mr garabaldi
I am long retired but may I offer a word of advice? 'MInesthechevy' was not to my mind talking down to you, only trying to be helpful. When I was a very young lad in the air force there was a saying 'Lord, teach me to keep my mouth shut until I know what I am talking about'.I hope you see what I am getting at.- times change I know, but when you are applying to start a career it helps just to go with the flow.
My advice to anyone joining ATC is to try and get an aerodrome posting.Why?you may ask. Airfields get you closer to the whole spirit of aviation, you get to meet pilots, people at flying clubs ( not at the London ones so much)etc and after a few years there will be a chance to move over to 'area'. However my son is at Swanwick and he loves it.I worked at West Drayton, which I hated because it felt like I was in a factory - having spent time at lots of fantastic airfields when in the RAF I had got spoilt. I managed to get to an airfield eventually and had a great time at Heathrow, after postings to Stornoway and Boscombe Down.
I am trying to phrase my final sermon carefully - apart from the housing costs and crowded roads etc living in the south of England is very eye-opening for people from further north. We don't care what your religion is,what team you support,what your politics are, colour of the hair etc etc. Folk are accepted for what they are!
After all that, best of luck to you in your interviews and to any other hopeful who reads this.