AviationAustralia CC Course

[bellsux]

Hi...

My niece is looking at the prospects of getting a job as cc in Australia, so does the Aviation Australia course in Brisbane give any advantage to the first timer applying? Does AA place crews with the regionals / majors or contactors? Has anyone done it and felt dissapointed or glad in what they gave and recieved??

I suppose 6K is a lot of money to spend when all places do their own training anyway but is it worth it for the edge in the first job?

[Mr Seatback 2]

Personally...I wouldn't recommend it. Airlines like Etihad and Emirates look favourably on these courses, so I'm told, because students of this course have been given a thorough overview if the job is right for them or not...

On one hand, the course gives people wanting to become crew a very good exposure to the role, preparing for interviews, serving passengers, etc. If you don't have any experience in customer service or hospitality, it can be a good 'eye opener'...

However, as airlines provide initial training themselves unique to their operation, it doesn't necessarily provide 'the edge'...that's something only the applicant and the airline can do during interviews. With so many jobs available in the coming 2 years (Virgin Blue, Qantas, Jetstar, etc), there's a wealth of opportunities out there.

Instead of spending the $6K on a course like this, you'd be better off spending the money at a TAFE course or similar getting a qualification that would be considered more 'portable' across other industries, in case your niece changes her mind for example. $6K could go a long way learning a language!

AA can't guarantee any students a job with an airline. It can give students the confidence and skills to apply for these jobs, but that's about it. I've trained a couple of AA students at Jet* over the last 2 years, and both seemed ambivalent about the course, with the exception that it really helped them to work out if it was the job for them.

A friend of mine trained another ex-AA student, and they had to leave the job during their training, because flying made them ill! So $6K went down the drain there!

Courses your niece will need to do to at least get a look in are:
Responsible Service of Alcohol (1 day) @ TAFE or similar
Senior First Aid Certificate (2 days) thru St John Ambulance or Red Cross

+ a customer service and/or hospitality job. Airlines will need actual employment in either of these fields, in spite of any course/qualification.

You don't need a language, but every little bit helps. Qantas are the only ones who really place any workplace value on a language, given their network.

The regional airlines (QantasLink for example) are ALWAYS recruiting, because turnover is so high (people want to fly the jets, instead of the Dash aircraft)...but that could be a good start, in terms of getting a foot in the door for flying.

Good luck with everything!

[sam.lk7]

i too am interested to know if this will give you an advantage:confused:

[indamiddle]

most airlines just interested in security clearance
rsa cert
first aid cert
$6000 seems a lot of money, maybe better spent
on a very smart outfit that looks 'professional' and
viewing the qcca thread here. e.g. 1st interview is
group activity, 2nd interview is by panel.
qf doesn't recognise aa certificate

[indamiddle]

p.s. qantaslink such as eastern/sunstate a good place to start
compared with qcca as they have progression rights within the
group to sh/lh, seniority starting from day 1 in the group, no
seniority in qcca. would be a good idea to find out how many
years it takes to get progression from regional to sh.
njs does not, repeat, does not have progression as far as i know

[Mr Seatback 2]

True, indamiddle, QantasLink do have progression rights, but it's MANY YEARS before you get the chance to progress to mainline. And even if you do, it'll be for the Perth base, where you must stay for 2 years before getting the chance to transfer around.

I was with a subsidiary for over 6 years and missed out three times for progression...and I have friends in Eastern with the same problem.

Most I know spend a year or so at QantasLink, before taking their experience to Virgin, Jetstar, and Qantas (be it MAM or QCCA) for some jet time.

Still...you gotta start somewhere!