ATC career transfer from Australia

[Devaust]

Hi.

I am new to this forum & any help is much appreciated!

I am currently employed as a tower and approach controller in the Royal Australian Air Force, I work in a joint aerodrome controlling civil & military traffic including, QANTAS, Virgin, your GA aircrafts and everything military including fast jets... By the time my contract with Defence is up in 2015, I would have had 7 yrs of experience. I have training qual in IFER, Training Officer, Supervisor and I have a diploma of aviation.

Now my situation, I am about to marry my partner who is Canadian, we're about to apply for my PR in canada. We have agreed that it's in our best interest to live and work in Canada after my contract ends in Aus. As I love what I do, I would want to continue a career in ATC in Canada. I know that Nav Canada does not recognize other countries military atc experience, however, in my case once we move to Canada and I have my PR, will my experience fast track me in anyway to gain employment in Nav Canada, I'm looking to be an airport air traffic controller (twr).i'm willing to start from scratch again and work my way back up.

Any help is much appreciated!

[Gmtn]

Hi there - I know a couple of other ATCs who've come here from Australia - you're right about the company not recognizing foreign military experience, but I do think your experience in general will give you a head start in hiring. Training is now localized at the ATC centres (including tower training). I expect they'd still want you to write the aptitude exam - which isn't terribly difficult for someone with ATC experience - and do the ab initio training (3-4 months), but I do think your experience would give you a pretty good boost ahead of most other applicants. Apply online on the Nav Canada website. What area of the country are you hoping to move to? Good luck.

[Devaust]

Hi thanks for getting back to me, i would like to work in CYYC after course as that's where my spouse's family are. I think you get a locality preference vote in Nav Canada following course, but at the end Nav Canada will post you to where they decide.

[thatdaveguy]

Hi thanks for getting back to me, i would like to work in CYYC after course as that's where my spouse's family are. I think you get a locality preference vote in Nav Canada following course, but at the end Nav Canada will post you to where they decide.

If you want to work at YYC you will probably end up training in Edmonton. After basic training, you will probably be posted to Fort McMurray, Yellowknife or Whitehorse. From there you'll typically need 3-5 years before you can successfully bid for Calgary, which is another 2 years of training--but that training is in Calgary.

[Gmtn]

It's probably true that if you get hired into the YEG FIR, you'd likely not get YYC right away and would most likely, in fact, end up in Fort McMurray or maybe even further north and you'd have to be there minimum 3 years til you can bid out. Often in that situation it can take longer to bid out because they can only release so many controllers and you'd be low on the totem pole. I'd suggest bidding into the Pacific region as most of the towers are in the Vancouver area (very unlikely that you'd get YYJ or YVR), but there are 5 other towers in the immediate area and Calgary is a one hour flight away. Much easier at that point to bid out to YYC as most BC towers are close to up to staff.

This is just personal preference, of course, but I think most people would prefer the lifestyle in the Vancouver area to living in northern Canada - but some people do really enjoy the northern experience.

[thatdaveguy]

It's probably true that if you get hired into the YEG FIR, you'd likely not get YYC right away and would most likely, in fact, end up in Fort McMurray or maybe even further north and you'd have to be there minimum 3 years til you can bid out. Often in that situation it can take longer to bid out because they can only release so many controllers and you'd be low on the totem pole. I'd suggest bidding into the Pacific region as most of the towers are in the Vancouver area (very unlikely that you'd get YYJ or YVR), but there are 5 other towers in the immediate area and Calgary is a one hour flight away. Much easier at that point to bid out to YYC as most BC towers are close to up to staff.

This is just personal preference, of course, but I think most people would prefer the lifestyle in the Vancouver area to living in northern Canada - but some people do really enjoy the northern experience.

A fair strategy, just one counterpoint: Vancouver FIR hires less trainees, so you are more likely to get hired if you are up for training in Edmonton FIR.

[rspencer38]

A fair strategy, just one counterpoint: Vancouver FIR hires less trainees, so you are more likely to get hired if you are up for training in Edmonton FIR.

Is there really a big difference in how many trainees they take? I noticed that indeed NavCan said that trainees have the greatest chance of getting in if they bid into Edmonton, but if the difference is only marginal, whats the issue? It's to bad they don't post regional numbers to get a better sense! I'd love to work in the Gander region but I'm not sure how much more difficult it is as a region.

[thatdaveguy]

A fair strategy, just one counterpoint: Vancouver FIR hires less trainees, so you are more likely to get hired if you are up for training in Edmonton FIR.

Is there really a big difference in how many trainees they take? I noticed that indeed NavCan said that trainees have the greatest chance of getting in if they bid into Edmonton, but if the difference is only marginal, whats the issue? It's to bad they don't post regional numbers to get a better sense! I'd love to work in the Gander region but I'm not sure how much more difficult it is as a region.

I would suspect it's a pretty significant difference. Just consider how many towers are in some regions over others. Some regions have a dozen or more towers, others have very few.

Then consider how many of those towers are desirable--so people from other regions transfer in, filling empty seats.

Also consider many desirable towers are in areas with higher unemployment (ie the Maritimes), so there are more job seekers filling the applicant pool.

[rspencer38]

Is it possible to change Regions once you are hired? I know you can bid to move within an FIR but what about outside.

[kevenv]

Is it possible to change Regions once you are hired? I know you can bid to move within an FIR but what about outside.

You can bid to wherever you want.