The Norwegian Meteorological Institute now has 15 vacancies at their weather stations on Hopen, Bjørnøya and Jan Mayen. These have previously been highly sought after. In 2014, there were 193 applicants, but so far this year they have only received about 40. That worries senior adviser at the Meteorological Institute, Thomas Olsen. – The government has said that we must have people at these stations. Among other things, they will be responsible for support during search and rescue operations out at sea, which is very important in terms of securing life and property, he says. Senior advisor at the Meteorological Institute, Thomas Olsen, is concerned about the low number of applicants. Photo: Simen Wingstad / news Need more professional expertise Olsen believes high competition on the labor market and an uncertain security policy situation in Europe may be part of the explanation for the few applicants. – People think that it is perhaps safer to be stable on the mainland, close to family and a secure job, he says. Those who work at the weather stations are deployed for six months at a time, and have normal working hours when they are there. Then they will monitor the weather, for use both for weather forecasting models and to help helicopters and other flights up in the north. They will also operate some equipment for external actors such as universities and Telenor. But it is not just weather observers that are needed. They need people with other specialist skills, who can be responsible for operation and maintenance of the stations. – It is especially the technical positions that we lack applicants for. So far there have been many chefs who have applied. Bjørnøya is one of Norway’s Arctic Ocean islands that belongs to Svalbard and lies between mainland Norway and Spitsbergen. Here we see the weather station. Photo: Marius Våge Nature and cabins During the six-month stay on either Jan Mayen, Hopen or Bjørnøya, you also have a lot of free time. Then you can mostly travel freely in nature, and make use of nearby cabins on the islands. – So you have a nice life up there, says Olsen. The job is basically not particularly physically demanding, but you must be in good general condition. – It is more about trying to avoid things happening, because it goes a long way to help. So you have to go through a health check, in the same way as those who are going to work offshore, for example, says Olsen. The senior advisor now hopes that more applications will come in. – I think there are many people who could imagine such a stay. but who may not think about it every day.
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The Meteorological Institute lacks applicants for Hopen, Jan Mayen and Bjørnøya – news Troms and Finnmark
