2008 Hiring numbers have been met - looking for insight

M

Mathlete

New Member
Okay, so I got my TOL in January 2008 for a level 8 tower 20 miles from my home. The problem is the facility that I was assigned to has met their hire numbers for fiscal year '08, so if I stick with this perfect assignment, I will have to wait until after 10/1/09 to possibly be brought on board. No guarantee that it would be that soon, but it will be AT LEAST that long of a wait.

Alternatively, they called me up and offered me a chance to go to one of four TRACON facilities instead so that they can bring me on board right away. The four are: Denver, Phoenix, Seattle, and Northern California with facility ratings of 11, 11, 10, and 12 respectively. Any of these facilities would require me to move while my wife stays here in southern California finishing her Pharm.D. program.

Now I have to decide what to do. I can wait for them to increase the hire number for my facility (who knows when that will happen) or go for one of these rather difficult facilities right out of the gate. I hear higher level facilities for an OTC guy like myself can be very difficult, plus there is the whole relocation issue where I would have to financially support two separate households for myself and my wife.

Insights? Opinions? Does anyone know how I might be able to find out the likelihood of my level 8 tower increasing their hire numbers?
 
same thing happened to me today but they offered me a lower level facility. The facility that i was offered is 20 minutes from my house and they asked me to move three hours away. personally i think it is worth waiting out until october especially for you rather then leaving your wife.
 
Mathlete said:
I hear higher level facilities for an OTC guy like myself can be very difficult...
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Wife's Pharm.D terminology gettin' to ya? I never thought about us as being over-the-counter... :laff:

I would hold out until October. I'm in a similar situation, but I wasn't offered another facility. We've been trying to figure out what to do, since we'll be moving 5 hours away (to my wife's hometown, which is nice, since she can live free). She gets her undergrad in a little over a month, at which point she now has to just sit idle until I get my class date -- she can't really go for a job without having to leave it in 6 months, or if she did get a job in St. Louis (our future city), we'd be living apart for 6 months + 3 (OKC for me). It's a sucky proposition, but she's going to just hold out here in Nashville until I get to class. We couldn't see living apart for that long.
 
Depends on your current situation. Are you currently employed? If so, I would say wait it out for the original duty location. A level 8 would be a great place to start your career IMO. If you chance the relocation for a high level facility you are taking a fairly large risk. If you wash out, then you may have to relocate, again, at your own expense. Leaving your wife behind for all of that would only add insult to injury. However, if you get through the training at a level 10 or higher, there are obvious financial upsides.

Tough decision, but personally I would wait til October, or possibly later, and take the facility that was originally assigned to you and close to home. Decrease your risk and personal expenditures at the cost of delaying you a few months. But either way, good luck, and study hard!
 
I wouldn't go the high level route. Trust me when I say the high washout risk does not outweigh the wait you'll be looking at otherwise. That and trying to maintain 2 households on 40K a year and rarely seeing your wife, I can't imagine that strain being good for a marriage especially when one is already in a high pressure program like a PharmD.

Remember, if you wash, there is no promise that they keep you employed unless you make it to D2 and most people who do wash out go before then. I'd stick it out and take the wait. Its right at home man. People finagle for 10+ years trying to get a facility back home. Consider yourself a very lucky person. If I had to guess I'd say you'd get a class date for January or Febuary. That seems to be when the people affected by the fiscal year cutoffs go.
 
Personally I would wait until October.

Few reasons:

1. Do you really want to separate your family where you don't have to if you just wait?
2. It is a LOT easier to get checked out at a Level 8 facility and NOT wash out than it is at a level 10, 11, or 12. You can always move up but if you wash out, you are done! USUALLY Tracon is a LOT harder for on the job training in level 10-12 because they are such busy airports that are understaffed the controllers control traffic and don't worry about training as much. If it comes between landing that plane or showing/teaching you how you should do it...they are going to land the plane!

An example: N90 (New York Tracon) is a level 12...I was told a couple days ago that they have not certified a CPC in over 5 years. If you are not a certified CPC when you go there, you will not survive. CTI or OTS and you go there from OKC academy, history has shown you most likely will wash out.

Stick with the level 8, I honestly think that is the better option! Not only career wise but family wise as well!
 
Been married 8 years and still hate when I have to part with my sweet heart...guess I only get 2 more years of feeling that way :( ;)
 
i agree and say wait it out.. cause if u do check out. they will probably never sign a release for you to transfer if you ever would want to relocate back 2 socal
 
If you decide to go on with higher facilities, go to seattle TRACON , Seattle is a nice city to live in and s46 TRACONs airspace is not so crowded. Good deal. :):):)
 
Thanks for all the ideas. I am in the same boat as some of you who have been married and can't really stand the thought of living apart from the wife for a year or so. Of course it's only been 5 years of marriage so far for me, so I haven't hit the 10 year cutoff Boomer mentioned. :laff:

I guess the thing that makes it hard is that I was laid off back in November of 2008, so on one hand I'm chomping at the bit to be employed again making money and getting health benefits. On the other hand, I know that the level 8 assignment in So Cal is the best deal I could have gotten so I think I'm gonna try to tough it out until the next fiscal year. Hopefully I'll get a class date for no later than Jan. or Feb. of 2010.

Now the trick is going to be trying to find a job that I can just walk away from when the ATC opportunity finally opens up...
 
Mathlete said:
Thanks for all the ideas. I am in the same boat as some of you who have been married and can't really stand the thought of living apart from the wife for a year or so.
It's not like you are going to Iraq! If you and your wife were mature enough you would see that this is a 'can't miss opportunity' that you should take while you can ESPECIALLY since you are now unemployed (see below) do you watch the news?? THERE ARE NO JOBS! I have even heard on the news that California's unemployment rates are at above 10% and people are moving out of the state when the rest of the country is averaging about 7%! I've been trying to get a "job to walk away from" since June luckily I got a class date for ZNY in May just before my unemployment runs out....

I guess the thing that makes it hard is that I was laid off back in November of 2008

TAKE WHATEVER THE FAA GIVES YOU! There are no other jobs right now! Trust me, I've been trying since JUNE 2008!

And don't forget, the FAA could all of a sudden go into a freeze and you could be SOL for 5+ years, it's happened before to a lot of my classmates, it could happen again!!

Now the trick is going to be trying to find a job that I can just walk away from when the ATC opportunity finally opens up...

Sounds good! if you're looking to flip burgers at McDonalds, serve coffee at Starbucks, even retailers ARE NOT hiring! I've tried. Take the FAA job wherever it is, you will be grateful in the long run! I wanted a tower, got assigned to a Center and took it, as the job market continues to worsen, I could not be more grateful that I made that decision!
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Sorry to be so blunt, as a person who has made emotional decisions in the past and gotten kicked for it...I just had to be the little bit of reality smacking you in the face...
 
kline1229 said:
Sorry to be so blunt, as a person who has made emotional decisions in the past and gotten kicked for it...I just had to be the little bit of reality smacking you in the face...
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Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with your general assessment. From the original e-mail, I thought he was gainfully employed, and his wife was finishing a Pharm.D program... had I known he was unemployed, I'd have told him to work through the sacrifice of being apart so you can be assured of a job. Sure, you could stay unemployed and run up your bills on your credit cards knowing full-well that your wife's starting salary will basically be your maxed-out salary in the FAA, but it's still not a wise move. I'd say to take it, if it's not too late.
 
No one said anything yet about it but I hope 2008 hires are complete since it was last year. (but we know what you mean);)
 
kline1229 said:
Sorry to be so blunt, as a person who has made emotional decisions in the past and gotten kicked for it...I just had to be the little bit of reality smacking you in the face...
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Yeah that was pretty blunt, but I'm sure it was in the spirit of helpfulness. This is not so much of an emotional decision as you seem to think. Yes, I certainly don't want to be apart from the wife for the next year or more, but there is also no way I could financially support two separate households. So while I certainly understand that this is no comparison to me going to Iraq, I think the comment you made to the effect of, "if my wife and I were mature enough" is rather judgmental and offensive.

Nevertheless, the fact of the matter is that if I don't find a job until June of 2010 (when my wife will start her job as a pharmacist), we will still be okay because I have worked very hard to save up a lot of money for just such a situation. Thus, even though I am unemployed, I am not desperate by any means, so I don't want to jump at an opportunity to move to Seattle only to end up stuck there and not be able to transfer back home for 10+ years.

In the meantime, there are jobs to found in California. And don't worry, I'm not looking to work at McDonald's, Starbucks, or in retail. I have a degree and have worked as a financial analyst for several years, so I still have some prospects even in this economy. It is not a doomsday scenario.

Really, when I posted this I was looking for insight in regard to when I might be able to expect to make it to the academy based on my situation as well as how long it would take me to transfer back home if I were to take one of the other locations. I am not a short-sighted person and am not taking this lightly. Based on the information that I got, I am simply making the decision that I think is best for me and my family in the long run.
 
Mathlete said:
Yeah that was pretty blunt, but I'm sure it was in the spirit of helpfulness. This is not so much of an emotional decision as you seem to think. Yes, I certainly don't want to be apart from the wife for the next year or more, but there is also no way I could financially support two separate households. So while I certainly understand that this is no comparison to me going to Iraq, I think the comment you made to the effect of, "if my wife and I were mature enough" is rather judgmental and offensive.
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I do apologize for having offended you. I am an honest person and I would rather people always tell me the way it is rather than the way they think I want it to be. And yes, my bluntness is strictly in the utmost spirit of being helpful. And good for you having saved up for these circumstances!

I wish you the best of luck and hope that your path pans out the way that you plan it out to be!
 
I would wait until October.

Chances are, if the FAA Reauthorization Bill goes through, hiring will kick back up -- hell it's bound to kick back up sooner than later, especially since the mandatory retiring will still force them to keep bringing on new trainees, regardless of how slow they've pushed things to currently.

I think it's irrational to take another facility when you have a family and home where you are now. Yes, the job market is bad, but it's not nearly as bad as the public perception makes it out to be. I don't think 6 months more of waiting is worth moving away and uprooting your whole life.

Just my two cents.
 
prominence said:
I would wait until October.

Chances are, if the FAA Reauthorization Bill goes through, hiring will kick back up -- hell it's bound to kick back up sooner than later, especially since the mandatory retiring will still force them to keep bringing on new trainees, regardless of how slow they've pushed things to currently.

I think it's irrational to take another facility when you have a family and home where you are now. Yes, the job market is bad, but it's not nearly as bad as the public perception makes it out to be. I don't think 6 months more of waiting is worth moving away and uprooting your whole life.

Just my two cents.
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:yeahthat:

Waiting always pays off..doesn't it? You
 
Wanna pass one of those 5 jobs you've been offered my way?

I'm pulling me hair out reading about people whose facilities are frozen being offered all these other positions. If they have these slots open...please, Please, PLEASE hire more people. We're waiting.

You can have my husbands job! $13.50 /hr FT with OT opportunities isn't that bad is it?
 
I dont think they have a ton slots open. I think they hired too many people for certain facilitys and not enough for others. So they are probably just evening it out.
 
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