Is this normal?

R

rostato

New Member
I need some advice here. I got an email the other day saying

"Congratulations! You have been chosen for further consideration for an Air Traffic Control Specialist (ATCS) position at the (ZSE) Seattle Air Route Traffic Control Center in Auburn ,Washington. "

Don't get me wrong, this is nice, but they only give you 3 days to reply? Thats NUTS! I live in Georgia, and own a home. It's kind of hard to make a decision to move over 3000 miles away in only 3 days. Not only that, there is no garuntee I will pass OKC, and the FAA will n ot move me. (sorry venting)

So is this normal ops? Is there anyway to get an extenstion of sorts? I just don't know what to do. I have to reply by COB today, and I am not ready to make this decision!
 
You wouldn't have to even start thinking about moving there for at least another 6 months. Plus you have training at OKC as well.
 
rostato said:
I need some advice here. I got an email the other day saying

"Congratulations! You have been chosen for further consideration for an Air Traffic Control Specialist (ATCS) position at the (ZSE) Seattle Air Route Traffic Control Center in Auburn ,Washington. "

Don't get me wrong, this is nice, but they only give you 3 days to reply? Thats NUTS! I live in Georgia, and own a home. It's kind of hard to make a decision to move over 3000 miles away in only 3 days. Not only that there is no garuntee I will pass OKC, and the FAA will n ot move me. (sorry venting)

So is this normal ops? Is there anyway to get an extenstion of sorts? I just don't know what to do. I have to reply by COB today, and I am not ready to make this decision!
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For further consideration.

Does NOT mean you get the job. They want to know if you want to continue on in the process or not. If you don't want Seattle Center, don't waste their time. There are hundreds of people on these forums that would kill for that position that were not selected.

If you want to be an ATC bad enough, relocation won't bother you.
 
swinte00 said:
For further consideration.

Does NOT mean you get the job. They want to know if you want to continue on in the process or not. If you don't want Seattle Center, don't waste their time. There are hundreds of people on these forums that would kill for that position that were not selected.

If you want to be an ATC bad enough, relocation won't bother you.
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I understand it's not a job, and like I said, I am very thankful for this offer. Its just hard to process in 3 days.

How does the relocation process work?
 
rostato said:
I understand it's not a job, and like I said, I am very thankful for this offer. Its just hard to process in 3 days.

How does the relocation process work?
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If you decide to go to the PEPC and pass all medical evals, psych evals, and drug screen, along with a security investigation, all of that will be sent to Oklahoma City for processing.

When they finish processing that, you will have to wait for an Academy date, which can be anywhere from a few weeks to over a year.

The entire process from the point you are at is going to take anywhere from four months to over a year before you even get an FOL or a class date in Oklahoma City.

http://www.stuckmic.com/miscellaneous-aviation-information/414-faa-new-hire-information.html

Go to the link above for more information about the process.
 
Did you put WA on your geo prefs? Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but ALL relocation costs are yours EXCEPT those to and from OKC.

Swinte00 beat me to the punch that time.
 
neverett said:
Did you put WA on your geo prefs? Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but ALL relocation costs are yours EXCEPT those to and from OKC.
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Yes you are correct. I knew that, I was just adding that in as a concern because it is hard to sell a house now-a-days, and having one in GA and WA would not be fun.

I guess I am just over analyzing it.

Thanks for the replys. Your helping a TON!
 
You don't have to sell your house in GA (yet). That's what per diem at the Academy is for, to help you maintain your current residence while in training.
 
I can understand about trying to sell a house in this market. I don't blame you. You could always continue with the process for now and turn it down at a later date.
 
GeorgeM said:
You don't have to sell your house in GA (yet). That's what per diem at the Academy is for, to help you maintain your current residence while in training.
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I know. I guess I should just shut up and be happy about it instead of worrying about things that don't matter right now.

Thanks for all the help.

Reading the link now...
 
neverett said:
I can understand about trying to sell a house in this market. I don't blame you. You could always continue with the process for now and turn it down at a later date.
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Very true, but I bet that would get me a straight shot out the door...gotta love life.
 
My advice would be to accept. If later on you decide you can't move across the country, you can decline at that point. Keep the option open for now though!

Also - if you do decide to take the Seattle Center, as soon as you have a TOL, put your house up for sale. You are better off having it sold and living in a month to month rental.

Yes the per diem is there to HELP with maintaining your other house but it mainly just subsidizes the fact that you get paid SQUAT in OKC. Your pay will be about $500 every 2 weeks.
 
teetee said:
My advice would be to accept. If later on you decide you can't move across the country, you can decline at that point. Keep the option open for now though!

Also - if you do decide to take the Seattle Center, as soon as you have a TOL, put your house up for sale. You are better off having it sold and living in a month to month rental.

Yes the per diem is there to HELP with maintaining your other house but it mainly just subsidizes the fact that you get paid SQUAT in OKC. Your pay will be about $500 every 2 weeks.
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What happens if you decline? Do they put you back on a list? Can you ask for a different state?

I only ask because I am also having personal problems here at home, that may not enable me to move there. I didnt mention that before.

Please don't think I am ungrateful, I am and will take it if I have no other options...
 
I would say your best bet is to continue the process for ZSE and haggle people down the road to change facilities. It's been done before, but from what I hear it takes some work haggling the right people. If you turn it down, you're done until the next pubnat comes up (whether you applied for 7 I don't know, if you did that'll be your earliest opportunity for selection again if not the pubnat in july will be). I wish you the best of luck deciding.
 
If you have not applied to any other public announcements, if you decline, then you will not be considered for any other future openings. Even if you did have another application in, you're still starting over from square 1, except you don't have to re-take the AT-SAT. Rumor is there will be another public application next month, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Of course there is no assurance you will be selected on any subsequent applications, so I would really treat this as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

At this point, I'd take it, if for no other reason but to keep yourself moving through the process.
 
neverett said:
I would say your best bet is to continue the process for ZSE and haggle people down the road to change facilities. It's been done before, but from what I hear it takes some work haggling the right people. If you turn it down, you're done until the next pubnat comes up (whether you applied for 7 I don't know, if you did that'll be your earliest opportunity for selection again if not the pubnat in july will be). I wish you the best of luck deciding.
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We lived in utah and applied all over the US but really asked for Utah as our number one hopefull location. We got asked to go to Midland texas, a place we had never even heard of let alone applied for!! We took it becuase its a once in a lifetime oportunity to get into the faa and we can always transfer in 5 or 10 years. We could not sell our house in utah so we have renters in it. Its a big PIA to move from utah to oklahoma and then to texas but we think its still worth it for this chance to be an ATC. Oh and you dont get paid for moving expenses but keep track of them so you can deduct them on your taxes.

I wish we had gotten seattle! That was our number two location after utah.
 
Well I just accepted it. Thanks for all your help. I figure it is a once in a lifetime opertunity to get in this carear field, so I need to just role with the punches and make it work.

Thanks all again. I'll be interviewing in Hampton GA soon!
 
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