Where do you Interview - Traditional Route

nikirtehsuxlol Rookie Scarietta, GA

If you are going to a facility that is in a completely different state, do you interview with that facility? (by flying there or something) or do you just interview with some government HR person in the state you're already in?

zoz02 Trusted Member KSGJ

you interview with the closest facility to your "address of record" there is other posts about this.

Traditional route for hiring

this was one of the threads, I couldn't find the other one where we were fighting about where you get it. Good luck.

Roddy_Piper Resident Knucklehead Vegas baby

u can interview wherever u please. i did my psych and interview both at a facility that wasn't necessarily the closest FAA facility to my house. we just decided to turn our travel to get those done, into a family vacation. but yes, you don't have to do it at the facility you got chosen for. in fact i haven't even been to my facility yet. no tour, no nothing.

7002 Newcomer East Bay, CA

Hey Roddy,

Are you from the Bay Area? What can you tell me about ZOA? How long were you there? What kind of work schedule did you work? How stressed where you at the end of the day/shift? I saw the numbers for '07 an it looks like 100+ developmentals, is this right? Also, any chance you knew a guy named Brian? I think he got in around '02-'03?

Roddy_Piper Resident Knucklehead Vegas baby

the only Brian i knew was Brian Shwartz? we were in the academy together and went to ZOA together in 2006. so it probably wasn't the Brian your talking about. there are 300ish controllers there (a guess). there were controllers in my area that i didn't meet after being there for a year. so it's not unreasonable to not know someone in another area.

i'm not in the bay area right now. i lived there from 2006-2008, while i was at ZOA. i'm really familiar with the area cuz my parents live in Hayward (about 10 minutes from the center). our shifts were different based on which area you work in. there are 5 different areas. 3 domestic areas and 2 oceanic areas. the domestic areas basically worked a 5 day backwards rotating schedule.

for example:
Monday: 1500-2300
Tuesday: 1300-2100
Wednesday: 0800-1600
Thursday: 0700-1500
Friday: 0600-1400 (or 2300-0700 which is actually Thursday night thru Friday morning)

those numbers for 2007 look accurate. it's no longer accurate though. by 2008 A LOT of people had resigned, including myself. as a basis, in my area there were about 20 trainees when i got there. 6 or 7 made it to CPC. the other 13 or 14 either resigned or were washed/transferred. majority resigned. 1 got a hardship transfer to LAS.

nikirtehsuxlol Rookie Scarietta, GA

I heard that they put down a place for you to do your PEPC (I guess thats where the interview takes place ... Im catching on to the acronyms). And you have to be there for the interview - on your own dime. Are they going to choose the place closest to you? Or would they make someone in GA go to CA?

BoomerSooner77 I am rubber, you're glue. Plano, TX

They'll send you a list of PEPC locations after panels select you. You respond with your preference of location. They fill up on a first reply first served type basis.

7002 Newcomer East Bay, CA

That doesn't sound so good... 70% wash rate (wowser!). The Brian I know got on in '02 but I have no clue if he progressed to cpc. I left the area an lost touch with him. What is the average to progress through D1-D2-D3 and then "radar" school about a year (+/-) each? I've heard radar is incredibly tough to get signed off on. Also, how much different is the money going to be as a student at zoa v. say... HWD/Hayward? Judging from the pay scale on here it doesn't look to be too different (also no D1 step...). Looks like the biggest jump comes after cpc. I see a cap of around 80/yr for Hayward and 130/yr for fremont. Assuming no D1 and far fewer controllers, isn't it feasible to get checked out faster at HWD than waiting a couple years at zoa sitting in D2 or maybe D3 (making similar $$)? How do you like LAS? THANK YOU for answering my questions/sharing opinions!

Roddy_Piper Resident Knucklehead Vegas baby

the 70% is just a paper "washout" rate. realistically, 85% of those that are no longer there as developmentals are because they flat out quit or stopped their own training with hopes of transferring somewhere else. of those that actually went through their training and really wanted to get CPC, about 20% were actual washouts.

there were many, like me, that made it to D3 and then quit. don't ask why we went so far into the program just to quit.

i'll give u a rough estimate for each stage of raises just based on my own experience:
academy at OKC: June-Sept 06
stage II (maps): Sept-Nov 06
----notice the 7 months of sitting around here------
stage III (d-side): May 07-July 07
train d-sides: July 07-Feb 08
D1 raise in Oct 07
D2 raise in Feb 08
stage IV (r-side/radar class): Feb-Mar 08
train r-sides: Mar-Jun 08
D3 raise in Jun 08
RESIGNED Jun 08, literally hours after getting my 3rd r-side and D3 raise

that's a pretty rough estimate of my personal time-line. it's as correct as i can remember it. the training program is about 3-4 years from the day you go to OKC until the day that you CPC at ZOA.

if you went the oceanic route it would be much faster. the oceanic areas have 8 total positions in order to CPC. the domestic areas have 12 total positions in order to CPC. you can do that math to figure out how often your 25%, 50%, 75%, and ALL position raises would take.

as far as HWD goes, it's a slow low level tower only facility. if your sharp enough you could CPC there in 8 months or so from the day you go to OKC. you would surely make CPC and get raises WAAAAAY faster at HWD than at ZOA. the major difference is the amount of pay you would be making. it's a big difference between a level 7 and a level 11. (i'm just guessing HWD is a 7 cuz it's really slow). luckily, HWD would get the same 32% locality that ZOA gets.

it all depends what you want to do. long training program, more airplanes, busier and more complex, radar facility, more pay, etc then go for ZOA. i u want short training program, less airplanes, less pay, and tower facility then go for HWD. there are a good chunk of FAA facilities in the bay area.

PAO - Palo Alto Tower
SJC - San Jose Tower
RHV - Reid-Hillview Tower
HWD - Hayward Tower
OAK - Oakland Tower
LVK - Livermore Tower
CCR - Concord Tower
SFO - San Francisco Tower
ZOA - Oakland Center

Rosstafari Daaaang. /X

P.S. That is, if you choose to go the PEPC route. Otherwise you'll take the traditional route, where you'll do all of the steps separately. It's a headache.