New Aircraft Dispatcher here

dkHarmon

dkHarmon

Well-Known Member
Well it is official.

I completed my Oral/Practical yesterday satisfactorily and received my Temporary Certificate.

I am here to introduce myself to the new family.

Starting my second career at the ripe ol' age of 45 and look forward to any advice or input.

Now time to find a job :)

I am in the Melbourne, Florida area. If anyone is in the area or has any contacts in the area I would greatly appreciate the assistance.

Looking forward to getting started.
 
Congrats and Welcome! You're definitely in the right place. I started my dispatch career in my 40's too. Your timing could not be better, the job market is hotter that it has been in decades. Take a long while and read through as many posts as you can, this site is a gold mine.
 
At your age, get on as quickly as possible with a major. Apply to every major but also network. Go to events like the ADF conferences to network and stay in contact with co-workers at whatever first job you get who do move on. You need to develop quickly a good reputation. The reason I say this is seniority and longevity is everything at a major. Depending on when you want to retire or what kind of schedule, vacation and pay you value, the older you get the more difficult it is to get what you want. Most majors take 10-15 years to top out pay wise. Every major in the past 5 years has hired a large amount of people in their 20s, 30s, 40s who will be senior to you and not likely to leave anytime before you retire. You need to figure out long term if you want to live in or commute to DFW/DAL, CHI, ATL. If you enjoy Florida or the mountain west you can add DEN and FLL to that list though the pay obviously won't be as good in those places. Unless you have family there or a lot of money, I wouldn't consider JFK or SFO for final career stops.

I can't emphasize enough to build a good reputation at wherever you get your first dispatch job. I know a number of people older than you that are stuck at regionals because they didnt do that. It is a small world in dispatch. It is like a family where everybody knows everybody.
 
Good luck! Welcome to the fray. As it's been stated, get into a major or find a carrier you enjoy working for. Quality of life is a big one - and waking up for a stupid-hours shift doesn't mean the end of the world if you're working with some great people.

Happy hunting!!
 
CRJInTheHeartOfTexas said:
hi

where did you go to schol and do you reccomend it.,
Click to expand...
I went to the Aviation Institute of Maintenance (AIM). It is in the Orlando, Florida area. I have no reservations about recommending them if you are a disciplined self learning type.
I chose them because I live in the area.
We were the 2nd class for their program, however all the information you need is certainly provided.
It was a 10 week (300 hour) course as opposed to the traditional 5/6 week course of (200 hours).
I found it much more helpful to have the extra few weeks to truly get a grasp of the immense amount of information you need to absorb for certification.
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience..
Good luck.
 
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