Spring Banter, Observation and General Discussion 2018

[Damage In Tolland]

30 minutes ago, dendrite said:

Back to fat aggies. 35°

Women and chickens first .

[Lava Rock]

Lt sn. 32f

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[rimetree]

pellets, 37F

[dendrite]

33°

dumping snow and accumulating...wtf

[Ginx snewx]

15 minutes ago, dendrite said:

33°

dumping snow and accumulating...wtf

Congrats Dendrite

[dendrite]

7 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

Congrats Dendrite

#neverforget

 

[powderfreak]

Very similar to Dendrite's shot up here... big fat wet flakes coating the ground but stacking up faster on the old snow cover (where it's left around the yard).  I'm surprised its sticking to the ground though given how warm it got today.

Was walking the dog this afternoon at temperatures approaching 50F and now its snowing this evening.

A textbook example of evaporational cooling... 47/19 at 2pm at MVL and now 33/32 with snow.

[wxeyeNH]

49 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

Congrats Dendrite

33.2F  light snow (actually just let up and went to drizzle in past 5 minutes).  About 1/2" this evening.  Those SNEnglanders have been catching up to me on seasonal snowfall. Im at 88",  Hopefully some more on Friday.  Would be nice to hit 100" with the next couple of storms and then let the pattern change to 60's and spring.

[wxeyeNH]

5 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Very similar to Dendrite's shot up here... big fat wet flakes coating the ground but stacking up faster on the old snow cover (where it's left around the yard).  I'm surprised its sticking to the ground though given how warm it got today.

Was walking the dog this afternoon at temperatures approaching 50F and now its snowing this evening.

A textbook example of evaporational cooling... 47/19 at 2pm at MVL and now 33/32 with snow.

I had to drive from Lebonan back to the house last this afternoon as the precip shield was moving north.  It was cool to see how it was snowing up high at first and then as the column cooled the snow level fell.  Also on the drive I was noticing how the shaded sides of embankments had solid deep ,deep snow and sunny sides were all bare ground.  Gets really hard to determine snow cover this time of year.  In my hood people that have property  in the woods or face north have over a foot on their lawns while people like me can have acres of bare ground.  I guess Brian is one of those that face north and keeps his snow cover (and mud) so much longer than me. 

[powderfreak]

Mud season going strong... this photo was yesterday from East Albany, VT (supposedly).  Snow cover looks about right for that area... NE Kingdom.  My driveway is pot-holed dirt and mud spots but the pictured road is "soft".

[HoarfrostHubb]

Lol...”road”

[CoastalWx]

Glad we don’t drive there. 

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

So just to update, as I vented my frustration with my job search a week and a half or so ago.

Ive had some interest since. For one job I made it through initial screen, had a phone interview, and have been invited to interview at the company next week.

Another position, I’ve also advanced in the hiring process. I was invited to test, scored above the threshold to be considered for a formal interview. After a brief interview after passing the exam, I was told they’d like to move forward with a longer more formal interview with a panel like setup.

My question is, especially for the second position, which is a state job, do I have any shot at being hired? I’ve heard nightmares of interviews being conducted just to get numbers up, when an internal candidate has already essentially been hired. I’ve heard this is especially present in government positions.

Im skeptical I’m just being dragged along to say they interviewed other candidates. On the flip side, it doesn’t seem like a position that is obviously filled internally, at least to me.

Any advice or tips to know if this position is actually open or if it will just be filled internally and I’m being interviewed for show basically?

 

[nzucker]

GFS has a monster south of LI at 150...

[henry1978]

2 hours ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

So just to update, as I vented my frustration with my job search a week and a half or so ago.

Ive had some interest since. For one job I made it through initial screen, had a phone interview, and have been invited to interview at the company next week.

Another position, I’ve also advanced in the hiring process. I was invited to test, scored above the threshold to be considered for a formal interview. After a brief interview after passing the exam, I was told they’d like to move forward with a longer more formal interview with a panel like setup.

My question is, especially for the second position, which is a state job, do I have any shot at being hired? I’ve heard nightmares of interviews being conducted just to get numbers up, when an internal candidate has already essentially been hired. I’ve heard this is especially present in government positions.

Im skeptical I’m just being dragged along to say they interviewed other candidates. On the flip side, it doesn’t seem like a position that is obviously filled internally, at least to me.

Any advice or tips to know if this position is actually open or if it will just be filled internally and I’m being interviewed for show basically?

 

Panel interviews are designed to size you up physically.  They're designed to separate the men from the boys.  With presumably a lot of applicants with similar qualifications it's just like the Nixon/kennedy debate.  Even if you're smarter and more qualified than the other applicants intellectually, but if you're fidgeting and not in command the other applicants will have a much better shot.  In many respects it's a popularity contest. That's basically what life it.  Best advice anyone can give you..try to relax.

[Mips]

39 degrees with thunder and lots of fat raindrops.

 

[dendrite]

Sigh. So sick of the flooding. 

[DomNH]

Thunder here as well. Some spring sun and warmth would be nice. 

[Lava Rock]

Pouring in PWM.

[tamarack]

8 hours ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

So just to update, as I vented my frustration with my job search a week and a half or so ago.

Ive had some interest since. For one job I made it through initial screen, had a phone interview, and have been invited to interview at the company next week.

Another position, I’ve also advanced in the hiring process. I was invited to test, scored above the threshold to be considered for a formal interview. After a brief interview after passing the exam, I was told they’d like to move forward with a longer more formal interview with a panel like setup.

My question is, especially for the second position, which is a state job, do I have any shot at being hired? I’ve heard nightmares of interviews being conducted just to get numbers up, when an internal candidate has already essentially been hired. I’ve heard this is especially present in government positions.

Im skeptical I’m just being dragged along to say they interviewed other candidates. On the flip side, it doesn’t seem like a position that is obviously filled internally, at least to me.

Any advice or tips to know if this position is actually open or if it will just be filled internally and I’m being interviewed for show basically?

 

re:  State hiring - Don't know how MA works, but here we have "agency promotional", which is internal hire onl;y, and "open and competitive."  When I've sat on interview teams for the latter, state employment in and of itself wasn't even a tiebreaker.  State employment doing work similar to that of the job we're filling was a big plus.  YMMV

Just had a moderate/heavy shower go thru Augusta, but total precip here is still <1/4".

[CoastalWx]

Steep lapse rates aloft, so no surprise on thunder at nose of LLJ.  Mentioned that yesterday.

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

1 hour ago, tamarack said:

re:  State hiring - Don't know how MA works, but here we have "agency promotional", which is internal hire onl;y, and "open and competitive."  When I've sat on interview teams for the latter, state employment in and of itself wasn't even a tiebreaker.  State employment doing work similar to that of the job we're filling was a big plus.  YMMV

Just had a moderate/heavy shower go thru Augusta, but total precip here is still <1/4".

Interesting. So some jobs wouldn’t even be open to the public at all? It would be nice if that’s how they are doing it. Even if someone is currently employed by the state, I’d like to think if I match closer to what they are looking for, I wouldn’t be tossed aside in favor of someone just because they already work for the state.

[mreaves]

34 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Interesting. So some jobs wouldn’t even be open to the public at all? It would be nice if that’s how they are doing it. Even if someone is currently employed by the state, I’d like to think if I match closer to what they are looking for, I wouldn’t be tossed aside in favor of someone just because they already work for the state.

That is the way it works up here too.  With the people we have hired, we consistently have the positions open for public application.  I got a promotion last November but had to compete with applicant in and out of State government.

[Brewbeer]

10 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Interesting. So some jobs wouldn’t even be open to the public at all? It would be nice if that’s how they are doing it. Even if someone is currently employed by the state, I’d like to think if I match closer to what they are looking for, I wouldn’t be tossed aside in favor of someone just because they already work for the state.

I used to work for the state.  Hiring within vs. hiring out of house poses challenges for the hiring agency, since if they hire from within, they don't automatically get to back fill the position that the person from within vacates.  If the agency is short-staffed, they will prefer to hire someone externally to fill the staffing shortfall, since it can take 9-12 months to get approval post, interview, recommend, and hire a person to back fill a position that opened due to an internal promotion.

As an example, when I was a state employee, while working in one office of the agency in which I was employed, I applied to a position in a different office of the same agency.  From the time I submitted my application for the open position in the other office of the same agency, until I was actually working in that office, was 9+ months. 

The agency I worked for had a scoring system they used to rank applicants in the hiring process.  You were scored in 4 categories:  education level, experience level, professional recommendations, and how well you responded to technical questions during the interview.  Each category was assigned a score of 1 to 4, with 1 being lowest, and four being highest.  For example, a HS diploma would get you a 1, multiple advanced degrees would get you a 4.

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

9 minutes ago, Brewbeer said:

I used to work for the state.  Hiring within vs. hiring out of house poses challenges for the hiring agency, since if they hire from within, they don't automatically get to back fill the position that the person from within vacates.  If the agency is short-staffed, they will prefer to hire someone externally to fill the staffing shortfall, since it can take 9-12 months to get approval post, interview, recommend, and hire a person to back fill a position that opened due to an internal promotion.

As an example, when I was a state employee, while working in one office of the agency in which I was employed, I applied to a position in a different office of the same agency.  From the time I submitted my application for the open position in the other office of the same agency, until I was actually working in that office, was 9+ months. 

 

The agency I worked for had a scoring system they used to rank applicants in the hiring process.  You were scored in 4 categories:  education level, experience level, professional recommendations, and how well you responded to technical questions during the interview.  Each category was assigned a score of 1 to 4, with 1 being lowest, and four being highest.  For example, a HS diploma would get you a 1, multiple advanced degrees would get you a 4.

Thanks for the response. So my fear that the position could automatically go within seems misguided, since there are drawbacks to that.

This process has been fast, to my surprise. I’m used to hearing nothing for months and getting an email that the position was filled.

For this position I was contacted just a few days later And have gone through several steps in just over a week, with the big interview in the very near future. I wonder if that’s speaks to their desire to fill the position quickly, or something else

[EastonSN+]

2 hours ago, ORH_wxman said:

ACK averaged 29 inches when there was a first order site there....the Cape is in the 31-36 inch range...that is more than the SW CT coast.

This is completely due to BDR under reporting. coastal RI, Cape Ack should never be higher on average than SW CT. The only way that could make sense is if they had a couple ridiculous outlier seasons. Like if Raleigh NC had a 2,000,000 inch season and their annual average jumps through the ceiling.

BELIEVE ME, the average here is much higher than what BDR is reporting, MUCH higher. 

 

[ORH_wxman]

2 minutes ago, EastonSN+ said:

This is completely due to BDR under reporting. coastal RI, Cape Ack should never be higher on average than SW CT. The only way that could make sense is if they had a couple ridiculous outlier seasons. Like if Raleigh NC had a 2,000,000 inch season and their annual average jumps through the ceiling.

BELIEVE ME, the average here is much higher than what BDR is reporting, MUCH higher. 

 

You're wrong...even with BDR's undermeasuring, that wouldn't make up for a 6 inch difference...because what you'd be arguing is that BDR should average as much as HVN and we know that isn't true. If you are north of the merritt, then your location doesn't apply to the empirical argument.

[WinterWolf]

Can we take the Average snowfall conversation to banter now please....

[JC-CT]

4 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

You're wrong...even with BDR's undermeasuring, that wouldn't make up for a 6 inch difference...because what you'd be arguing is that BDR should average as much as HVN and we know that isn't true. If you are north of the merritt, then your location doesn't apply to the empirical argument.

Then it shouldn't be East Wareham which is at the very base of the Cape either. How does BDR compare to CQX?

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

I don’t see the difference between bdr and hvn. I mean, hvn drains well but they both sit on the sound and less than 10 miles apart in their trajectory doesnt make that much of a difference. 

Both are terrible areas to live, anyway.