ATC Hopeful,
A few quick answers that I hope will help:
- I do not think you can fail the "application form stage" as such, so I would not worry too much.
- You do not need to arrange a tower/ACC visit before stage 2, it is definitely worth doing both, if you can, before stage 3.
- Regarding the interest in aviation. I do think that a general interest helps (maybe in terms of motivation, enjoyment of the job, ...) but there is no need to be a plane spotter. The abilities required to become an air traffic controller are not necessarily more "abundant" in plane spotters
.
In my particular case, I have spent 9 years in the electronics/semiconductor industry and I am now happily starting Area training in May (I am quite interested in aviation/ATC but it probably comes from my technological background).