Thank you for the quick reply. I've read all 41pages on this thread since I last posted, and yes in retrospect I jumped the gun a little and should have read it before posting.

I've put together a massive word document of notes, posts and a 'to do' list, will narrow it all down this evening and be back on here with any outstanding querys. :)

Glasgow
 

The 7th of March 2008... 0830 hours...

The world awakens to a nice bright new day, however one man has more than likely just filled his pants...

Yeah, by some miricle I got through my Stage 2 assessment, at which I am over the moon at. However, I shall not be resting on my laurels. Not a chance.

I have my Stage 3 in a fortnight!!

I was going to leave it until maybe some more suitable dates came up, however I didn't want them to look back at my dates and think I was not very enthusiastic :uhoh:

The problem is, 13 days to prepare isn't enough.. is it? Sure, I'll try and cram as much in as possible, however I doubt I could get some of the big motivation proofs like visiting Prestwick or the towers at Glasgow or Edinburgh etc etc...

I have read through this thread, and theres a lot of info on Stage 1/2, and a whole lot of complaining about that pesky personality quiz, however I can't find too much on Stage 3 and what to expect.

So far, I can expect a board game and a chat with an ATCO. I read somewhere that this could last 8 hours :eek:

Anyone with a good review of their Stage 3, please come forward :)

I don't so much need walked through, I like to be creative and original with my responses. However, I'd really like a wee idea as to what I will be subjected to :rolleyes:

Cheers everyone,
Andy

Andy - Check your PM's.:)

stage 2
 

hi!
I have passed the tests at stage 1 and now waiting for the date of stage 2:}. I am very proud of myself because I am from Poland and english is not my first language. This recruitment process is the biggest challenge in my life. I am affraid of being asked the question that I may not understand and wondering if the HR people show enough tollerance to explain it to me??
What advice would you give me?

Wish me luck!!!
:ok:

NATS Stage 2
 

Thanks Ricky,

Very helpful indeed. Am waiting for my stage 2 date and then I will be staying indoors for some serious studying. As for the computer tests you said there is no way of studying?? Im a little scared. With regards to the interview did you manage to visit a control centre and was that what the HR questions were based on. Any tips or motivation??? Well hope training is going well good luck with everything.http://www.pprune.org/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

Time periods
 

Hi All,

Quick question to any people at the college/about to start.

Anyone know roughly how long you are looking at from first applying to NATS to starting at Bournemouth?
Assuming of course you pass the Stage 1-3 tests and the medical with no problem (which may be a lot to ask I realise)!
6 months, 12 months, 18 months, etc.

Cheers

:)

I sent off my application on 17th August, did the 3 stages over the next few months, and passed my medical on 23rd November. However, I'm not starting til July. I would say 9-10months, possibly longer, maybe shorter.

It all depends on how quickly you can get through the stages (i.e. there are only specific dates for each of the stages, it all depends whether you can get time off for them, or have to wait for another month...). Also depends if you have a medical deferral (like a friend of mine did for eyes).

Don't think there are any set rules on applying to starting timesclaes, it all depends how quick you can get through stages, and also how many people are holding, which in turn depends on how many people the college is currently taking in each course.

I applied last April, and took the stages at a fairly steady pace (due to other commitments), I was told i was succesful in August, and at the time was offered September course, although I chose the January course.

I was then deffered from the January course onto April, due to the college cutting back on the January intake. So when i start in April it will be almost a year.

That said, I'm sure way back in this thread there was someone that did it in something like under 3 months!!

I applied in October 2006!

Passed my stage 3 in April 2007. Had major issues with my medical which took around 6 months to clear up and I'm finally starting in April 2008.

applied end of april 2007, took stage 3 on june 4th, asked there and then if i could start june 25th!!! said sep was best so thats what happened, it appears my case was the exception rather than the rule though...

Eyesight requirements for the medical
 

Hi,
I have the below prescription, I only wear glasses when driving. Will this pass the class 1 medical?

Left eye Right eye
Sphere -0.75 Sphere -0.75
Cyle N/A Cyle -0.5
Axis N/A Axis 180

Uncorrected visual acuity
6/12 6/15

Corrected visual acuity
dist 6/6 near N5 dist 6/6 near N5


Thanks,

Kevin

Yes - the minima are on the CAA site if you want to check for sure.

Hi,

Just a quick question for anyone who has recently undergone the medical examination. If you ace NATS medical, will they still write to your GP for a medical history?

There is no problem!!! I would just like to know so that I can let him know to expect it. He seems to have a habit of forgetting about appointments so I can just imagine what he would do with a medical questionnaire!!!!

Cheers

Kev:ok:

NATS Stage 3 INterview
 

I have recently had the rather terrible news that I did not make it throuh stage 3 of the NATS interview process and to be honest I am completely gutted, however it has made me more determined to try again. It would be great to have some advice from anyone else out there who has failed the stage 3, re-applied and made it through the second or third time, just to see if it is actually possible (I did all of the usual stuff, visiting units, researching the motivation material).
Any advice regarding preparation for stage 3 would be gratefully received, as I now have 12 months to swat up before the next application.

Hi,

I have got my stage 3 approaching shortly and would be interested to know what sort of questions were asked, if any questions threw you a bit, and what areas that were difficult?

As for reapplying, from reading all the other threads it seems the majority get through second or third time.

hi there lincoln sorry to hear that you never got through i have my stage 3 just coming up and like you have done visits gone through all the relevant material and investigated anything else i can think of, looking for some advice as to what sort of questions to expect at the interview from either the hr or atco part
would appreciate it if you could give me any advice from what you ve learned

thanks

hi there

congrats on getting through, i ve got my stage 3 coming up soon i was just wondering if you had any info on what sort of questions to expect from either the hr or atco on the day

thanks

Cheers for all the responses on time periods guys, helped a lot.

A word of caution (ref: eyesight limits), The CAA requirements are not the same as the NATS requirements for employment, NATS' are more stringent.

Stage 3
 

Pete - the scary thing is I thought I had done really well, all three interviewers were completely pocker faced though! I don't think my advice would be much good to you as I did not get through, however questions tended to cover your personality, ie strengths and weaknesses, decision making abilities, believe it or not there was barely any technical content, which was not what I was expecting at all. Make sure you get as many visits to a unit in as possible, one visit in my opinion isn't enough. Make sure you have a thorough understanding of where you want to go in NATS and why. Oh and make sure you know all about NATS the company, ie PPP, services provided etc.

hope this helps, hope you have better luck than I did...Good Luck!
Let me know how you get on and if you make it through maybe you can give me some hints and tips!

nats training
 

New to this but anyway.....

I have been accepted for the 1st stage of the Nats process, but it doesn't take much to get here though. Are the tests like the practice ones they dish out or not?

If you self fund your training say ASTAC is it relatively easy to validate this at a unit and how would you apply (are the positions advertised)

Three interviewers?? I was under the impression there was just an HR person and an ATCO, who was the third? Also how long did the interview last. Did the whole day really last 0830-1630?

Hey all. I have recently been accepted to attend Stage 3 interview :)

Now, although they say it is not a necessity, I would love to get a visit or 2 into Prestwick or the Glasgow tower. Getting this far, I am going to get as much preperation in as possible as its a career I'm not willing to let slip at the last hurdle.

If anyone has any insiders there, or any contact number or some way of getting a visit organised, I would MUCH appreaciate your help

P.S. My stage 3 is on the 7th March :o! I booked as soon as I got an invite.. silly of me? I wanted to get it all over while its still fresh in my mind :P

Cheers all!

(sorry for double post but the day keeps getting closer and closer...)

Welcome to the funhouse..

For NATS stuff, I suggest you spend a large portion of your evening wading through this thread as it has lots of useful information about all the stages.

Hot Tip

When they make you do the nets to form cubes just draw them on your rubber which they provide.

Why did I not think of that?!

Or perhaps just use your sense of spatial awareness :)

I'm afraid you don't get time to work things out on paper when you're wearing a headset:}

Is it me or does drawing on the rubber defeat the objective of the test?

Yes, shows initiative, doesn't show spatial awareness? Or am I being silly?

Its a useless idea, if I remember correctly there were 5 or 6 cube nets on the test, with several questions based on each. The rubber plan might work for the first question, but you will then have no rubber to erase the cube you drew for the first question, to make a new cube. Maybe?

Anyway, surely if you don't have the spatial awareness to pass that test and use "initiative" instead, they will soon figure out you don't have what it takes either at college or at a unit? Could be a pretty risky manoeuvre, I mean the tests must be there for some reason.

Maybe not, who knows?

Exactly..... I would love to know if anyone actually drew on the rubber for every question and still passed....prove me wrong!

Stage 3 and erm.....erasers!!!!
 

Hi,

Seems to be a few people on here about to sit their stage 3 interview. I did mine last week and was lucky enough to be successful. Here is a rundown of what happens...

You perform a small group exercise with the ATCO's and HR persons in the morning. Don't worry to much about this as we all found it funny as well as straight-forward. Then the interviews begin. I had to wait from 09:30 until 13:45 so be prepared to do quite a bit of waiting. The good thing for me was that we had lunch with the ATCO's before I had my interview so it gave you a chance to get to know them before they interviewed you!!

In my interview, the HR lady asked me some pretty basic HR questions for about half an hour (EG. Tell me about a time when you made a quick decision?) Be prepared to answer sub questions of the original, they will do a bit of digging! Then the ATCO takes over. To be honest I was expecting a grilling on the technical side of the job, however the majority of his questions were geared towards my personality. There is some technical questions so be well prepared. Before my stage 3, I was lucky enough to visit both Glasgow Tower and Prestwick ACC. The reason I visited both is because they are different to each other and I wanted to get the big picture. When I told the ATCO at my interview I had visited both, he seemed interested and it gave us some really good talking points. I also read the book "Air Traffic Control" by Graham Duke which was very helpful as well.:ok:

For the guys who are sitting stage 1 soon.....don't draw on an eraser, you'll spend more time erasing the drawings on your eraser than actually answering the questions!!!:=

Anyways best of luck to everyone who is going through the process and, as usual, if anyone has any other questions, just PM me:ok:

Kev

Congrats on stage 3 Kev, starting in July I assume?

Nice to see more Scots making it to the college, we're taking over!. They'll have to fly a saltire out front soon. :}

Scottish and goddamn proud of it!

Too right!!!

It won't be the July course for me I'm afraid. It will be the October course. The reason being I'm off sunning myself for 3 weeks!!! Hehehe (I had to get that in!!!)

Can any of you guys answer a few quick questions for me please?

I just want to know what I can expect from the medical.

Do you find out right away if you have passed the medical?
If you have passed the medical right away, will NATS still write to your GP?
How long does the medical take?

Cheers

Kev:ok:

The medical consists of the following (may miss a few things)

Urine sample
ECG
Breathing tests
Hearing tests
Height
Weight
Eye test
Cough and drop (for us guys)

Basically a Class 1 medical. Everything is pretty straight forward. Dont worry if you dont get them right first time, u get a few attempts.

If you dont here anything then everything is fine. If nats get in contact with you about the medical it means something is wrong. No news is good news in this part of the process.

Stu

Few quick questions.

What exactly does a personality test work out? And how is the test done? I did a quick search on the net and all manner of "personality" tests come up.

Little bit strange this one, but what does cough and drop test find out? :O

Cheers Cal.

Hey, I should be starting in October, medical permitting, so getting a little bit ahead of myself for specifics, but maybe someone currently there could answer a couple...

Finances could be tight for a while so trying to save up a wedge beforehand - what exactly do you take home each month? I saw a NATS doc. saying £680 a month after tax and pension?, then add to that about £250 for the accom. payment?

How much a week are people paying for the guest houses? I could stay with the missus' folks in Fordingbride(!) for cheaper, but as I'm thinking of cycling in, Fordingbridge might be too far compared to Boscombe.

Actually, on cycling - is it feasible? i.e. roads / access, changing facilities, somewhere to store bike?......and as we're on the subject, anyone else starting in October a budding triathlete (or runner / cyclist)? Would be good to have a ready made training partner! - I hear the Bournemoth triathlon in July each year is meant to be a good one.

Anyone else been told probably October?

Cheers

PS. I'll add some thoughts on the selection process to help anyone going through at the mo' - will try and do it soon as sounds like some have their stage 3 shortly...

Manchester Area Control Centre and Manchester Airport Control Tower
 

Hi there, I have recently come through stage 1 of the selection process and have had no luck in finding contact details for Manchester Area Control or Airport Control. I am desperate to get first hand experience of what an ATCO does day to day.

Does anyone have any information?

Thanks very much.

As promised...

Training to be an interviewer myself at work has been invaluable in learning to be a better interviewee......

Almost everywhere uses competency based behavioural interviews these days which means they'll ask for specific examples and drill down into your initial answer to get at exactly how you behaved in the situation to see if there's evidence of you having a competency (or two). If you give generalisations ("I always..." or "I usually..."), or if you say "we" a lot, they will struggle to find the evidence they need to pass you.

Most specific examples you prepare will be good evidence for more than one competency so don't be afraid to use them more than once, just re-focus them based on what competency you think the question is trying to find evidence for..... this is often quite straightforward in that they may say "tell me about a time you worked in a team", but there will be a competence framework sat behind the "teamwork" competency that they're checking off - this will explain what this means in more detail and gives examples of what constitutes good performance that they should look for in your answer.

Many companies frameworks will be the similar - teamwork will always be one of them as will communication, maybe leadership. See if your work has one (or if at Uni, see if the careers office has some examples). One competency I've only ever seen for ATC, other than "aviation focus", is "tenancity". (After finding out what it meant) I prepared a good example - i.e. about getting injured when training for a triathlon last year but digging in, doing lots of recovery work etc and still managing to compete and set a new PB for the bike split. Few things about this - what I took to be "the tenancity question" didn't mention the word, but I'm still pretty sure that's what it was. Having a positive outcome at the end of the example to prove why your actions were the right thing to solve that situation is good. I wouldn't be scared of using non-workplace examples although have some work stuff in there if you can.

Some examples of the technical questions:

3 pictures of airfields seen from above with an apron and runway, one where they're directly connected so looks like a podium, one where there are taxiways between them connecting to the two ends of the runway, and one where one taxi-way connects to one end and the other connects to the middle. Where would you want to work? How could you make that design better?

What would you have done from a ground / approach point of view if on duty when the 777 crashed. In what order?

One light, one medium, one heavy all same distance from aerodrome want to land - what order do you put them in and why?

Think I gave decent answers to these but I won't say here (I may have been wrong!, and gives you a chance to practice)

Hope some of this has helped,

Cheers