1. Yes
2. Yes (This is stage 3 though)

Had stage 2 very recently, wasn't long before I heard the results..... On the train from Fareham to Gatwick and got a phone call telling me!!!!! Gotta go to Belfast for stage 3 though. One thing I would like to get more info on is the team excercises. Does anyone know if they are they looking for leadership abilities, team, both or something else???

A few questions, and please don't think I'm being facetious.

If you're a good team leader, but cannot work with others as equals or with someone else leading, would you think you'd be a good ATCO?

If you're good at taking orders and being told what to do but are not able to put your own view across, use your own initiative and instruct others who might look to you for leadership, would you think you'd be a good ATCO?

Gonzo, I know what you mean, thanks for the input. The reason I was asking is I have had leadership training from the RAF and wanted to make sure that it would fit in with what may be looked for in stage 3 whereby I can try and fit into both roles. I'm actually looking forward to it, surely nothing can mess with my head as much as the stage 2 computer tests (or can it :eek: ).

Ahh, you see, now I want to interview you...... :E:ok:

"Dear XXXXXXX

We confirm that your application has been withdrawn.

Yours sincerely


Recruitment & Selection
HR Services
NATS"

I got one of those once, it was a clerical error, as 2 minutes later I got another email asking me which dates I would like to attend the CTC

Hi Folks,

Is there anyone out there who has driven down to NATS CTC in Fareham for their interviews? Just wanted to know whether its straight forward to find, plenty of parking space etc?

Thanks

Hi,

Its easy enough to find. Soon as you get into Fareham, there's a large industrial estate on the left. You cant miss it. Its huge, and must have a good thousand parking spaces or so.

I had my stage2 down there two weeks ago. Got through thankfully. Quite nerve racking and they're actually giving out the results of the day immediately now. Apparently the June course is quite empty as is the september one.

The impression I got was that they just mark you on two things. computer tests and the motivation paper. Both out of about 30, and they give you the results of these about an hour later. The 30 question HR interview seemed to be just a general character check.

Usual questions
Why do you want to work for nats?
what skills do you need as a controller?
can you work well in a team? examples
can you work well under pressure? ex.
do you have good communicational skills? ex.
what do you think you'll be doing in 5 years time?

Hope thats of some help. I've got my stage3 in a week in Glasgow, so busy cramming in as much as possible now :uhoh:. Hope to see you on the course in september.

ps. If anybodies got any more tips on the group exercise, or the technical interview i'd be more than grateful. Cheers

Hi,

As Milly1 said its quite easy to find.The easiest way i found it was to plug the address onto AA route finder and that got me there without any problems.The bit you may find confusing is when you actually get into the industrial estate as there are many companies on that site.Just remember you are looking for building number 4000.There are loads of spaces but dont be surprised if you have to park on the road leading up to NATS as the car park is pretty rammed.
I was lucky and waited around the actual car park to see if anybody was leaving and found two very nice ladies that offered me their space....thanks girls.

The main reason for this post is to say that when i found out i had got through stage 2 last week, the lady said that they had not even marked my motivation paper yet.The results on the day that lead to me getting through and the three other candidates from not were purley down to the HR interview and the results on the computer tests.(You can fail the HR interview if they find you as not suitable!)
I found this quite strange as if i had not passed my motivation paper would that have meant i would go through anyway to stage three?


Who knows...all i know is i have made it to stage three and am very excited.

Good luck everybody who has some assessments looming :ok:

Thanks for the info guys. Got my stage 2 tomorrow. Think I've prepared as best I can for the interview and the motivation paper so nothing else I can do really except cross my fingers and hope it all works out.

Cheers

Hey!
I've had an email asking me to go for 1st stage even though I've not finished filling in my application form yet! Wonder why they're so eager to get people through the tests??? Do a large number fail at first stage?
I'd have gone for the tests (either tomorrow or thurs) if I didn't have my 3rd year uni exams tomorrow and fri!
Any idea when next available dates are??? Long shot, I know but thought I'd ask!

Hello!
 

Stage three soon! Anyone got any tips on the technical interview? Does the assessment really last 8hrs?!:eek:

Tips? Be yourself.

No, you won't be being assessed for eight hours, but your interview might be the last one of the day, in which case you might be waiting for a while....

Good luck:ok:

Hi Guys,

Im a bit worried as i have been hunting high and low for my gcse certificates to show NATS and i cant find them anywhere.
Has people that have been through the process recently been actually asked for them?

Cheers for the reponse :confused:

Certificates
 

Had to send mine to NATS after completing stage 3, so yes. Although they didn't specify GCSES, just exam certificates. Perhaps they are content with your highest qualifications, but I suspect they like to cross reference everything you put on your application form to see if you were fibbing.

Gastra: A friend of mine had a similar problem when his University asked to view his GCSE certificates.

You can always contact your exam boards (AQA, OCR etc). They should be able to supply you with either a another copy (if you're lucky) or a valid transcript of your results. You'll likely have to pay for it but they're definitely possible to get hold of.

Thanks for that guys.That has put my mind at ease

Final stage thursday :) anyone else going??!

How quick was that?
 

Steffi_kel, how did you manage to get to the final stage so quickly? Last week you couldn't make your stage 1 dates, now you have the final stage on Thursday. Things have really sped up! A couple of years ago there was nearly 18 months from application to college!!! Well done, and good luck:ok:

Thanks up_the_tower :)
I managed to shuffle around some revision for uni and just went to the first stage after my uni exam (and travel from South Wales to Notts)! Personality questionnaire completed and application form finished off and I'm booked in for thurs! Last time I applied it took a lot longer, but that was almost 3 years ago and the process has changed since :S

Hi Steffi, well if you get an interview question asking "are you able to manage your time?", I think you've got a good example there!:8

Anyone gonna be staying in the SAS Radisson on Tuesday 5th June in Belfast For the Final stage 3?

Gastra, i'm arriving on the Tuesday pm to do the stage 3 on the weds... Arriving at city airport from ABZ (sorry, EGPD!!).

Gastra
I didn't have my certificates but got in contact with the Headmasters secretary at my old school and she wrote me a nice confirmation letter which did the job nicely:)

Anyone know what the usual/average response time is to hear from NATS regarding the result of each stage. Did my stage 1 yesterday and although they say wait 15days from end of the week, im sure it was alot quicker than that last year when I went through selection?

Simfly, check your pms

Stage 2 preparation
 

Hello, I've just done my first stage assessment day this week and am waiting to hear the result.
If I am fortunate enough to get through to the 2nd stage I was wondering how I might prepare for the 2nd stage.
I understand that they send you a motivational pdf similar to the one for the 1st stage. What type info does it contain, is it based on bits of MATS pt1/pt2?

I've got a copy of the abc of Air Traffic Control by Graham Duke, which I'm using to try to improve my understanding of ATC. I also have a copy of ATC career prep. P Mattson.
Are there any other books, or other sources, out there that might be worth having a look at.
There are a couple of books on Amazon: The Fundamentals of ATC, M Nolan and The Air Traffic System A commonsense guide, M Brenlove. Might either of these be worth investing in. They both seem to refer to ATC in the US.
Also I've got a few questions prompted by the abc of ATC graham duke book, such as at the time of printing it says that the dividing point between FIR and UIR will be changed to FL195, has this happened yet. Where can I find out the answers to these and others? Maybe I should be asking this last bit in a different part of the forum?

the dividing point between fir and uir is still fl245, the fl195 refers to the change to the introduction of class c airspace back in march of this year.

if you get asked that in any interviews then they are being seriously tough on you!

hello can someone tell me what format the motivational test are in
is it multiple choice or essay format not to sure tbh
ty for you time :)
Is this part of the test an hour long or shorter
ty

ahhh ok read first post and answer is there doh
sry for being a noob :uhoh:

Good Luck
 

Folks, I just discovered this tonight, on the eve of my 3rd and final stage. Good luck to all....

and hope to see you there, i will make a more detailed post after tomorrows events. Fingers crossed!!!!

Personality Questionnaire
 

Last Thursday I completed my Stage 1 tests, felt I did ok except for one paper, the dreaded cubes. Found that very difficult and its down to the lap of the gods how I've done with that however I think I did well on my other papers. Does anyone know how the papers are marked, is it an overall percentage or if you do crap on one and well on others you still fail.

However, today I have received an email asking me to complete personality questionnaire, does this give me any indication that I might have passed the tests ie, no point giving me questionnaire to do if I've failed the stage 1 tests. Just a bit nervous on how I've done any thoughts would be gratefully accepted.

Many thanks

Shipway,

If you look further back in the thread it seems as if you only get the personality questionnaire sent to you if NATS were happy with your stage 1 results. However I think you can still fail the questionnaire bit depending on your results so its not a direct pass to stage 2. I did my questionnaire this afternoon and I am now waiting to hear back from that - if I fail at this point I would be pretty annoyed considering I did a similar test last year and got through it but hey you never know with these tests, in the past when i've done similar tests I always felt that I would answer differently if I was in a different mood, or thinking about a different situation!

Have you done the test yet, what did you or anyone else think of it? And does anyone know how much weighting is given to it over the other assesments from stage 1?

FDD

NATS only ask you to do the questionnaire if you've been succesful in the initial tests and if you 'pass' the personality questionnaire then you'll be invited to stage 2 which is the structured HR interview basically making sure you weren't lying on the online questionnaire!

PM me any Q's, I got through stage 3 last week so still fresh in my mind... kinda!

:)

Stage 1 Tests & Questionnaire
 

FDD & Steffi,

Many thanks for your responses!

I completed the tests last Thursday, found the motivation paper and basic checking fairly easy, as long as you’re quick at the basic checking. I then came to do the cubes!!!! That was difficult, I think its just one of the things you can either do or you can't, not something that’s easy to learn. I don't know how other people found it? I then completed a diagrammatic paper, which was about shapes in a sequence and following commands changing the sequence and orientation of the shapes. Found that ok although I didn't finish it as some questions took awhile to work through. Overall, I found the tests ok apart from the dreaded cubes. Now got to complete the personality questionnaire for which I’m a bit wary of as I believe you can fail it so very difficult on how to approach it whether you just be completely and utterly honest or attempt to answer what you think they are looking for.

I shall attempt to do it in the next couple of days

Cheers,

Tim

Shipway,

The danger of giving them what you think they want to hear is that come your interview they will have a profile of you which you have to stick to otherwise you are toast!! I failed the HR bit first time around and have a pretty good idea that being economical with the truth on the personality paper was the major factor. 2nd time around I was completely honest and am currently about to finish basic at the College.

Good luck:p

Just completed the online personality test. Am wondering roughly how long people are waiting to hear back from Nats, or Shl?
Also, am wondering about the possibility of visiting an ATC facility.
I live in London so West Drayton is probably my nearest option, although Swanwick probably isn't that far.
Would going to West Drayton give me a good idea of how an en-route centre like Swanwick would work, or are they completely different working environments?

West Drayton
 

I was told I failed the second stage towards the end of last year. I got a call from HR a couple of weeks ago to say I only failed marginally and would I like to try again from the same stage so I'm now booked in again for 27th June. I assumed I'd failed the computer tests but apparently it was the structured interview so I'm not sure how I'll improve as I was honest last time!

Anyway, I've been to Swanwick a couple of times and am going to West Drayton tomorrow evening so I'll let you know how it compares when I get back home after the weekend!

:p

Stage One rejection
 

I just heard today that haven't made it past the first stage and I, like many others I'm sure, am absolutely gutted. Now I have to wait a whole year.
I felt every part of the test went ok, and feel that I let myself down on the personality questionnaire as I analysed the questions too much when I should have just answered with my gut feeling.

Do you think that it's likely that I could have done well on the aptitude and motivation tests but been booted because of the personality questionnaire? I felt there was such a fine line between some of the questions, and I didn't want to give the "obvious answer". Big mistake I now know.

NATS don't give any feedback which we all know is really frustrating so I was wondering what other people who passed or failed thought of stage one, and how well they think they did. Maybe if someone who passed did something I didn't then that would be the feedback I need.

Also did people find they answered most of the questions, if time was running out did people guess? I was advised by friends who work at NATS beforehand not to do this, but to only answer the questions if you were fairly sure they were correct as the test is predominantly marked on accuracy. Therefore there were a lot of unanswered questions - I'm not sure now whether I should have done this and perhaps I should have just guessed the ones I skipped.

Apologies for the long post but it would be great to get an idea of how other people approached the tests and what they thought of them. To be exact on the Numerical test (matching the correct number) I answered 30 questions in section A and 31 in section B, on the diagramatic tests I answer 33 questions, and was confident in the accuracy of all of these.

Aaahh I just think I'd feel a lot better if I know where i went wrong!

Thanks everyone! Best of luck to all who have made it through.

Roll on 2008.......

Vic154
 

Bad luck,
IMHO there is an element of luck involved, you may only of missed the pass mark by 1 or 2 questions and on another day would have passed.

Firstly, regarding the personality questions.
I don't know how much weight is put on this or if you passed the other tests would 'failing' this eliminate you. However, my strategy was not to allow myself any thinking time, just answer straight away. As I recall, towards the end of the test there is questions that contradict earlier questions so you need to be careful of them. Also, if there was a question which I couldn't decide, I tried to think of it from a third party angle, i.e Q 'do you lead discussion when in a group ?' , A Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't, depends on subject I suppose. I though of how my friends would describe me and marked that box. It helped me.

Matching test:
I answerer all these within the time.

Spatial awareness:
I kept an eye on my watch and when I only had 5 minutes left I skimmed the rest of the questions and answered any I thought I could quickly, for the harder ones I tried to eliminate a couple of answers and increase my odds with an educated guess for each.

Motivation test:
Again, answered them all.

Maths test:
Similar to spatial.

I suppose overall, I answered the questions carefully and I hope accurately up to the 5 minute left mark, then sped up on the rest answering the ones I thought I could without much thought. Then guessing some if I got it down to a 50/50, then if time allowed think about the harder ones. I think I left 1 or 2 on the spatial, and answered all the rest. Thats not to say they were all correct, however, from reading previous posts I don't think they negatively mark(deduct for a wrong answer). I reckon there might be a cut off on the amount answered though, perhaps you must answer 75% of the questions...but I don't really know.

Anyway, If you answered about 30/40 ish of the questions, then next time you'll do a bit better because you know what to expect and the time restraints upon you, I am sure you'll be more relaxed aswell.

It's worth pointing out at this stage that I passed the tests last year so they may have changed the marking strategy by now.

I apologise to those who advocate the no guessing approach if you feel I have contradicted that. However I don't think I did, just explained how I did it, and that maybe some questions are suitable for an 'educated' guess and some certainly are not. If your time's running out and you don't think you've answered enough questions then IMHO you'd be as well having a guess at the easier ones.

I've went on a bit now...sorry.

Good luck next time.


P.S. I passed the test day last spring, failed the assessment centre(hr interview, atco interview, group exercise, another motivational paper)-this has all changed now aswell.
I received feedback(I think you can get feedback at the interview stage only) and was told that I marginally failed the hr interview only. 6 months later was asked if I wanted to resit it(without having to do everything else again) as it was a marginal fail. Of course, I did this and passed. How lucky is that...not having to do all the other stuff again.

Thanks to all you guys on here as you certainly helped me get through.:ok:

Look through previous posts and use the search facility and you will find all the answers to your questions and loads of other peoples opinions on the tests etc