Good evening peeps.
Was part of this discussion some time ago but have been otherwise engaged for some time now.

I've been invited to the assessment centre in September, as I now see, have a lot of other people here.
Does anyone have any good idea or resources that might help in preparation for the Assessment Centre?
I'm going to have to fly into Melbourne for this, and even though it's two months away I'm nervous as hell. Would love any tips from anyone who's sat the day in the past.

Good luck to everyone :)

Hi all,

Received my confirmation letter yesterday (Monday),
I'm interstate (we got first preference) so I'd expect you guys to be receiving yours sometime this week

I'm from Victoria and only got a call a few days ago regarding an invite to the assessment centre, and wasn't offered the monday so it seems that they are offering the monday to interstate candidates.
Is it really true that as little as 50 candidates would have been selected from the 2000 that applied?
Has anyone been to the assessment centre in the last 12ish months, would be good to get some relatively fresh idea of what the day consists of!
I'm also surprised at how quickly I heard back regarding the invite, I was expecting a long wait, also no OPQ so I'm not really sure what is happening!

I was invited to an assessment centre about two years ago so I can shed a little light on it.

It's a pretty fun day, very full on but all the staff assessing you are really approachable and knowledgeable. They're all trained controllers.

First, know you are ALWAYS being assessed. You'll have downtime in between tasks, but there is always at least one member of staff there to talk to. So talk to them! Heaps of the other candidates there on my day would just sit there in silence which I think is a pretty poor look. The assessors are also very sneaky, for example at one point I was in the waiting room with only one staff member there (all the other candidates had other assessments), so I had a chat with her for twenty minutes. My next assessment was my panel interview. The HR person comes in and calls my name and, sure enough, the staff member I've been chatting to stands up as well, walks with me to the room and commences the interview. They started the interview before I realised it was happening!

You need to meet a minimum standard in every assessment criteria. This was my undoing, I got excellent marks in all areas except one. It was the the "simulation exercise", which is actually an A3 piece of paper with a runway on it and some toy planes and firetrucks for you to move around. They make you memorise a set of rules and then throw problems at you for you to solve. What I did not expect is that the assessors will actively try to sabotage you by suggested solutions that breach the rules you were meant to memorise, so if you follow their advice you will fail. I got every one of my scenarios correct but it just didn't occur to me that they would suggest failing solutions, so I allowed them to trick me twice before realising what they were doing, but it was too late. What you need to do is be confident and assertive and deny them if they suggest that you breach a regulation.

Obviously, do some more practice cognitive tests, including quick arithmetic. You're going to be tested on all that on the day.

Good luck!

Phlegm and those who are attending assessment centres;

What have you described is the old assessment centre simulation activities and while I understand you would not know this, the assessment centre is completely different from years past and does not include the mentioned simulation. The new simulations have been developed over the last year or two and are a thousand times better to assess with when compared to the paper simulations. I don't know any further details about it, so please don't ask - I simply do not know.

And Phlegm, with that, I'd seriously urge you to re-apply if you've been thinking about it. The way Airservices do their assessments are completely changed and may be exactly what you need to prove you can do the job.

To everyone out there - the best way to prepare for the assessment centre is to work on your interviewing skills. Go pay for a lesson or two on interviewing and questions answering and you will be more confident and much better spoken on the day. The simulations cannot be studied for and for good reason.

Best of luck to all.

TRI223

Assessment centre is running this week, hopefully someone sheds a bit of light on how it goes :)

Testing Day
 

Thanks for providing some insight. Did they tell you what the start date is for the current successful applicants? I have asked every time I have been in contact with Airservices but not received a direct answer other than a few months.

Hey Guys I have completed the assessment centre day in this week too. It's a fun day and all the assessors are very nice and friendly! However, half of our candidates on that day including me got sent home at about midday. So I am wondering if it's good or bad news, because I was expecting some more tests during the day. I personally think it's not a good news as we didn't have panel interview etc. Is there anyone else who had similar situation? And good luck to all those people who made into assessment centre, it's a great achievement already to walk that far. Good luck to all!

Seems odd. I've been reading a couple different forums and also know someone who's actually gotten the job before and never heard of that happening. Maybe the process is entirely different now to previously.

How many people attend the day?

Hmmm... sounds like the Kobayashi Maru -_-

Hi, I was at the assessment centre last week too. How many tests did you do on the assessment day?

Assessment Centre
 

Finally confirmation today that I'm in, congratulations to anyone else who made it and commiserations to those that missed out.
Those that have described the assessment centre day regardless of how long ago, have done it justice. The tests may have been tweaked and changed here and there, but they all seem to be things that you can't really prepare for - just keep your head, stay calm and obey the rules stipulated

Awesome work Jazzycab!
Have they offered you enroute or tower?

Congrats!

Were you sent home early from the assessment day or were you kept all day?

Also got accepted today into enroute, agree with jazzy on everything regarding the assessment day, the most valuable thing you can do to prepare is get a good night's sleep beforehand.

Thanks AKorol, I've been offered an enroute course.

I was there all day, Vandelayy

Congratulations, when are you starting?

1st of October, are you the same?

No, I requested starting next year due to my current job, so I'm starting in January. Best of luck!

Thanks mate you too, almost doesnt feel real.

Cheers, I know what you mean! Good luck getting all of the pre-course stuff done prior to October

help needed with Airservice Australia recruitment process
 

(thanks for moving my post to where it should be, I'll go through all previous post.)

You aren't competing against the other people there, as long as you meet the standard that airservices want, you should make it through. If you wanted the selection rate just out of curiosity I'd guess it to be just under 50%. As stated previously, there is almost nothing you can do to prepare for the assessment day other than have a good sleep the night before. If I were to give you specific information on the tests themselves it would be more likely to hurt than help you.

Thanks kmat for the info and really appreciate what people shared above. I now have a quite clear picture of the situation.

I have already booked a cheaper hotel off the airport area and a rental car. As I see their facility is to the east of the field and I don't feel like jogging in my interview outfit. Anyone been there think my plan is viable? Without a permit, I'm afraid that I can't park at their facility. If that's the case, Uber will be my plan B, as advertised.

The others are correct. It's purely about whether you make the grade on your own efforts - it's not a competition against others. Be rested and well when you turn up to the day - so if you are travelling come a day or so prior and get a good night's sleep - don't get up at 4am and catch the 0600 flight on the same day to get to assessment and expect to perform at peak for the rest of the day. If you are unwell (cold, virus or whatever) it will be obvious on the day so tell your contact person at Airservices in advance and ask for a reschedule.

Hey everyone!

Thanks everyone for sharing their experiences and knowledge about the ATC recruitment process. I also got a call last week about a month after doing the online testing inviting me to an assessment centre on the 8th October. It seems they're running a few of these assessment days. I think this one might be for interstate applicants (I'm from Tasmania)? Anyone else coming to Melbourne on this day?

Now I'm trying to arrange a meet & chat on Sept 16, the Sunday evening right before the assessment week. Anyone whose flight scheduled to land in MEL before 6:00pm Sept 16th and is interested, plz pm me. so far we got one confirmed and one interest beside myself.

Laudable idea to meet up prior - but lay off the grog completely the night before the assessment if you can, and ensure you get good rest. Even if you're not feeling the effects of a hangover or whatever, it will affect your performance in some way. You want to give yourself every chance to be at the top of your game for this!

I have a question regarding the documents you are supposed to bring to the assessment centre. The email asks for a Certified copy of a Pilot Licence and/or Class 3 medical (if obtained). What if I do not have either of those? do I need to go and get a class 3 medical done, or do they not mind if you do not have it?
Thank you!

thanks mate and I agree with you. guess most of us will not be in that mood the night before.

BTW, the ATC unit where I used to work overseas, recently got breath analyzers due to some incident that uninpressed the boss.

This is only asked for if you already have it. If you don't, and get in to the learning academy, then you'll be required to obtain a Class 3 Medical

Interesting to see that nobody is discussing what happens at the assessment centre anymore.....is it deliberately kept a secret, or do people feel some sort of 'candidate's honour' in not revealing what happens behind those closed doors? :)

Any insight or tips for anybody heading along? Even vague ones?

Testing
 

Having spoken to people who have been involved in the recruitment process in the past, people who have been pre-briefed tend to stand out like the proverbial and it definitely hasn't done them any favours.

Interesting. Thanks for the feedback!