It seems like a fair few of us are currently going through the motions of the Stage 3 Assessment. I have mine on the 19th October at the Swanwick LACC. Anybody else attending the same date?
For those preparing for Stage 3, I find it really helps to take note of the fact that this assessment involves a
competency interview. NATS will only make you an offer if you can talk about
multiple examples of ways in which you have behaved well against the listed core competencies in the past. Being able to talk about these examples in
detail is also key.
When thinking about preparing an example, it might help to break it down into different parts. For example, thinking about a tough decision you've had to make in the past; consider the situation. What was the problem? What obstacles did you have to overcome to make that decision? Follow through with information you collected, actions you took and the subsequent outcome of your actions. Remember to finish with what you learnt as a result of the example and how you might do things differently if you were to do them again.
Writing down your examples helps reinforce them in your brain. The more examples you can think of, preferably in varying situations [work/University/personal life], the better. Take a competency and write down questions you think NATS might ask you about it. Then write down 'probes' i.e. follow-on questions you might be asked as a result of your initial answer.
One example could be under the problem solving competency. An initial question might be:
'Describe a complex problem you have had to deal with.'
A 'probe' could be:
'What was your individual role in solving the problem?'
or:
'How did you communicate with members of your team to accomplish this?'
...and so on and so forth.
Hope this helps!
