Back in the 80’s (maybe 90’s as well) you could roll up at your nearest ATCU with a tin of biscuits or packet of fags for your favourite ATCO and “plug-in”. He or she didn’t need to be an OJTI either. We found some talented staff that way and trained them up (a guy used to run courses from the boot of his Volvo) and they became very successful long standing members of the ATC team. These days it’s different and despite being ATSAs for a few years and doing the ATC aptitude assessments, we’ve had less success whereby members of staff have achieved the student ATCO licence but have been unable to validate. At great expense and time on the part of the company.