SnowGoose69

I found the Buffalo Intern position contact at Eastern Region extremely helpful, as long as she was telling me the correct information lol. She talked to me for like 10 minutes on the phone about the process and Veteran's Preference.

Some of the HR reps are good, some are okay, some are quite bad...there was even some really odd activity going on last year during the USAjobs reformat period in which you had to re-send all of your documentation since they switched systems...some of the reps were calling applicants after the close dates asking them to send in their documentation while they were not calling others, this is a big no no since nothing can be sent once the announcement closes, if you missed out you missed out...and its in essence a double no no since if you're going to call some you need to call all.

This is NWS, it just means a lot more people will be entering the private sector jobs.

You're better off doing something else if thats the case though, most people enter this field anticipating they'll eventually get an NWS job since outside of very small percentage of private sector people thats the only way to financially get by, unless of course you have a 2nd income...I'm fortunate enough to be one of those few to make it in the private sector but it took awhile to do so.

its not anything I have heard anything about. If this were to be true, you could essentially forget about getting a job out of college. Pretty much every new opening would go to military and it would cripple the ability for current NWS employees to advance. I think there may be some bill as suggested but I really doubt that it is a "you must hire veterans" bill.

Logic does tell you that eventually it would have major trickle down effects as generally vets are only qualified to be interns and not forecasters so, true...how WOULD they be able to fill those forecaster roles as people advanced and retired?

I've never heard of this and I haven't seen it practiced in recent hirings. Do you have a link to this ruling? It should be public domain if it involves federal hiring practices.

Its likely something is going on differently because numerous people in the met job thread with extensive experience, ie eyewall, osumetstud who had been getting referred almost automatically have not been referred to anything or only once in recent weeks.

These are good points, but a lot has changed since then. Most notable is the change in the veterans preference as before they were awarded additional points, now they are given the job. If a vet is on the panel at grade 5-7-9, after this new ruling passed down by Obama, they get the job. In other words, they will block out all other candidates from even being considered. Right now, since the November 1 ruling, veterans are pretty much blocking out everyone. Even positions in Alaska are being blocked by veterans. God Bless the veterans, but I being a veteran was not a requirement to get a job.

Regarding SCEPS, that has become even more challenging, and apparently they moved all SCEP decision making to Maryland instead of allowing the regional headquarters to make the decisions. Word is SCEP applications have exploded and most who eventually get it have a way in already.

See my posting regarding the vet status deal over in the meteorologist only section for the NWS thread...its likely this will be a short lived change for the reason I state and keep in mind, that is just 2 offices, odds are its occurred elsewhere as well...

Outside of which country? The US of A? Are you in one of those SiberiaFO positions?

I wanted so badly to work for Environment Canada in Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver but the punks didn't hire anyone who was not a Canadian citizen, not even someone with a VISA...not sure if that policy has now changed....if it has they might stick you in like Winnipeg though.

I've never heard of a school allowing you to get Ds in your core courses. I thought it was the same everywhere... I know here you need at LEAST a C for any prerequisite or course required by your major. And while they may not ask for your transcript I'd still wager it is better to have good grades.

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That's not necessarily true.

Most schools don't and most other majors at my school did not allow it, its just that the departmental staff never got together and made it policy I assume, thank goodness...I still managed a 3.15 overall, I never could grasp how I was so amazingly strong in virtually every other subject of study but so terrible mathematically...even many friends I had who struggled to get 3.0s in their liberal arts majors could get As and Bs in calculus classes.

Good news for me... I just got a C- in Calc 1.

I can't remember what I got, it was either C-, C or D+...I know that much.

The math for incoming graduates if obviously poor. There is no way around that.

Ds get degrees, at least that was the case at my university, some of the bigger ones like PSU, OU, Wisconsin that is not the case, notice to all....if you are weak in math I'd strongly advise going to one of the smaller schools, they tend not to have the C or C- requirement for core courses and generally are more forcast based....nobody is going to ask for your transcript the majority of the time outside the NWS and even if they do they could give a rat's booty about your Ds in math if your Met class grades were good.

For all the complaining about just GETTING a job being a problem, my experience myself and among others is that often times the 2nd or 3rd job is the harder one to get...the reason being the field is so low paying, as a result even though you might have strong experience after 4, 6, or 10 years alot of the hiring companies are going to tend to go for the less experienced guy they can pay less money too.

You were one of the few lucky ones. From what I gather, it only took you 5 months to get a job, and that's during the worst recession since 1930s. It took me 2 whole years to find a private sector job that pays well, and that was with a masters degree in met and a bachelors in IT... before the recession started. It's BRUTAL out there. Good grades and experience are not going to be enough. You're right on diversifying yourself - that will get you through the door if you have good computer skills, engineering skills, finance skills, or ______ skills that the company in question is looking for.

The Met sector is not really impacted by the economy, at least that has been my experience, as I posted in one of the met job section threads, I've had more than one person who's said they felt the market is better during bad econmic times because private sector companies get more business because in a fickle economy companies feel the need to cover the weather influence on their business because it could cost them money or clients if they blow something because they try to interpret a generalized non-specific NWS forecast or don't use any forecast at all. Remember, most private weather services don't charge much for their service, so its not like its going to make a dent in said company's bottom line paying the money for it.

Thanks for the insight guys, I appreciate it. Yeah I see what you are saying Chagrin, if the attractive blonde with the certificate from MSU is more appealing than the nerdy guy from MIT then she is going to be hired for ratings. And you still go through the basic forecasting classes to get that certificate. I've heard the broadcast field is difficult to get into with the lack of openings and low starting salaries. Add that to the fact that you would likely have to move somewhere far away and it becomes a less than attractive option in the field. Personally, I don't think I am fit to be a broadcast meteorologist anyway since I am not a good public speaker...seems like going into the energy field is the best thing to do right now though I am sure that's very, very difficult to get into as well.

I was told by a TV news director about 15 years ago that women have to be good looking to get on TV...men on the other hand either have to be good looking or butt ugly...in between will get you nowhere, as a male you need to stand out in one form or the other...in other words, generally its hard to break in if you consider yourself an average looking guy without much of a TV personality

The NWS needs to open up airport offices again, thats my personal feeling...will it happen? highly highly unlikely but if it did and we could add even 5 spots at every major airport in the country with the warnings issued from there it would help alot.