Find out the top 10 core skills you need to master as a general forecaster and what hard skills you need to know to succeed in this job.

A General Forecaster is responsible for providing general weather information, warnings, advisories, aviation and public forecasts to the public at large and the particular group users. This position reports to the Meteorologist or the Senior Forecaster.

Duties for this post are participating in all forecasting programs as assigned by the Meteorologist, integrating all the meteorological data that is available from a variety of sources, analyzing and assessing the current forecast situation at both the synoptic and mesoscale levels, prepares and issues warnings concerning a hazardous weather conditions like severe weather, high winds, flash floods, marine effects, winter storms etc., conducting weather watch that involves interpretation of radar data, satellite imagery and any other analysis of the meteorological and hydrologic data, determining appropriate and relevant data, identifying questionable and conflicting data and resolving it if possible.

Core Skills Required to be a General Forecaster

Core skills describe a set of non-technical abilities, knowledge, and understanding that form the basis for successful participation in the workplace. Core skills enable employees to efficiently and professionally navigate the world of work and interact with others, as well as adapt and think critically to solve problems.

Core skills are often tagged onto job descriptions to find or attract employees with specific essential core values that enable the company to remain competitive, build relationships, and improve productivity.

A general forecaster should master the following 10 core skills to fulfill her job properly.

Verbal Communication:

Verbal Communication is the use of tones and language to relay a message; it aids as a vehicle for expressing ideas, concepts and it, is critical to the daily running of the business.

A General Forecaster portrays his/her image and that of the company by the way he/she communicates; strong verbal communication skills are vital for business development and forging lasting relationships with customers, suppliers, and colleagues.

Phone Skills:

Phone Skills are useful to present a professional company image through the telephone to the customers while making them feel well informed and appreciated without necessarily seeing their faces.

A General Forecaster is required to master and project an enthusiastic natural tone to make both the customers and staff feel comfortable during the conversation while creating room for a productive and friendly exchange.

Interpersonal Skills:

Interpersonal Skills are a set of abilities that enable a person to positively interact and work with others effectively while avoiding office disputes and personal issues with each other.

A General Forecaster must learn the importance of these skills in the workplace and emphasis on every employee possessing them to build a more cohabit able and productive workplace with the help of each.

Dealing with Difficult People:

Dealing with Difficult People is learning how to tactfully calm down an obnoxious person who is either verbally attacking you or stealthily criticizing you or your professional contribution.

A General Forecaster must learn how to combat and tone the demanding customers or staff who are competing for power, privilege or spotlight which defy logic not with fights but with the truth and more listening skills as well as lots of patience.

Creativity:

Creativity is the skill of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality through the ability to perceive the world in new ways, find hidden patterns, make connections between unrelated phenomena and generate solutions.

A General Forecaster should be able to think, then reproduce ideas and act on them to bring awareness of what was currently hidden and point to a new life that will progress the business to new heights.

Flexibility:

Flexibility is an important skill that allows employers and employees to make an arrangement about working on maintaining a work/life balance to help organizations improve the productivity and efficiency of their balance.

A General Forecaster needs creative ideas on how to plan flexible schedules for all his employees by incorporating flexible working arrangements and individual flexibility agreements that allow negotiation to change how certain agreements apply to them and how they can be adjusted.

Potential for Advancement:

The potential for Advancement is the ability to make something better by being more skillful, more efficient, and more useful to produce high-quality results.

A General Forecaster needs to invest in his employees by creating room for individual advancement that encourages stronger job performance because it positions the employees to demonstrate just how well they can perform their jobs through motivation and feedback that are critical to the employee performance.

Project and Goal Focus:

Project and Goal Focus is setting your mind and heart on things that matter and add value to your life against those things that add no value at all or of little value.

A General Forecaster ought to learn of early hiccups that may cause distraction and get to motivate the employees early enough to see the projects completed promptly and in good condition.

Managing Details:

Managing Details is the skill of paying close attention to details of every element of your job performance to ensure nothing is overlooked.

A General Forecaster should be keen to handle every detail using strategic planning and organizational techniques that make it easy to keep track of everything that is happening in the organization consistently desiring to improve their knowledge and skills.

Quality Management:

Quality Management is the management approach to the long-term success through customer satisfaction that directly involves the employees in the continual improvement of the daily tasks.

A General Forecaster should consider the quality management earnestly for the success of the business by improving the processes, products, services, the discipline and the culture in which they work under to warrant the improvement of profitability and productivity.

Hard Skills Required to be a General Forecaster

Hard skills are job-specific skill sets, or expertise, that are teachable and whose presence can be tested through exams. While core skills are more difficult to quantify and less tangible, hard skills are quantifiable and more defined.

Hard skills are usually listed on an applicant's resume to help recruiters know the applicant's qualifications for the applied position. A recruiter, therefore, needs to review the applicant's resume and education to find out if he/she has the knowledge necessary to get the job done.

A general forecaster should have a good command of the following hard skills to succeed in her job.

General Forecaster: Hard skills list

Agriculture
Analytical
Analysis
Analyze Air-Pollution
Analyzing Data
Analyzing Records
Atmospheric Chemists
Atmospheric Physicists and Dynamists
Advanced Calculations
Computers and Electronics
Computer Graphics
Climatologists
climate theory
Customer and Personal Service
Communications and Media
Collect and Analyze historical climate
collect data on the Atmosphere, Air Pressure, and Temperature
Communication
Development environment
English Language
Earth's temperature
Forecasting
Forecast Weather
Forensic Meteorologists
Graphics
Global Warming
Gathered by surface and air stations,
Interpret Data
Interpreting information
Investigate atmospheric phenomena
interpret meteorological data
Interpret data, reports, maps, photographs, or charts
meteorological reports
Weather Broadcast
Scientific software
Map creation software
Maps
Mathematics
Object or Component Oriented development software
Operating system
operational Meteorologists
Ozone Depletion
Physics
Radar Data
Radar System
Research
Research meteorologists
Reporting
Satellite Data
Safety Measures
Satellite and Radar Data
Technical
Telecommunications
Theory
Weather Analyst
Weather Forecast
Weather Maps and Graphics
Wind Velocity
Writing
Written Comprehension Photographs
Written Expression

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