Fair point Ginge. In the good old days before personal computers and pprune had been thought of, there was only one way to find out about ATC and to apply for a job, and that was to get off your posterior and do a lot of research and general spade work yourself. This tended to attract only those with a genuine interest and indeed a latent passion for the job. In fact, the selection interview usually included questions on how you found out about ATC and how much you knew about operational procedures and the company in general. I remember when the CAA, shortly to become NATS, first advertised for ATCOs in the more upmarket broadsheets and made mention of the attractive salary which was eventually obtainable. This resulted in trainees coming through the system who had no previous interest in aviation and, my goodness, it really showed! I'm not saying that those trainees who completed the training were eventually less able than previous ones, but the OJTIing was definitely more challenging.
On topic, I hear that Doha are looking for ATCOs and offering a fairly generous package.