Goidel,
am truly sorry to hear that you have decided not to go through with a career path with NATS. I myself am not quite at the "almost in" stage, and have yet to sit my 2nd technical interview (had a near miss apparently.....
)
I must say that being a trusting person, once (or should I say if - best not to tempt fate) I am given a start date, I shall be prepared to wait - as that's part of the whole process, or so I suspect
My main worry is that as a "middle aged applicant" in the mid twenties, I'll be too old to start my course by the time I'm allocated one!! All I'll say about HR, is that they are a really poor advertisement for the whole organisation (if ATCO's couldn't give pilots a direct answer, then what would happen
??). Eurocontrol do come across as a little more organised, wanting to recruit you (supply and demand thing)
and able to give you an outline of the whole process - with a believable timetable to boot. If I'm still left in a cloud of uncertainty in 6 months time, then my application will be going there, despite the fact I'll know there's no chance of Approach or Aerodrome control.
Why is it that we never hear of any Eurocontrol applicants having similar problems with that process? Don't forget, there's a language barrier, slightly bigger logistical distance for you to physically cross for interview (and for that all-important letter to arrive
), but they still seem to be more efficient.
NATS HR will be in serious trouble soon, as people won't wait forever, and then they'll face the shortages of the early-mid 90's again. I for one am not put off from ATC, but will be more than happy once I pass through this particular loop
.
Best of luck to all applicants, stick it out, as from what I've seen and hear it really is a job worth waiting for
!