to all and sundry
AP, 22follow and others who are contemplating taking the ASA carrot, or those who have as AP put it passed there PNR, there is no turning back.
Oz is the best bloody place in the world to live, I can assure you of that. I have worked ATC in at least 3 different countries around the world, both northern and southern hemisphere. We do have the best climate, and where in the world can you get be snow skiing one day and the next be in the tropics sipping margeritas, maybe the US (but who really wants to live in that place..yes I know the yanks love it..no offence to our american friends..but we are not that much on the hit list)!!lol
the positives, if you are coming from Europe, SA, UK or North america, coming to Oz will all mean something different to you. It is (and I mean this in all sincerity) the best bloody place to live in the world. My family's best friends are south african (yes I can here the comments from here my old seffrican colleagues, please
) and they cant get over just how safe it is over here, and for that reason alone they will take any ****e that may come there way. I can totally understand this and if it was me would probably do the same irrespective of how many negative things were said here or otherplaces. But, beware after a period of time, ASA's way of handling things will start to affect you...look at it from this point, you spend 8 hours a day there dealing with the **** they throw at you (just like and i mean exactly like Nats, Serco, ATNS, NAVCAN and others) it will start to wear you down. The secret is to always remember WHY you came, even when you get the blue passport.
the same if one came from Euope or North america, the winters are harsh, summers are short, well not here in Oz...the seasons just meander into each other, absolutely perfect you may say, and it is, you can still get out to the beach if you want in winter, dont have to stay indoors all the time, there is a huge cultural change when you first come here.
If you go to brisbane, the summers will be really hard on you if you are from a generally colder climate, but from SA probably not too much different. In Melbourne a bit more like the UK and a damp sort of cold in winter, so for you UK people much of the same.
The negatives:: for most of you your family will not be here after about 12 months that wears a bit thin, I can assure you of that from experience. Believe it or not the great weather we have may actually create stress after a few seasons, especially if you are used to really sudden changes of seasons, ours really just flow into each other...we dont get snow, or sand storms you can golf and fish all year round.
With you new guys they see you are brand new to the system and it will take some time before you work out what is going on.
I am a little pissed off they have hired nearly all OS people and left a shed load of locals on the shelf, but that is the way it is. Russel wanted Oz expats but he left it to his managers beneath who decided to protect their jobs rather than carry out what the CEO really wanted. Getting locals back as cheap as possible. This is typical of how the organisation works. same reason why ASA will always be shortstaffed, as the FLM and higher managers get a bonus for keeping in their defined budgets, they want the money, they dont give a F**K about you.
we all have our reasons for making a move, crikey I must have gone through at least 4 times now and you never really know until you go. But as per QUOKKA and TOBZALP there is nothing but truth being spoken here.
AP, congrats on making the move. I was one of the dozen or so ozzie expats who were informed we were not suitable, I mean WTF??? I know for a fact we were put through a completely different application process. we were not looked at from our experience and where we had been, what we had acheived and how much experience we would bring back, and in fact how relatively painless and cheap our retraining would be. No, they actually had more senior managers jobs (those who thought their cushy little jobs in CB, ML and Bn) would have been potentially threatened by more seasoned and worldly controllers coming back into the system from overseas, with real world experience, and yes they were probably right, that may have happened. But, that is the fact as to why none of us were rehired, believe it or not but fact.
you also have to understand why some of us say what we have been saying, to see some of us who have managed to be rehired, at salary levels way below what you guys were hired at, it is a bitter pill to swallow would you not agree.
anyway, for all of you and also 22follow, I know the emotions you are going through now (again from experience), the excitement of the move, the sadness of leaving family and friends, what will it be like there, will we be happy, will it work out, there are so many emotions I could go on for ever. I do wish you good luck and even though I dont live in YMML or YBBN (you better get used to new ICAO designators), i will make the effort to get down there in a year or so to have a chat and a beer with you to see what your thoughts are then. I do wish you good luck. Make the most of it.
Good luck, dont expect too much from the locals. hopefully will have a beer with you in BN or ML one day and PM me to keep in touch on how are managing and how it turns out.
Cheers
