Hi.
I have been reading a lot of Gonzo's replies and there seems to be a lot of emphasis on preparation. i was wondering what Gonzo done in preparation for his final interview?
To explain: NATS' recruitment process is not looking for ATCOs. It is looking for candidates with certain attributes which statistics show give a better chance of coping with, and ideally thriving in, the ATC training environment. Therefore I, as an interviewer, am not expecting someone to know as much about ATC as I do. However, as an interviewer, it really does not please me when I am faced by a candidate who has done zero preparation of his/her own bat, doesn't really know what the job of an ATCO is, doesn't really know about the company they're apparently hoping to work for, and doesn't really know what has been happening elsewhere in the aviation industry.
I applied in mid 1997, whilst taking my A-Level exams. I went through the selection process in the last few months of '97, and started at the college in April 1998.
My preparation:
A lifelong passion in aviation. I'd been going to airshows and airports since I could remember. I had an airband radio so I could listen in to ATC. I had some flying experience. I had worked at a flying school for a period. I thoroughly researched NATS as an organisation....which airports it had a contract with, the rough boundaries of the FIRs. I also read quite a few books on ATC (Graham Duke is the perennial favourite), and subscribed to Flight International and AvWeek. I knew what were the coming events and big projects in both UK, European and worldwide ATC in the next few years (the then EATCHIP, RNAV, MLS, CFMU, IFPS, NERC etc). I had visited quite a few control towers both with Procedural Approach units and Approach Radar units, I had also visited London Terminal Control and London Area Control when both were located at West Drayton. I knew exactly what an ATCO's job was, and I definitely knew that I wanted to be one.
All the above sounds a great deal. However, because I was such an 'anorak', as one might say, I would have done a lot of it anyway, regardless of what career I was aiming for. It certainly didn't seem like work at all.
Away from the aviation side of things, I am also continually surprised by the lack of basic generic interview preparation that I see. There are many websites out there that will give the candidate guidelines on what sort of things every interview covers.
Being an ATCO entails lots and lots of planning and preparation while actually doing the job. Why not start now?
