The federal agency is rehiring to fill vacant roles after hundreds of employees were either laid off or offered buyouts or early retirement earlier this year.

“It takes 11 to 14 months to onboard somebody,” Tom Fahy, legislative director of the National Weather Service Employees Organization, the union that represents the agency’s workers, as well as other units of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told Capital & Main.

NOAA was granted permission to fill critical positions at its weather arm, including openings for meteorologists, hydrologists and electronics technicians, Trump administration officials said.