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University of Copenhagen
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See my student job: Caroline is your fair weather friend

Student jobs — Caroline works in customer service at the Danish Meteorological Institute  DMI and studies geography and geoinformatics. Her job is to know (almost) everything about the wind and the weather.

 

The student job: I have a job at the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) and am employed at the customer service department. In my position, I receive all incoming queries to DMI, so I do not know in advance what the questions will be. We receive inquiries via phone and via mail.

Subject: I am studying Geography and Geoinformatics in the 2nd year. I am on the 4th semester.

How long have you had the job? I’ve been working here for a little while – since July 2016.

How did you get the job? I got acquainted with the job through a survey in our geo group on Facebook. I first thought that it was probably not possible to get a study-related job after just one year as a student. But I gave it a shot and sent an application in anyway. I was then called in for an interview and, as I hoped, I got the job!

Before packing for the summer festivals, it may be a good idea to consult DMI’s forecast.

A day on the job

First stop is always the good coffee machine!

The phone rings constantly during the morning and there are many different kinds of questions to answer. Today’s first call, for example, is from Tove, who is 60 years old, and has fallen. She would like DMI to look into what the weather conditions were that caused her to fall. Other calls may be from students who want data for a research project or a citizen who is wondering when the weather is best to dry their clothes.

There are many questions through the course of the day and people ask for anything that occurs to them, so you need to know a lot about many topics in order to help.

Caroline Samson

Between the calls I answer e-mails. In the inbox you find anything from researchers who want access to DMI’s models, to 7th grade students with projects who want answers to questions about climate change. There are also messages from lawyers who want documentation about weather conditions in connection with lawsuits. There may also be a type of cloud that needs to be defined, or someone who wants statistics on the UV index in Denmark.

The phone rings for a 4th, 5th and 6th time. First, I talk to a group of friends who cannot figure out why we have so much westerly wind in Denmark. Then, a student who wants to do an internship at DMI calls. Just before the phone closes at 12:00, I talk to a fisherman who wants to know something about the current wave, current and wind conditions in the Baltic Sea.

The rest of the day I continue to respond to questions via e-mail. In the customer service department we, of course, try to answer all the questions we can, but if no one in the department knows the answer, we get help in- house. In my department we have several student assistants who study different subjects. At DMI there are not only meteorologists, but also climatologists, oceanographers, communications staff, natural geographers, geophysicists and ice experts.

I leave here every day with a feeling I got smarter – that’s pretty cool.

Caroline Samson

With all the people and all the knowledge, it is (almost) always possible to find an answer to all questions – big and small. This is part of what makes this job really cool. With all the questions you learn things about alot of different subjects. I leave here every day with a feeling I got smarter – that’s pretty cool.

Would you like to tell us about your student job? Write an e-mail where you respond to the same questions asked in this article – and tell us about your day on your student job. Send the e-mail to uni-avis@adm.ku.dk.

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