Here at Whatever-Weather.com, we have the grand vision of helping every meteorologist find a job in his/her field of choice.  It was for that reason that we developed our website and business model.  Of course, we want you to browse the entire site at your leisure, but we also would like you to get the most out of this site while you are here.  The following are a few tips for making the most of Whatever-Weather.com:

1. Bookmark our home page and check back often.  Our site is set up so that the jobs posted show up for viewing almost immediately.  We also offer an RSS feed.
2. Use the tabs on our job board as guidelines.  Very often a job may fall into more than one category.  Keep an open mind and check any of the categories that might apply to the type of job for which you are looking.
3. Read the blogs for information and advice that can help you in your job search, the interviewing process, and expanding your base of knowledge so that you can blow your potential employer away in an interview.
4. Participate in our discussions in the forum, which can be found under the title “Network” on our main menu, and, if possible, use your real name.  While in some cases, it might be prudent to use an alias, using your real identity can be an asset.  You may find yourself interacting with a potential employer during a discussion.  If you’ve made a good impression on that person, you might stand out to him/her as a prime candidate for an open position.  In that case, you would want that perspective employer to know who you are.
5. Along the same lines, while participating in a discussion, keep in mind that you might be making a first impression on a potential employer.  For that reason, keeping the conversation professional, honest, and dignified is important.
6. Use the forum to expand your professional network.  In starting a new career or in trying to advance to the next level, it is very often true that it is not just what you know, but whom you know.  There are many ways to network face-to-face, but when that is not possible, the web is a wonderful place for it.  Our forums provide an opportunity for you to meet new people with the same interests and in the same field.

Go!  Network!

In preparing to teach a new “Junior Meteorology” course I’ve been reflecting on my “junior” years in weather.

Here I am making lesson plans to teach 1st graders about Global Warming, the physics of a thunderstorm, and dissecting the water cycle…when, truth is, the word “meteorology” never even crossed my lips until college.

No science teacher ever taught me about raindrops, let alone tornados. And while we did practice “tornado drills” in my Florida grade school, I don’t remember ever hearing a “Tornado Warning” on television and I certainly didn’t know anyone with a weather radio.

Even more interesting, is that I was born in the Virgin Islands- in the Caribbean- and believe it or not hurricanes were not a common topic of conversation.

If you asked me if I ever experienced a “hurricane” or “tropical storm” as a child I’d say no.  But I do remember “rowing” around in a washtub in my backyard after a particularly heavy “rainfall”.  That’s all it was to us.

So I wonder, has weather’s “persona” changed that much – or was I an exception?

I submit, that weather’s reputation has changed dramatically.

My childhood interest of weather led to poems about thunderstorms.  It was an appreciation I felt when I strolled the beach as storm clouds kicked up.  It was running outside in the rain in my bare feet to play.

Nowadays when someone tells me “Oh! Sam just loves the weather!” …what they really mean is: Sam wants to be a the local TV weatherman.  While I became the local TV weatherperson …I never planned that as a child.

The outcome of this blog banter of mine, is that while building tornadoes in 2 liter soda bottles, and organizing zip-lock-ice-cube-melting races with my class of 7 year old mini Jim Cantores, I’m going to try to instill a sense of just wanting to watch the leaves blow…  Wish me luck!

Wanna know how to deal with being too “cute” on TV?  How to be the boss without getting the title?  Or – how about teaching 1st graders about hurricanes at 9am, holding a hurricane lecture for hundreds of power company workers at noon, being an expert on Deborah Norville’s hurricane round table discussion at 4pm, and still being graceful, honest, intelligent, charming- and accurate- on the local forecast at 6pm?  Ask Me.

About Janice

Janice Jones spent 11 years as a Broadcast Meteorologist in Savannah, Georgia, Orlando, Florida and Raleigh, North Carolina.   As one of the few female “Chief Meteorologists” on air in the 90’s Janice has a wealth of experiences to share.

Janice will blog regularly about weathering the TV biz.

First off thanks for taking the time to read my blog.  This is my first blog post ever, so please bear with me as I start up.  I have now been unemployed as a Meteorologist since April 1st.  I am currently working PT to make ends meet, but I’m still applying to jobs that fit me as they open up.  I now utilize twitter, LinkedIn, LinkUp, and various weather job boards to further my job search.  Now thanks to Nicolle and her partner I can skip a few of these sites and go straight here.  I plan to continue to use LinkedIn, my blog, and my Twitter page to further my search, but Whatever Weather will most certainly assist as I look to get back to working Fulltime.

After utilizing Whatever Weather I recommend heading next to LinkedIn.  When you first start up on LinkedIn you will want to fully complete your profile.  This assists in displaying your name to others searching the site.  I also recommend asking others to recommend you on your profile.  I asked previous managers to do my recommendations, and while it won’t get you a job, a LinkedIn recommendation definitely improves your chances.  I’ll cover more on my search as it progresses and detail more about LinkedIn and Twitter soon.  Until next time.

Jacob Hamblin
hamblinj@gmail.com
www.linkedin.com/in/hamblinj

Welcome to Whatever-Weather.com.  Thanks for checking out our site.  Please let me take a moment to give you an idea of who we are and why we are here…

We are a company that understands the need for a job search site created specifically for meteorologists.  From my own experience in hunting for a job to start my career as a meteorologist I learned how frustrating the process could be.  There is no one place to go to find all of the open positions for meteorologist and all of the employers hiring for those positions.  Our goal is to be that one place!  Our first priority is to make the job search process easier for meteorologists by providing free job hosting to the employers that hire them.

We know that there are many job search sites out there.  Some are free, but often frustrating to use because there are so many extraneous postings that are not truly geared toward mets.  Others require a subscription to use them.  While a subscription is a good business model, it is not always affordable for a recent graduate or someone who has been laid-off.  By focusing only on meteorologists and related careers such as climatology, we have already simplified the process for you.  By keeping our job site free, we make it accessible to all levels of experience.

In addition to simplifying the process of job searching, we also want to give you a place to learn, stay informed, and share ideas.  We will have guest bloggers writing about their specialties and forums, referred to as “Network” on our main menu, where you can discuss topics of interest to you.  We encourage you to read and write here.  Our site is a place for a free exchange of ideas on anything related to meteorology.  If you have an idea for a blog, please contact us and let us know about it.

How can we keep this site up and running by offering free services to such a specialized audience?  Well that is where the other side of the website comes in: shop!  Our online store offers everything we could get our hands on related to the weather!  I will personally be doing my best to make sure that our prices are equal to or lower than anyone else’s on the web.  We need your business.  Please take a look around the shop and see all the great things that we have to offer!  In addition to shopping in our store, please also support our advertisers.  Their ads help keep our services free to you.

The ultimate goal of Whatever-Weather.com is to become THE ONE PLACE for all things weather-related for meteorologists, those that hire them and weather-geeks who want to learn more about meteorology.  As we grow, we will add more services that will make your job hunt even easier and your search for all things weather even simpler.  Please bookmark our home page and check back often, if not daily!

Thank you!

Nicolle M.

The company will help meteorologists and employers find each other.

Raleigh, NC December 15, 2009 Whatever-Weather.com is launching online today.  Company President Nicolle Morock states, “Our company’s goal is to become the one-stop shop for meteorologists to find jobs, information, and products and to expand their professional networks.”

Whatever-Weather.com offers a job board that is free for both employers and job seekers.  The easy to navigate board is specifically designed for the hosting of jobs in the fields of meteorology and climatology.  Job seekers will no longer need to weed through a myriad of postings for other careers in order to find positions that fit their goals.  Employers can post openings quickly and know that their target audience will be able to view those postings almost immediately.

Whatever-Weather.com also features bloggers from around the country writing about all aspects of meteorology from finding a job, to continuing education, to new technology and beyond.  Conversations about blog posts and other topics are encouraged in the forums section of the website which can be found under the title “network” because that section of the website is also a great source for expanding professional networks.

Last, but not least, Whatever-Weather.com offers a large variety of retail items.  There is something for everyone in the online store.  Children can find books, toys, and science fair projects.  Adults can find chase gear, cameras and binoculars, books, household goods, and gifts for all ages.

Visit Whatever-Weather.com for more information.

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Having a love of the weather is to have a love of learning. From young youthful fascinations to seasoned experienced meteorologists the common bond is a love of learning and always growing in knowledge.

Experienced meteorologists build on their university training every day they go into work as Mother Nature shows the familiar and unfamiliar all the time.  In addition to analyzing the current weather and writing about past events, continuing education opportunities are there through online training modulus and classroom opportunities through the National Weather Service (NWS), University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), and universities around the country and around the world through collaboration and research paper writing.

The sharing of education opportunities is set up that anyone can access most of it for little to no cost.  While certain agencies (NWS) require the tests and quizzes to be taken on their in-house system, anyone can view the most of their content for free online.  Some content is restricted only for inter-agency use but there are many modules open to everyone to complete for professional development.   UCAR through their Cooperative program for Operational Meteorology, Education, and Training (COMET) offers online courses (347 as of this writing) with tests and quizzes that not only help meteorologists stay current, but also can be used in universities for Atmospheric Science students and some of the basic ones that can be geared towards high school science students.  For the general public and K-12 students/teachers, the NWS offers many educational games and brochures on their website.

Learning from your educational peers continues through opportunities like local and national American Meteorological Society (AMS) meetings to talk, network and compare notes about your backgrounds.  Joining the national AMS also allows easier access to monthly journals with stories about new discoveries and techniques.  Most articles older than 5 years are available to everyone online for free.  Newer articles require a personal or institutional (e.g. university department, library, etc…) subscription which makes the content open to anyone with a library card (inter-library loan).

It is all about taking the multi-valued physics equations and be able to apply them day in and day out in an realistic way.  Waking up, getting your cup of coffee, and doing your own personal weather briefing each day.  Looking at the initial conditions through surface reports, soundings, remote sensing (satellites, radars) and comparing the real world to the current model solutions and coming to your best solutions to the analysis, learning from them, and making them even better the next day.

©2009 Charles Schoeneberger

About Chuck

Chuck has a background in Atmospheric Sciences and a degree from the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks. He has a background in operational forecasting producing products for transportation needs with the 511 system and Departments of Transportation in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana with Meridian Environmental Technology Inc. of Grand Forks, ND.  He is looking for new job opportunities in the operational forecasting realm, and he blogs for the Minneapolis StarTribune newspaper about statewide weather.  In addition, Chuck has a background in Geographic Information Systems and is also looking for ways to apply these skills towards weather outreach and communications.    He is a native of Minnesota, just outside the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area and enjoys all four seasons and the constantly changing conditions.

Minneapolis StarTribune Weather Watchers Blog:

http://www.startribune.com/weatherwatchers/chuckschoeneberger.html

University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, Atmospheric Sciences Department:

http://www.atmos.und.edu/Default.aspx

National Weather Service Warning Decision Training Branch:

http://wdtb.noaa.gov/

COMET at UCAR:

http://www.comet.ucar.edu/

Twin Cities Chapter of the American Meteorological Society:

http://twincitiesams.org/