Nope, I'm 10th of July as well! Already had my medical etc. done, just need to re-do the D&A test since it has to be within 3 months of the start date.

Lucky! If you're ok with me asking, how long did it take for your medical to come back after all your appointments were finished?

I assume if you were on reserve you'd be based in or close to Melbourne?

Hmm... without trawling back through my calendar, I think I had my initial assessment on the 09/01 or so, had my final appointment on 02/02, and the medical came through on 23/03. What mostly annoyed me was that I already had both a current Class 1 and Class 2 medical! Still had to do the class 3 as a new application though. But yeah, 6-8 weeks is not an unreasonable expectation for the length of time it'll take.

Yep, based in Melbourne... I actually applied once before, back in... 2019? Got to the assessment centre, which in those days was on-site, so we got a bit of a tour around the training facilities, saw the sim setup etc. and got to talk to some current controllers at the lunch break. Not the operational area though.

Wow, those must have cost a fortune! At least AsA reimburses us back for the Class 3. All those warnings in the offer letter about Class 3s taking 3 months to return had me a bit worried that I'll miss the proverbial bus. Absolute worst case, I know they're running a September course I could be pushed back onto.

(But here's to hoping that it won't be an issue).

Yeah initial applications are expensive, but renewals are generally much better. Especially if you're younger and have nothing anomalous pop up, 6-8 weeks from your initial appointment is a reasonable timeframe to expect, so hopefully you'll be right!

Hey guys, I'm also commencing training on 10 July. Looking forward to it!

Welcome Sgg!

Looks like your mailbox is full, do you reckon you could remove one of your sent messages to make space?

Very odd how my inbox is full, I just made an account yesterday. It seems like I may not have access to receiving private messages on this forum since my account is so new haha, must be a little probationary period for my account on the forum.

I'm off to the assessment centre in Melbourne in two weeks! The final test awaits. Is anyone else on here going to the Melbourne sessions? When is your assessment day in Sydney, Thelamprun?

Congrats mate! Our day is the 9th of May

Heyo guys!

I’m starting my traineeship shortly and I was just wondering if anyone could shed some light on what hours the course runs. Is it a 9-5 Monday to Friday deal? Are there half days and things of that sort?

Any insight would be much appreciated 🙏

Hey Sketchy,

I believe it may be 7am-2pm Monday to Friday, but I could be wrong

I'm also heading over to the Melbourne assessment centre in the same week! Absolutely stoked to have made it this far :O

Hey Sketchy,

Of course I'm in the same boat as you, but from what I've read the course runs 9-5 for the first bit until you reach the simulators, then each course is timetabled with either a morning shift (7-3) or afternoon shift (9-5). This is done to basically maximise time in the sim - this being the main bottleneck for pushing trainees through. Of course, this is pretty much hearsay, so I'd love it if an actual controller / trainee could correct me! 😊

As for half days, I've heard it isn't uncommon to be let out an hour or two early, but excluding the Christmas shutdown and when we have the cockpit work experience thingy I assume that'll be it.

Oh and best of luck to you guys in the Assessment Centre!

Hey exiflame, that definitely makes a lot more sense. Do you happen to know how long the Christmas shutdown is?

Oh yeah also, I still seem to be in the probationary period for my account and still can't see your private message, I'm not sure whether it's a matter of time or whether I need to post more to lift the probation.

Good luck to everyone participating in the Assessment Centre next month

Appreciate the time and response as always, Sgg and Exiflame! 🫡 🙏

I am retired, but as a guess I would say Xmas shutdown this year will be from 23 Dec to 1 Jan inclusive. You get the public holidays off, and the rest are taken as rec leave. They often include a "bonus" public holiday which cuts down on the rec leave required to be taken. It used to be, they couldn't force you to take rec leave, (this may have changed), so you just turned up on those days and did whatever (study, centre visit)

Hey can anyone help me find the right number to call to organize a tower/terminal visit (based in Sydney). I have assessment day booked for next week. I tried calling ASA on 1300 301 120 but the guy on the phone said he couldn't help and directed me to email avrecruit instead. Thanks in advance

Hi rmak. I'm not sure if this would be any help, but from what I've seen it's pretty much impossible to get a tower/centre visit without knowing someone on the inside. But otherwise, I reckon that email would be your best bet. If it's any consolation, I and I'm sure many others, didn't have a visit before their assessment centre. Irregardless, best of luck with your assessment centre!

Not only that, but even when the assessment day was held on-site in Melbourne, there was no visit either to the tower or the operational areas in general.

Reading through this thread I thought it would be quite accessible since so many people have suggested you try to visit a tower before the interview but I guess that must have been years ago and times have changed. Oh well.. but thanks anyway atleast I tried

Yeah it used to happen, they used to have pilot information nights on-site and all that kind of thing. No more, as far as I'm aware. Stef Drury on youtube has done videos of his recent visits to towers and en-route centres if you want a bit of a general glimpse.

+1 to Stef's videos, if I recall he's gotten access into Melbourne, Sydney, and Hamilton Island towers. Plus Both Melbourne and Brisbane Centres, probably the best vids you can find on YouTube. Still very generic, they aren't going to explain any operational things but a glimpse behind the scenes nonetheless. I also have the assessment centre next week and the best advice everyone seems to give is just go in with a relaxed open mind. ASA have sent a couple emails explaining exactly how the day is going to go and what to expect. Ultimately they want you to succeed to the best of your abilities.

It's a big assessment week this week. Good luck to everyone heading to assessment centre's in Melbourne, Sydney, or anywhere else they might be happening. I'm heading to Melbourne Centre on Thursday.

It's worth a reminder that we're not competing against each other. We can each make it through on our own merit. Get a good rest the night before and do your best. May we all pass with flying colours :ok:

Best of luck all! ​​​​

Anyone else receive the go ahead after the brissy assessment centre last week?

Got the xref and congratulations email the day after which was a lot sooner than I expected

Assessment and tower visit
 

At Melbourne Centre they used to have pilot visits, which would include operational room and simulator. They don't usually let people in the tower anymore for various reasons.

Congrats I went to the assessment in Sydney on Monday and I got the xref and email the day after too. Have you had any updates? PM if you want

Congrats rmak and Zoidberg24! Any other results from the week of ACs?

Congrats rmak & Zoidberg24! Same for me. I did the assessment yesterday and received the confirmation email and Xref link today. Super fast response!

Congrats everyone!

Congrats guys! Have they told you when your course will start / is expected to?

Ty all,
No other communication after the references,
They mentioned at our assessment centre the next enroute course was October and tower in December from memory (also that the enroute course in July was full).
Pretty sure they said something about trying to give 4 months notice before course if possible so hoping to hear something back in the next month about a start date. Looking back at previous posts in this thread a few guys were getting a bit sketched out about submitting references and not hearing back for a month or so after.

I hope they tell us soon because it would save me alot of money to withdraw from my current course sooner than later lol

Same for me! Haven't heard back from them after the RefX check after the assessment day on the 9th of May at BNE. : )
Appears to be everyone is waiting on it anyway, so it should be fine.

Same for me here, haven't heard back from them after the Xref. Did the assessment on the 9th of May. (BNE)
It appears to be everyone is waiting to hear back from them :D

I got an email on the 2 May, the day after doing my video interview, to say that I'd progressed to the assessment centers, but that they did not have a confirmed date for the AC and that my application was on active hold.

Is anybody else here in the same boat?

Hey Tysonus,
I got the same email on the same day as you. Now anxiously waiting for a date. But having read some of the earlier posts I wouldn't be overly surprised if we're waiting until September.

Same here. Asked for references the day after the assessment centre (11th). Xref sorted asap and just waiting now.

Yep, same situation here. I was guessing it was casue I'm from Perth, but seeing that someone else has the same situation from Melbourne..Well guess all we can do is wait.