NATS interview process

[AS1988]

NATS 227 Aerodrome

Hey folks,

If anyone has been provisionally allocated to 227 Aerodrome in March 2011 I invite you to join our Facebook group. You can either follow the link or search NATS 227 Aerodrome on Facebook. It's a private group so anyone wanting to join needs accepted by me. If it takes a few hours or days it's because I havn't checked my emails :P

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[rinceluis]

Thank yoy for caming me down, hehe.

Now I feel much better

I hope I receive the email soon. The 27th I am moving to my new job in Liverpool and I imagine it will be very complicated to attend to the stages in Swanwick (where I did those last year) while working...

Which place is the closest one to Liverpool? You can carry out the stages in Swanwick and where else?

Thank you!

[NDW]

You can sit the selection tests at:

Prestwick, Fareham or Bournemouth.

[lpeacock]

Re: Stage 1

Hi all,

I recently received confirmation to attend stage 1 and thats all grand however once being nosey, i read on NATS and other websites that you have to be 21 to be let loose on your own with a radar licence. I am only 18 so does that mean i will be in training for 3 years???

This is all theoretical cause still have to get through the three stages, Im merely enquiring. If anyone can help I will be very grateful!

[libertine_ss]

@shaunhftm
Any advice on what to expect in stage 2?
Any help would be appreciated thanks

[sambatc]

libertine - I found the wikipedia page on FEAST to be very informative...

[Aisak82]

Stage 1 exam

Hi everybody,
I´m doing my stage 1 exam next Thursday at Fareham and i´ve got some questions. Is it true that in the motivation paper only two question come from the aircraft data we´ve been given? if it´s so, is it worth studying it? I´ve already studied some parts but i don´t know if it is better 2 spend time practicing cubes, diagramming, etc than revising that aircraft stuff...
Do you know what are the rest of the questions coming in the motivation paper about? Are they the speed/distance/time questions?
Is anyone doing it the same day? Do you know if the place is easy to find? I´m travelling from London but i´m Spanish so i don´t know where Fareham is exactly, i´ve seen it on a map but i don´t know how much time does it take to get there from London.
Good luck to all of you that are doing the exams!!!

[CJShields]

As you mention it's a motivation paper so if you aren't motivated enough to at least try to learn the statistics rather than play the averages and bank on only getting 2 questions, then I suggest the job's not for you.

[Stoffel_KT]

As said above,
it is a motivational paper. You will need to learn this information later on anyway so if you consider yourself motivated enough to start the training because it is a job you would like to do I would say you could never study it too much. On the other hand the cubes and diagramming stuff is a thing you either are able to do or you're not. Yes it can help you to do a few just so you get the hang of it on how you have to solve these questions, but I don't feel it will help you to keep on practising on these things over and over again.
On the other hand the documentation is only giving you a very rough information and the statistics are only a guide line, not fixed values.
I would say, for the statistics, make sure you know how different acft's compare to each other (speeds, altitude etc), what kind of acft you can expect for certain flight routes (with regard to distance, size etc).

In either way, you can never be motivated enough but as well make sure your motivating doesn't kill you on stressing yourself out on focussing too much on a certain thing.

Good luck

[BarryK]

Stage 1A - Bio-data personality questionnaire! Sounds delightful!

[hatemyjob]

I know its a bit soon but has anyone who took stage 1 at Fareham on the 18/10/10 had their results yet?

[schneiderATC]

NATS phase 1

Hello, does anybody know how long stage 1 lasts?I mean, what time we're expected to finish all the exams. It's basically, cos i have to take a train to go back home. Thank you

[rok87]

phase 3

Hi people!

I´ve been feeling quite confident about the S3 that is coming really fast for me. But now I`ve read that people are studying nights and days for the third stage!? How do you prepare for it?? It consists of a group excercise and an interview, how do you prepare for these? Please give me some directions-I have my S3 on the 18th November in Prestwick! I only found that

During the interview, you‘ll be asked to think of situations when you previously behaved in a particular way, and to describe your specific actions in detail. The questions are all based on the following areas:
ATC Motivation
Conscientiousness and Rule Adherence
Decisiveness and Confidence
Emotional Stability
Error Awareness
Openness to Learning and Development
Planning, Decision Making and Problem Solving
Team Working.

OK, so you can prepare by thinking about these situations, but that doesn´t justify the endless hours of revision that some people are doing.
What does the ATC Motivation mean? Do we have to learn the paper that was presented to us for the stage1 again? Or does it mean that we will just have to talk about how motivated about ATC we are?

Please help me (shaunhftm ).

Thanks

[3wishes]

I was expecting my result yesterday too as the lady said she would try and get them out by the Friday. Haven't received anything yet but am hoping for a reply early next week. Good luck!!

[CJShields]

rok, I think that you are on the right track, I really don't understand the amount of revision some candidates think they need to do. All you can do to prepare for Stage 3 (apart from site visits and the like) is think about times in your personal or professional life that you have demonstrated the competencies outlined. The testing is over, it's now about how you work as an individual and in a team.

[Bamboozle Woozle]

lpeacock

I recently received confirmation to attend stage 1 and thats all grand however once being nosey, i read on NATS and other websites that you have to be 21 to be let loose on your own with a radar licence. I am only 18 so does that mean i will be in training for 3 years???

It is true that you have to be 21 to hold a radar licence, but you only have to be 18 to hold a student licence (which is what you will receive if you complete your course at the college.) To be honest, if you are only going through stage 1 now, by the time you have passed the assessment (fingers crossed!) been allocated a course, completed the course (between 8 -11 months depending on area or approach) and then completed your on-the-job-training at your unit ready for validation, you will probably be looking at 2-3 years anyway! It took me 2yrs 4mths from stage 1 to validation doing a tower and approach course and validating approach radar first.

Hope this helps, and good luck with selection!

[Jordan.S]

Hi everyone, I'm still waiting to hear back about getting onto stage 1 but I'm just trying to get myself prepared anyway, in anticipation...

Does anyone know of anywhere that I can get some information on the different types/sizes of aircraft that I may need to know about at this stage and where they fly? Also just anywhere that basic aviation knowledge could be picked up.

This site has been a great help so far so thanks to everyone and good luck to those who have an assessment coming up!

Jordan

[rok87]

Thanks CJShields, you calmed me down So it looks that my English will be my biggest problem, I mean I´m good at it but it isn´t the same as being a native speaker.

Anybody else having stage 3 on the 18th november in Prestwick?

[NDW]

NATS Air Traffic Control Test preperation

Afternoon all,

Does anyone have any books they can recommend to me for the NATS ATCO selection tests?

Or if anyone has heard of any good books?

Thanks

[BarryK]

I've been using the Air Traffic Control Handbook (9th edition) by David Smith. Has a LOT of info in it, although much of it won't be required until stage 3. Even if you just have an interest, it's a great book.