Certainly agree with many points here...obviously not from personal experience but just from the experience of listening to other people.
1. You definitely have to be willing to move...anywhere, not just in meteorology but in any major. Sure for many it would probably be great to get a job close to home where you spent the majority of your life but not everyone is lucky like that. You have to be willing to go anywhere at anytime.
2. You certainly can't think big money right away...some people get lucky like this but for the most part you have to work your way up...especially in meteorology. I have a few friends who are quite lucky...although I shouldn't say lucky, they busted their butts off and have excellent degrees. One of my best friends from middle school who went to Johnson & Whales in RI is a chief...he went to cooking school. He just got a job outside of Boston with a starting salary of 50K! Another friend who I work with at the skating rink is getting a degree in Business/Accounting, she is graduating next month and will be starting this job next month with a 50K annual salary...not including bonuses.
Something else I would like to add is you have to keep ALL of your options open. You have to be willing to do almost anything you can within your degree, especially when looking for your first job. The more options you have available to you the better odds you will have. For example, when I finally get back to college and graduate my life goal is not to be a TV met...nothing against TV mets at all it's just I would rather do research or NWS or SPC, however, does this mean I will not go after any TV jobs...absolutely not. My options will also include teaching, middle school...high school...anything. Whatever options are available I'll keep them all open.
I've always thought this, however, after an experience I had at work today this really popped in my mind and really stuck more. There was this new kid that came in today and was being trained, he is 21 or 22 I believe and he just graduated from the University of Hartford last December with a degree in English. He just got a job at the skating rink, he'll be a cashier making probably $8.35/HR working no more than probably 10-15 hours a week. It's sad. Someone asked him today what he planned on doing with the degree and he said he wasn't sure, that person asked him if he thought about going into teaching and he said no...that really struck me. That right there heavily decreases his options available to him. In this day and age you just can't do that.