vortmax112

interesting thread. looks like the pessimists have been right so far since the time this was first posted.

I don't think it's cause and effect..i.e. majoring in meteorology causes your chances of being employed to go way up. I think it's more that people who choose to major in meteorology AND succeed in completing the degree are hardworking, intelligent, and highly motivated people which also happen to be charactoristics that make you likely to be employed.

I agree it stands so maybe that was a poor choice of words on my part. Other things stand out too though so let the hiring official make his choice based on what he is looking for. Like I said, I think our service men and women are underpaid and its a shame some of them have such a hard time getting the help they need when they return. But I fundamentally dissagree with forcing someones hand on a hiring decision. I hear your argument but lots of people have some pretty intense life experiences they've gone through, being raised by abusive or neglectful parents or what not - any number of things. Should they all get that kind of preference too?

I know that vets are not simply handed jobs. I never said that. They have to have the qualifications as you say. But if you have two applicants who are both basically qualified as say, a gs-9 and the vet, while being basically qualified do to schooling and experience, doesn't have anything else on his resume that really makes him stand out as a top candidate for the meteorology job and the other guy (not vet) does, I don't think it's fair that the MIC has no choice but to hire the Vet even if he wanted to pick other guy. Instead of giving Vets these kind of perks that are unfair to others applying for Govt jobs we should be paying them better and making sure they are well taken care of in terms of health benefits and what not for serving our country.

Not a big deal? I beg to differ..This makes it extremely difficult for a non-vet to get in. Most openings have several hundred applicants these days so more often than not out of that number you often do have at least 3 vets, especially for any place that's halfway decent. Now I did eventually get in but on 3/4 of my applications I was blocked and not reffered do to this despite being in the gold catagory.

I just got hired by the NWS this year after applying for about 15-20 openings over the course of 6 months. I had 7 1/2 years of private sector experience and just a B.S. degree. I think if you have a strong operational background in the private sector where you can get the kind of experience that will help you score high on the application that that may be more valuable than a masters degree.

One thing about the NWS, I think a lot of mets are drawn to it in part because the pay and benefits are currently a lot better than most private sector met jobs. I think in the future though that this difference may be less as there is talk of scaling back benefits and pay of federal workers.

Again, it is NOT saying that only 1.6% don't have jobs in meteorology and the other 98.4% are working in the field, it is saying that only 1.6% are unemployed with NO job. I'd say that at best only about half of today's met grads will end up working in the field of meteorology. There are a lot of mets and unfortunately not a lot of met jobs so a lot of people get forced out of the field. but met grads tend to be highly motivated intelligent people so most end up doing something, hence the low unemployment numbers. That stat is VERY misleading...

Yes, to succeed you have to REALLY, REALLY, want it. the advice you have been given is good but the problem is that not everyone can be better than everyone else. There are just too many mets and not enough jobs and the market is trying to send this message with the low salaries that exist in this field in the private sector. Usually this is what acts to bring things back into balance but it doesn't seem to be happening in this case. Probably because of these very misleading articles claiming things like "1.6 percent unemployment rate" among mets. I'm 100% sure they are talking about employment in general and not that 98.4% of graduating mets have found a job in this field. Good luck to you.