the needed human capital resources in order to able to innovate, collaborate, and deliver on its national security mission.”

One pandemic adjustment: transitioning job fairs from in-person to an online platform. NNSA has held eight successful virtual hiring events since the start of the pandemic. “The world went virtual and so did we,” said Vince Reed, HR Recruitment and Outreach Team member. “With the help of our various partners throughout the nuclear security enterprise, we successfully brought our recruitment mission online and were able to reach thousands of potential candidates across the United States.”  

NNSA along with its labs, plants and sites held a virtual job fair in June that attracted more than 1,400 registrants. These engagements will help ensure the NSE has robust workforce that can meet the growing demand for talented professionals who support NNSA’s critical national security mission.

Moving forward, NNSA’s recruitment strategy will use both in-person events and social media platforms. NNSA also plans to bolster engagement with the academic community with a special emphasis on minority-serving institutions. Partnering directly with schools can create a pipeline to fill roles in science, technology, engineering, manufacturing, project and program management, and other key positions within the NSE.

As part of this academic pipeline strategy, on Sept. 15, NNSA will host select colleges and universities at the Minority Serving Institution Partnership Program Nuclear Security Enterprise Virtual Career Day. These efforts give students an opportunity to learn about the NSE and help the NNSA find the next generation of nuclear security talent to carry out our vital national security missions.