Stage 2
 

Anyone else booked in for 15th April?

Stage 3
 

How did it go conc1845?

Anyone booked in for stage 3 next Monday? Good luck to anyone doing their interviews tomorrow or Wednesday!

Stage 2
 

Anyone else booked Stage 2 for Monday 11th of April? Would be fun to catch up the day before or so, just send me a message if you want to! :ok:

Good luck with the interviews guys!

Passed!
 

Hi Calum, Evie and others. Keep meaning to post to say that I had also passed my interview!! Got a conditional offer to start on 13th April too.

Just passed my medical today, managed to view a few flats. Pretty expensive! But I'm moving down with my wife who will be doing a masters at University of Portsmouth, so looking at places for us to rent near there. Which will mean a bit of a drive for me but oh well.

See you all soon!

Doug

Stage 2 tests
 

Anyone got stage 2 tests on 18th March??

Congrats Doog ! I was thinking of starting a FB group for everyone starting on April 13th I know it's been done before but would be a good way for us all to discuss accommodation , and to communicate when we actually start for group study etc
Let me know if any of you would be keen

Calum

Haha well done everyone on getting through, I'm so happy I know a few of you! And yes Calum they saved the best for last..
Shall we all add each other on Facebook and we can all start sorting out accommodation etc? Feel free to pm me :)
Evie

I've just received an e-mail this morning and among other info there's also mention of a private FB group for us starting on 13th..so probably there's no need to create another one :)

NATS offers
 

Hi everyone, reading this forum has helped me massively. I have my stage 3 on Monday 14th, and I was wondering what the policy is for a start date?

I have seen a number of people starting on 13 April which would be too early for me, as of relocation etc! And I would like to start around September or later in the year, is there any chance of this? Or is it an April offer or nothing?

Any advice would be great!

Thanks
Darren

Hi Everyone,

I also have Stage 2 Tests on the 11th of April and will be staying at the Premier Inn in Farnham the night before, so if anyone is around and wants to grab a drink / food let me know.

I only applied back in January so it's gone much quicker than I expected so far, but am also hoping for a later start date (April of Next Year) I realise that there is a lot to pass between now and then but it would be gutting to be offered a place on a course in September and not be able to take it up. After following this forum for a while and seeing how long it was taking I didn't expect to already be sitting stage 2 in a few weeks.

Good luck to everyone sitting Stage 2 in for the March / April Dates!

hi darren.

i had my stage three last week and have been offered a place, subject to medical and security clearance etc.

the start date mentioned was june 6th.

Can I ask what age all you recent applicants are?

I applied about 10 years ago, and got to the 2nd interviews, but didn't proceed due to
circumstances at the time.

I'm wondering if at 34 I'm getting a bit too old for consideration

Hi rr9. Congrats for passing! Any advice for stage 2? And how difficult is it?

a few questions
 

Hello everyone, i have passed stage 2 and have been invited for stage 3 but naturally have a few questions if anyone can answer.

1: how long after stage 3 interviews do you typically then start the training
2: whats the typical costs of accommodation in the area?
3: i have read the salary is typically around £12k at the start, is this for the first 3 months or 12 months? i have read conflicting information on this
4: how much of the training is based at fareham and how soon is it until you are posted elsewhere for on the next stage of training, again is this after 3 months or a year?


sorry for the questions but i have a family to support and im not living local so big decisions to be made

1. Don't know.

2. Check rightmove and other letting agencies in the area, it depends entirely on where you want to live. The college is in Whiteley which is a well off area with a lot of family style houses. As a result, you're looking at more to rent/buy there than you would in Southampton or Portsmouth. Bonus being that you don't have to try and get into Whiteley every morning, which is a nightmare.

3. The salary will stay at your starting salary whilst you're at the college, it jumps a bit when you finish the college and get posted to a unit. How long that takes depends on what course you do and how well you do at it. For a tower or approach course it's less than an area rating course. Expect a year at the college and you won't be disappointed.

4. The college course is at Whiteley and then you're posted to a unit. You can express a preference, but you'll go where the company needs you and you could well end up back at Cardiff having just moved all your family down here. Likewise you could end up in Aberdeen.

A question; what is the easiest way to arrive to NATS for the Stage 2 testing? I'm going to travel from London on sunday (going to NATS on monday 11/4). Are there any buses from Southampton to NATS or anywhere near? How is the traffic early monday morning?

Looks like it's some distance if you're gonna be staying the night in Southampton though. I will probably not be able to rent a car either. What would you recommend is the best way to get there? (I'm Swedish so I'm not that familiar with UK buses/trains)!

It depends where you're staying - the Solent Hotel in Whiteley is about a 5 - 10 minute walk. Having never stayed there, I don't know how much it is to stay:

Hotels in Hampshire | Solent Hotel & Spa, Fareham

If you're staying in Southampton, then it's quite a hike to get there. The nearest station is Swanwick, which is about a 25 minute walk...on a good day, although there are taxis, but again I'm not sure of the costs. Trains can be taken from Southampton Central - check the trainline.com

Alternatively, the 28/28A bus goes from Swanwick Station to Parkway in Whiteley which is just down the road from NATS

http://www.firstgroup.com/uploads/maps/Route-28_28a.pdf
Timetables | Portsmouth, Fareham & Gosport | First UK Bus

Taking my stage 2 on April the 20th
 

Hi! I passed my stage 1 last week and I've booked my Stage 2 for the 20th of April. I would really appreciate all kinds of advice, such as where to stay, how to get there from the nearest central points (southampton central station), if anyone has booked for the same day, or some kind of tips and hints for the exam itself.

Hey guys, Is anyone sitting their Stage 3 tests on Monday the 18th of April? I'll be heading down from Manchester the day before, will look to get into Fareham around mid afternoon if anybody wants to meet up.
J.

Hi guys, quick question. So I've only sent my job application a week or two ago and was just wondering how long I will have to wait to hear anything back. Would I be emailed? Is it sent through the post? Will it be in a few months time?
If I don't even make it to the online test stage will I be told, or will the lack of a reply be all? Any help and info would be hugely appreciated. Thanks :)

Hi Carlos,

Can you send me a PM?

Hey BlueJD,

I'm also having my Stage 3 interview the 18th of April and I'm also arriving on Sunday. If you'd like you can send me your facebook/whatsapp etc. in a PM

Rik

Hi guys,

I've got my stage 2 tests on the 29th April and I'm staying at a little Bed and Breakfast the night before.

Anyone here booked on that date and would fancy a meet up on the 28th just let me know, we can grab a drink or some food etc...

Dave

Thanks @norse12. Unfortunately I didn't pass Stage 2... (keep reading below though):confused:


---


Question to all though- how many people did everyone have at their assessment days? I'm in an odd situation as nobody on my assessment day passed and so I stopped thinking about NATS altogether but I received an email a few days ago saying that their scoring has changed meaning I've passed and so have offered me another assessment day (18 or 19th April) and interview (25th April if assessment is passed). This is really odd and unexpected and so was wondering whether anyone else had heard of this happening?:bored::confused:

Anyone else booked Stage 2 for Friday 15th of April??

Anyone? I see people talking about going through to the next stages and if I've not made even this first level then there's no point me keeping my hopes up and I can get back to something more productive.

@vc21 there was a guy at my stage three last month who went through the same experience as you. I think he had to go back and just complete the DART test again, but not sure the exact details. Whatever he did he passed, so don't give up hope :ok: Good luck for the 18th/19th :)

Stage 2 assessment
 

Would just like to say big thanks to everyone on this forum, as it has been a massive help. Just passed my initial online assessments and now I am waiting for an available date for the stage 2 assessments.

Got the dreaded email stating "We are not currently holding any assessment dates". If anyone knows when NATS are next holding stage 2's, please let me know. Until then, thanks again.

@Rogan616
Nats will contact you when they have assesment days open, it's a bit of a waiting game. Think I had to wait 3 months before they got in touch with me to do Stage 2.

Stage 2
 

Thanks The-Kenyan.

I received an email this morning asking me to choose an assessment date for stage 2. Anyone else going on the 27th April?

I took my stage two tests back on the 18th of Jan and didn't pass the FEAST test.

Just had an email from the recruitment team saying they have adjusted the scoring method for the stage 2 tests to align them with elsewhere in Europe and have been offered the stage two DART test!

Just wondering if anyone else had this email?

Harry

I got the same thing after taking the stage 2 on the 4th. I replied to the email about not being able to get to those dates due to work and got a reply saying some more dates for the dart test will be released for May.

There were 10 of us on the day and only 2 got asked to stay back for the afternoon.

After submitting the initial application, if you pass the requirement i.e. age, english and maths etc.. they will email you with the stage 0 online tests. Noone knows how long it will take as there as people who have waited a few days but also thise who have been waiting for a few months. Since they are advertising trainee as a job Im guessing they should reply to you within 2 weeks? If not, maybe try contacting them as there has been a few issues where theres been a problem with the system. Theyre generally quite quick at replying on the fb page "NATS careers".

@brentmeistergeneral thanks! They just offered me a place to do my DART tests on the 18th since i already did the feast last time. Fingers crossed!Though just unexpected as I already had my mind set on a different career route!

I had to chase them up with an email. They then responded quickly to tell me that they had sent me a link to the online tests, but if I could not find it then they could send it again, which they did promptly.

So send an email to them. I used [email protected]

I waited about eight weeks in my reply for stage 1, the rest afterwards I usually heard within a few days. I've heard of people waiting months for the response to the applications though... who knows?

Hi VC21 this happened to me to! I missed the initial two days but they are opening more up in May. Guess it's a little bit of good luck!

@shockwaves500 looks like theres quite a few of us. There was a mention of someone in our situation too and he got onto stage 3! Good luck guys!! Im booked onto DArt on 18th! Hopefully we'll all meet on the other side :D p.s. there were 4 of us at feast and we all just looked at each other when they told us noone had passed :/

I wonder if they will send more emails out inviting people back to take the DART test later this week or another time. I took the FEAST in winter last year and put NATS on the back burner while I wait for the 24 month waiting period to lapse but I`m back on edge now after seeing this.

Good luck to all.

Edit: NATS have apparently already contacted all those who are eligible.

@VC21. Thanks, I hope so.

Guess they have not filled out their training courses. Or because of the backlog before are short of trainees.

Either way good news for us near misses.

Tomorrow...... :cool: