I’ve recently been receiving a lot of private emails about meteorologists asking for advice on how to transition to other sectors in meteorology.  Many folks are wondering how to transition from Aviation or other operational meteorology jobs into Energy Trade Floor meteorology.  A lot of TV meteorologists I’ve talked to are just frustrated with the TV business and want to enter into the private forecasting world.   If you are in one of these categories…don’t worry you are not alone.

There isn’t a huge supply of meteorology jobs out there as many of you already know.  And when a position opens up, many times hundreds of folks apply to fill one position.   And many times an employer won’t understand why you’re suddenly making a career transition in meteorology from just your resume.   A large percentage of hiring managers won’t even read your cover letter just for the sake of time.   So you have to be a little creative and help tell your story in other ways.

Bottom line, it works against your odds to just blindly send your resume in today’s economic climate…especially if you are trying to transition from one field of meteorology to another.  So, what are some effective ways to help make this transition and stand out from the competition?

(By the way, students and recent grads can use some of these tactics to get their first entry level meteorology job too)

First:  Do your Research.  Before you try and transition by blindly applying to positions, you should do your research about the new industry.  This blog is hopefully a great starting point for the energy and (other) operational sectors.  You should find out exactly what the role entails for aviation, energy, government and other operational meteorologists.

More importantly, understand and learn to speak the jargon that each of these fields use.   The reason for this is because when you do the next two steps, you want to be able to speak intelligently.  You want to make it seem that you already work in the field!

Second:  LinkedIn.  I can’t emphasize enough the importance of LinkedIn to maintain and develop contacts in Meteorology.  If you’re not on LinkedIn, you ought to be.  Start connecting with weather folks in the industry you want to transition to.   Join all the major weather “groups”.  Participate in discussions.

Why?  Because let’s say a position opens up that you’re interested in and the hiring manager is actually within your Linkedin connections, you have a little bit of an “edge” than someone just blindly sending their resume.  You have the ability to contact the hiring manager directly!  And trust me, more than 95% of people generally blindly send their resumes anyway.   You need to be in that 5%.

Third:  Networking & Conferences.   Many folks looking to transition should be going to the AMS Conference in a few weeks or other major weather conferences throughout the year.  Not just for the career fair, but you have the opportunity to meet many other top notch energy, aviation, government, and other private consulting meteorologists in person.

Why is this important?  One reason is when a position does open up and a hiring manager gets your resume on his/her desk…they may remember your name by thinking, “I remember meeting “so and so” at this conference.  Really nice person and knew their stuff”.   Just that first impression you made in person could help make a big difference.

There are many more tactics you can do to help you transition into your next meteorology job.  Simply making phone calls, participating in weather forecasting contests, joining local meteorology meet ups, and/or participating in weather forums such as those on “AmericanWx” can help tremendously to help you stand out.  And as I’ve mentioned before…some of this may be common sense to a lot of seasoned meteorologists.  But there are many students and young professionals out there that are just looking for some perspective.

Bottom line, if you want to transition from one sector of meteorology to another, make sure you do your homework first.   You have to understand the other sector, connect online with folks, and try and meet them in person at conferences/meet ups.  Speaking of standing out…I’ll be launching a new service fairly soon on the blog that will help you stand out from the competition.  Stay tuned for more details! (photo credit: mbexec.net)