NATS interview process
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: London
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Stage 3 assessment day
Hi everyone,
I’ve got my stage 3 assessment day next week and feel pretty well prepared for it. Just a question for anyone who’s attended a stage 3 recently at CTC- did they ask many questions about the planes in the PDF with all the technical information? And did you have to do the Eurocontrol computer assessment?
Thanks
I’ve got my stage 3 assessment day next week and feel pretty well prepared for it. Just a question for anyone who’s attended a stage 3 recently at CTC- did they ask many questions about the planes in the PDF with all the technical information? And did you have to do the Eurocontrol computer assessment?
Thanks
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Espoo
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi everyone!
I've been reading this chain for a while now and this is my first message here. I'll be having my stage 2 assessment the 28. of August. I'm feeling quite confident (still very nervous though), as there is no way to prep yourself for FEAST/DART and I think I know the booklet well. However I was wondering if anyone could tell me how the "exam" about the booklet is? Multiple choose questions or open ones?
I've been reading this chain for a while now and this is my first message here. I'll be having my stage 2 assessment the 28. of August. I'm feeling quite confident (still very nervous though), as there is no way to prep yourself for FEAST/DART and I think I know the booklet well. However I was wondering if anyone could tell me how the "exam" about the booklet is? Multiple choose questions or open ones?
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: UK
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
From the BBC a few days ago
The UK's main air traffic service provider has launched a recruitment drive as Scotland's airports gear up for what could be their busiest summer on record.
National Air Traffic Services (Nats) want students who are about to receive their exam results to consider becoming air traffic controllers (ATCs).
Graduates and people "from all walks of life" are also being urged to apply.
Nats said it was responding to a predicted surge in flight numbers.
It expects that by 2030, 355 million passengers will fly to and from the UK on over 3.1 million flights - an additional 500,000 extra flights per year.
This summer alone is forecast to be the busiest on record, with daily flights across the entire UK peaking at more than 8,800 in a single day.
Aberdeen Airport controllers handle 100,000 flights a year
Nats currently has about 1,670 controllers, whose job is to manage the flow of aircraft through UK airspace, at 13 of the country's busiest airports, including Glasgow and Aberdeen.
It is looking to recruit more than 200 trainees a year to keep up with demand.Have you got what it takes to become an ATC?
Nats has developed a series of "mini-games" to help people decide whether it is the kind of career that might be right for them.
They test a range of basic cognitive skills that are required by controllers - the tests include shape-tracking, a sequential memory test, reactive avoidance, and a landing game.
Heaselgrave, general manager of Nats at Aberdeen Airport, said: "We are looking to recruit a good number of ATCs over the next few years and we are looking for people from all walks of life.
"We are not necessarily looking for aviation geeks - we are looking for people who want to get into a job that is exciting, demanding and lives at the centre of the airport.
"It is not necessarily about academic capability - it is about aptitude. Yes, we would like people with a good basic mathematical brain but we are also looking for decision-makers, for people who can prioritise and people who can multi-task."Candidate requirements for Nats:
Elaine Dickins, 29, from Reading, has been working as a trainee at Aberdeen Airport for the past four months.
She made the move after working in oceanography.
She said: "I was looking for a change and someone suggested this. I looked into it and it seemed like exactly what I wanted so I applied.
"It has been really fun so far. There is an element of pressure but they train us very well."
Ms Dickins picked a busy location to launch her career.
Each year, 100,000 planes and helicopters take off and land at Aberdeen Airport, which boasts more air traffic controllers than London Heathrow.
From Aberdeen, aircraft take engineers out to oil and gas rigs and to the offshore wind farms in the North Sea, making it the busiest heliport in the world.
The UK's main air traffic service provider has launched a recruitment drive as Scotland's airports gear up for what could be their busiest summer on record.
National Air Traffic Services (Nats) want students who are about to receive their exam results to consider becoming air traffic controllers (ATCs).
Graduates and people "from all walks of life" are also being urged to apply.
Nats said it was responding to a predicted surge in flight numbers.
It expects that by 2030, 355 million passengers will fly to and from the UK on over 3.1 million flights - an additional 500,000 extra flights per year.
This summer alone is forecast to be the busiest on record, with daily flights across the entire UK peaking at more than 8,800 in a single day.
Aberdeen Airport controllers handle 100,000 flights a year
Nats currently has about 1,670 controllers, whose job is to manage the flow of aircraft through UK airspace, at 13 of the country's busiest airports, including Glasgow and Aberdeen.
It is looking to recruit more than 200 trainees a year to keep up with demand.Have you got what it takes to become an ATC?
Nats has developed a series of "mini-games" to help people decide whether it is the kind of career that might be right for them.
They test a range of basic cognitive skills that are required by controllers - the tests include shape-tracking, a sequential memory test, reactive avoidance, and a landing game.
Heaselgrave, general manager of Nats at Aberdeen Airport, said: "We are looking to recruit a good number of ATCs over the next few years and we are looking for people from all walks of life.
"We are not necessarily looking for aviation geeks - we are looking for people who want to get into a job that is exciting, demanding and lives at the centre of the airport.
"It is not necessarily about academic capability - it is about aptitude. Yes, we would like people with a good basic mathematical brain but we are also looking for decision-makers, for people who can prioritise and people who can multi-task."Candidate requirements for Nats:
- ATC candidates are only required to have five National 5 grades (A-C); a degree is not necessary
- Trainees are paid and, when qualified, can earn a six-figure salary
- On average, only one in every 200 candidates is hired
- It takes around three to four years from the initial application stage to validation for successful candidates
Elaine Dickins, 29, from Reading, has been working as a trainee at Aberdeen Airport for the past four months.
She made the move after working in oceanography.
She said: "I was looking for a change and someone suggested this. I looked into it and it seemed like exactly what I wanted so I applied.
"It has been really fun so far. There is an element of pressure but they train us very well."
Ms Dickins picked a busy location to launch her career.
Each year, 100,000 planes and helicopters take off and land at Aberdeen Airport, which boasts more air traffic controllers than London Heathrow.
From Aberdeen, aircraft take engineers out to oil and gas rigs and to the offshore wind farms in the North Sea, making it the busiest heliport in the world.
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Hants
Posts: 11
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Just failed the Basic course at CTC. Absolutely crushed. All down to one bad sim run as per the feedback I have.
Email me if you need any course info or literature. If you can figure out how to on this most Orwellian of websites.
To anyone enrolled and waiting for their course to start, HR should be sending you out some pre-learning material by email. If they haven't done this yet, chase them, as it's highly beneficial. Don't go assuming they're organised.
Email me if you need any course info or literature. If you can figure out how to on this most Orwellian of websites.
To anyone enrolled and waiting for their course to start, HR should be sending you out some pre-learning material by email. If they haven't done this yet, chase them, as it's highly beneficial. Don't go assuming they're organised.
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: UK
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Just failed the Basic course at CTC. Absolutely crushed. All down to one bad sim run as per the feedback I have.
Email me if you need any course info or literature. If you can figure out how to on this most Orwellian of websites.
To anyone enrolled and waiting for their course to start, HR should be sending you out some pre-learning material by email. If they haven't done this yet, chase them, as it's highly beneficial. Don't go assuming they're organised.
Email me if you need any course info or literature. If you can figure out how to on this most Orwellian of websites.
To anyone enrolled and waiting for their course to start, HR should be sending you out some pre-learning material by email. If they haven't done this yet, chase them, as it's highly beneficial. Don't go assuming they're organised.
Will you get a chance to resit at all?
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Hants
Posts: 11
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Hillingdon
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hello everyone 
!
I was told recently about the NATS forum and I have gone through the last 20+ pages .
Couldn't find what I was looking for and now I am asking for help .
Also , visited savilleconsulting.com - there is a lot of info but I do not know which of those tests to start practicing . They are so many and different format tests for stage 0+1 .
Also , are they 3 single tests ( stage 0 ) taken one after another or is a one combined test . How much time I have got to do the test/s .
Wiill be very happy if someone could help me .
! I was told recently about the NATS forum and I have gone through the last 20+ pages .
Couldn't find what I was looking for and now I am asking for help .
Also , visited savilleconsulting.com - there is a lot of info but I do not know which of those tests to start practicing . They are so many and different format tests for stage 0+1 .
Also , are they 3 single tests ( stage 0 ) taken one after another or is a one combined test . How much time I have got to do the test/s .
Wiill be very happy if someone could help me .
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: South East
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi all, I have a question regarding second chances for stage 2.
Unfortunately I failed FEAST. I read the blurb at the beginning of the test and there was a fair amount in there about them holding on to FEAST results, and that those who fail and then pass it a second time round are shown be statistically much more likely not to go on to validate, etc.
Personally I believe I was having an off day / couple of days preceding stage 2 and could do better in the future, though having read the introductory pages that mentioned the above, it has me concerned that even if I technically passed the whole of stage 2 on a second attempt, I could still be failed on it (and there's no feedback or reasons given specifically, so I would never know for sure if this was the case).
Just wondering if anyone has successfully passed stage 2 on a second attempt having previously failed FEAST?
IIRC stage 0 and stage 1 comprised of tests that needed to be done 'in one sitting' but you get an indefinite break in between each of the 3 tests within each stage; you can just leave the window open on the instruction pages/examples. I think each section was 10 minutes except diagrammatic reasoning (the last test of stage 1), which was either 15 or 20 minutes. It was a fair while ago I did stage 0+1 so don't hold me to it though.
Unfortunately I failed FEAST. I read the blurb at the beginning of the test and there was a fair amount in there about them holding on to FEAST results, and that those who fail and then pass it a second time round are shown be statistically much more likely not to go on to validate, etc.
Personally I believe I was having an off day / couple of days preceding stage 2 and could do better in the future, though having read the introductory pages that mentioned the above, it has me concerned that even if I technically passed the whole of stage 2 on a second attempt, I could still be failed on it (and there's no feedback or reasons given specifically, so I would never know for sure if this was the case).
Just wondering if anyone has successfully passed stage 2 on a second attempt having previously failed FEAST?
Hello everyone !
I was told recently about the NATS forum and I have gone through the last 20+ pages .
Couldn't find what I was looking for and now I am asking for help .
Also , visited savilleconsulting.com - there is a lot of info but I do not know which of those tests to start practicing . They are so many and different format tests for stage 0+1 .
Also , are they 3 single tests ( stage 0 ) taken one after another or is a one combined test . How much time I have got to do the test/s .
Wiill be very happy if someone could help me .
!I was told recently about the NATS forum and I have gone through the last 20+ pages .
Couldn't find what I was looking for and now I am asking for help .
Also , visited savilleconsulting.com - there is a lot of info but I do not know which of those tests to start practicing . They are so many and different format tests for stage 0+1 .
Also , are they 3 single tests ( stage 0 ) taken one after another or is a one combined test . How much time I have got to do the test/s .
Wiill be very happy if someone could help me .
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: London
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi guys,
just a question regarding stage 2 for those who have already done it. Are you allowed to use a pen and paper to solve math problems ? Or do you have to do them mentally like the S D T exercises they give you ?
just a question regarding stage 2 for those who have already done it. Are you allowed to use a pen and paper to solve math problems ? Or do you have to do them mentally like the S D T exercises they give you ?
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 12
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Just sent application!
Hello just sent application for the nats job and got a reply to do stage 0 tests. Any advice on where to do practice tests?
cheers from UK!
princeofpersia
cheers from UK!
princeofpersia
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: southampton
Posts: 9
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I have my Stage 3 Assessment next Tuesday (21st), feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment as my current work got extremely busy over the past few weeks so I haven't had all the time I would of liked to prepare.
Anyone that has gone through the Stage 3 day recently please let us know the sort of questions they ask etc? All I can find is based on the competency is that ask about staying calm in a stressful situation (kind of the situation I am in currently!)
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Anyone that has gone through the Stage 3 day recently please let us know the sort of questions they ask etc? All I can find is based on the competency is that ask about staying calm in a stressful situation (kind of the situation I am in currently!)
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: southampton
Posts: 9
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Stage 3 day went well I think, nerves did take over for the first few general interview questions but I believe I pulled it together for the majority of it. Only time will tell and I really hope I have passed, just a shame it's a 15 working day wait!
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
How long did it take you to get a medical arranged? I emailed them out of ours on Sunday, still waiting a reply.
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: southampton
Posts: 9
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Just been called and was told I was successful! Over the moon and booked on to the course starting in Feb at Jerez (as long as medical and security clearance is fine!) Really wasn't expecting to be told so quickly!
Last edited by LyanRewis; 22nd Aug 2018 at 11:07.