Many years ago, I trained as an ATCO. The 3 members of my 'final selection board' were all experienced ATCOs. Many of the instructors at the college and later at my unit were ex-aircrew. My main aerodrome mentor was an ex-Lancaster man who held a DFC. I was in awe of these guys and the things they had done.
A few years later, management invited 2 'psychologists' to spend a fortnight 'plugged-in' with us to help develop aptitude tests for ATCO Cadet selection. I christened these 2 individuals 'Darryl Hall and John Oates', because that's who they looked like. They asked many questions, and we, professionals that we were, gave them truthful, honest answers.
They went away with their notebooks and returned a month or so later with a presentation about the new aptitude tests.
Neither I, my contemporaries, or the ex-aircrew who trained us could make head-or-tail of these selection tests. Some of these things involved assembling 'cubes', and other such irrelevant non-sense.
The tests were duly introduced, and the pass rates at the ATC College fell from 90% to about 20%.
Many years later, I found these tests on the 'psychology company's website. They were no different to the tests the company offered to many other employers, for a multitude of professions.
Last edited by ZOOKER; 29th Dec 2013 at 22:27.