Air Traffic Controller

AlanD

I suppose if you want the job, you won't mind what notice they give you.

bor

Got letter this morning for test. 22nd of Sept in Greshem

Jugs82

Me too - best of luck!

el tel

As a side-venture I make some contributions to a various careers guides relating to jobs in various branches of the aviation industry and now I've been asked to go through the IAA recruitment process. As far as ATC goes, I've previously completed the EuroControl and NATS processes (and turned down jobs in the end). The best advice to anyone going for these tests is practice on SHL psychometric, verbal and numerical tests and also practice your mental arithmetic, including fractions and percentages. Good luck, maybe see you there!

Celtic07

el tel wrote:

As a side-venture I make some contributions to a various careers guides relating to jobs in various branches of the aviation industry and now I've been asked to go through the IAA recruitment process. As far as ATC goes, I've previously completed the EuroControl and NATS processes (and turned down jobs in the end). The best advice to anyone going for these tests is practice on SHL psychometric, verbal and numerical tests and also practice your mental arithmetic, including fractions and percentages. Good luck, maybe see you there!

My test is the 18th. got a feeling its going to be hard :eek:

el tel

Celtic07 wrote:

My test is the 18th. got a feeling its going to be hard :eek:

You have plenty of time to practice and do your research. Everyone will find it tough and the people with the best scores in the intial tests will not necessarily be the ones selected by the end.

Celtic07

el tel wrote:

You have plenty of time to practice and do your research. Everyone will find it tough and the people with the best scores in the intial tests will not necessarily be the ones selected by the end.

Any websites or books you recommend?

samk

Same question as somebody posted before me. What websites are best for psychometric testing?

Ginger

I was talking to some of the training guys this weekend. Its a fairly tough test, its a case this weeds out the people not suitable for the interview afterwards.

Best thing to do folks, is try to remain calm under the pressure.. Remember the context of what you will be testing for, as in its spatial awareness, ability to cope with multiple situations at once and under pressure.

Sweating about it now is a waste of time, only get worried when you need to its easier!

I just hope people are not just doing this for the money .. it aint all that for the money.

Celtic07

Ginger wrote:

I was talking to some of the training guys this weekend. Its a fairly tough test, its a case this weeds out the people not suitable for the interview afterwards.

Best thing to do folks, is try to remain calm under the pressure.. Remember the context of what you will be testing for, as in its spatial awareness, ability to cope with multiple situations at once and under pressure.

Sweating about it now is a waste of time, only get worried when you need to its easier!

I just hope people are not just doing this for the money .. it aint all that for the money.

the money is 1 factor to me i must admit but mainly its to get a new job hate my job at the mo :mad: Dream job is ta get in2 psni/gardai to b honest just gotta keep trying. Air traffic controller wud b nxt thou for defo

Ginger

Would you mind translating that into english?????

nesf

Celtic07 wrote:

the money is 1 factor to me i must admit but mainly its to get a new job hate my job at the mo :mad: Dream job is ta get in2 psni/gardai to b honest just gotta keep trying. Air traffic controller wud b nxt thou for defo

Hey, just as a courtesy to other posters could you not use textspeak on this forum. It can be quite difficult to read at times.

Thanks.

Celtic07

nesf wrote:

Hey, just as a courtesy to other posters could you not use textspeak on this forum. It can be quite difficult to read at times.

Thanks.

Sorry nesf and ginger.

I meant to say that alot of people will go for it just for the money. I though had my name on file with the iaa before the job became open a few weeks ago. I wont txt speak again i swear just a habit

nesf

Celtic07 wrote:

Sorry nesf and ginger.

It's no problem. It's just a courtesy thing really. If you're not used to it it's very difficult to read quickly.

Celtic07

Anyone else doing it on the 18th?

sinjin_smythe

so come on people,, anyone got any revision plans for this? useful sites? anything, or will i be the onlyone going in with no idea?

Celtic07

weedhead wrote:

so come on people,, anyone got any revision plans for this? useful sites? anything, or will i be the onlyone going in with no idea?

No not a clue. Id say people doing it on the 20th are the dopes

Celtic07

Just said that to annoy my sis..............yes weedhead im the same but alot of people are like this id say.

mikemac

Doing it on the 18th at 2pm.
I'm fairly handy at those aptitudes tests having made to the final stages of AIB graduates and Civil Service Executive Officer and PSNI.

Didn't take any of those jobs though.

SHL website is good and there are plenty of books in Easons.

No. 1 tip: Don't complain here afterwards if you run out of time. Yes, they're designed to be tough to finish but I've never done an aptitude test that can't be completed.
If you stuck don't dawdle just move on. That's what will give you the vital few percent over most candidates assuming you're getting roughly the same amount of correct answers. You should have time to check everything at the end.

I often start at the end of the test and work backwards so you can do the hardest questions first.

Seriously, if this is going to be like a standard aptitude test, don't moan here next week that you ran out of time.
It may be radically different though.

Ginger

As I have said before.. this test is designed to weed out people that dont qualify for interview.

So it will test a lot of aspects of the stuff that controllers do.

If you think about it logically, what are the aspects of this job and that is what will help you somewhat. Cant say much more really

Best of luck to you all

Cantab.

nesf wrote:

Hey, just as a courtesy to other posters could you not use textspeak on this forum. It can be quite difficult to read at times.

Thanks.

You could also put the lives of a whole plane full of passengers at risk.

expediateclimb

Ginger,

Its pretty clear that you work for the IAA so I was just wondering if you are actually employed as a controller and if so what is your opinion of the job?

Ginger

Nope I dont work for the IAA, just would be closely tied to it.

AlanD

Ginger wrote:

Nope I dont work for the IAA, just would be closely tied to it.

you might have some information about the job that could be of interest to some of us then. Assuming someone qualifies, how long are the shifts, how often are they?

You mentioned above that "it aint all that for the money". Taking money out of the equation, what about the job isn't all that, in your opinion.

Thanks.

Ginger

Depending on the rotation and it could have changed, it was a 5 on 3 off system.

It used to be late (2->10), swing (start at 10 i think) , morning (7am), night 1(10), night 2 (3/4AM).. followed by 3 days off.

Which for some people can a bit of a change if they are used to working a normal 5 day week. The problem would be that your weekend shifts along and you have a different week to everyone else. Think finishing your week on a monday morning and then heading back to work on a friday afterrnoon. Also you could be working Christmas and standard holidays.

Its 18K for 2 years while you are training and then 44K + shift allowance (i think). If you are on more than 18K at the moment, that can a significant drop. The money is good but it depends on what you want to do really.

Its all behind the scenes stuff, you arent seen. But it can be very rewarding when you think of what you are doing.

Depends on the section where you are working. Its like tower, approach, low level and high level. All different skills. again I dont know enough about the ratings and what way people go after training.

I love the whole planes thing, I have grown up with them and loved going into the tower. But I dont think ATC was for me. I am a computer type person so I was always going into that. I suppose think of a really cool job and when you have a family member working in it or grew up with it, you see it in a different light. So a biased view in my case.

therecklessone

Read here

Ask a few general questions here

Aussie ATCO's blog

And search the web.

AlanD

Ginger wrote:

Depending on the rotation and it could have changed, it was a 5 on 3 off system.

It used to be late (2->10), swing (start at 10 i think) , morning (7am), night 1(10), night 2 (3/4AM).. followed by 3 days off.

Thanks Ginger and I know you attempted to explain this to me before, but how you describe that sort of a rota above does not make sense.

How shifts work is alien to me, but I'm all for adapting to it. So is my understanding correct?
Say start on Monday.
Monday 2pm to 10pm
Tuesday 10am to 6pm
Wednesday 7am to 3pm
Thursday 10pm to 6am
Friday 3am to 11am

I just don't understand the terminology you use, like swing. Some clarification would be great.

I'm really looking forward to the tests and fingers crossed, the interviews. This is the sort of stuff I love. I'm in computers at the moment (for 10 years) so this challenge will be something I can't wait to get in to. The problem solving, the quick decisions, the understanding of how planes, air and earth fit together. All things I think about all the time.

Ginger

Sorry the terminology was the name of the shift so that instead of saying I am starting at 2 .. i am on a late. Just easier

And I think they did a morning followed by nights. on the same day and then nights 2 was in day 5...

AlanD if your interest is there, its not the money you are working for

AlanD

Ginger wrote:

Sorry the terminology was the name of the shift so that instead of saying I am starting at 2 .. i am on a late. Just easier

And I think they did a morning followed by nights. on the same day and then nights 2 was in day 5...

AlanD if your interest is there, its not the money you are working for

Thanks for that. From another post:

8 teams of about 15+ controllers each work 5 on and 3 off.It consisits of starting on days and finishing on nights. As an example lets take monday as the first day of the pattern...

Monday:1130 to 2115
Tuesday:0930 to 1700(with some variation to 1930)
Wednesday:0800 to 1300 and then back in again THAT night at midnight
Thursday:0000 to 0945 and back in again on Thursday evening at 2100 but its counted as a friday duty since most of it occurs on friday.
Friday:2100(from thursday evening) to 0815 Friday morning.

I agree with you. Money is irrelevant in most cases. I'm 10 years in the IT industry and that is an industry that pays well if you work hard and at the end of it all money is just money. The challenge is what I'm after.

Dub13

8 teams of about 15+ controllers each work 5 on and 3 off.It consisits of starting on days and finishing on nights. As an example lets take monday as the first day of the pattern...

Monday:1130 to 2115
Tuesday:0930 to 1700(with some variation to 1930)
Wednesday:0800 to 1300 and then back in again THAT night at midnight
Thursday:0000 to 0945 and back in again on Thursday evening at 2100 but its counted as a friday duty since most of it occurs on friday.
Friday:2100(from thursday evening) to 0815 Friday morning.

I have to say thats bad shift pattern,I don't have much experience of shift cycles but that looks bad to me.

Mokong

don't suppose anyone would know if the IAA still have test letters to send out.

I haven't got anything yet and really getting worried, my leaving cert results and everything are above the requirements so i don't see I could could not get to take the test.

Looking through this thread I can see I applied a bit later than all of ye, dispite getting a letter from the IAA about 5 days before they advertised telling me they would advertise (i've been on their mailing list since 2002), there was some personal issues i had to go over first before i could apply but figured if i applied before the 10th Sept all would be fine, i sent my application on the 6th.

Who knows maybe it'll come in the post today, but i just hope having applied a bit late doesn't cost me this opportunity.

therecklessone

Mokong wrote:

don't suppose anyone would know if the IAA still have test letters to send out.

Asking in the wrong place mate, call HR at the IAA and ask!

Mokong

therecklessone wrote:

Asking in the wrong place mate, call HR at the IAA and ask!

I'd be worried they might consider that "canvasing" and disqualify me for it

AlanD

Regarding the shifts. Does anyone have experience of working shifts or being part of a family who's parent worked shifts similar to the ones mentioned above.

How does it affect you from a personal point of view. How does it affect your family dealings. How does your wife or girlfriend deal with the kids. This will be alien to many of you single folks, but for those of you with wives/husbands/kids, how does shift work change your life.

Celtic07

Yeah that shift pattern looks abit crazy alrite :eek:

AlanD

how real is that shift above?

therecklessone

AFAIK it's close enough, though Dublin's roster is different.

Read this thread on Flying in Ireland.

Celtic07

therecklessone wrote:

AFAIK it's close enough, though Dublin's roster is different.

Read this thread on Flying in Ireland.

you have to have good eyeight i know. i wear them when driving would i be ****ed so if i got that far?

Mokong

yay, got my letter today (pretty much the 11th hour huh?), my test will be Wed 26th at 10am

Now from one kind of worrying, to another, haha

Celtic07

Ive got the test in 45 mins ahhhh think im ****ed:eek:

sinjin_smythe

Celtic07 wrote:

Ive got the test in 45 mins ahhhh think im ****ed:eek:

well how was it ? any advice for the rest of us ?

eibp

Hi folks ,have the test myself on the 28th and would really appreciate some feedback from those of you who have completed it.Gettin a bit nervous bout it now.Oh yeah, and does anyone know if the people with the highest marks get called back or what?I know not all apptitude tests work like that.

biZrb

Im just back from the test, I didn't find it too hard at all.

They test things like your reaction speed, your perception abilites and theres some maths stuff in it too.

Celtic07

biZrb wrote:

Im just back from the test, I didn't find it too hard at all.

They test things like your reaction speed, your perception abilites and theres some maths stuff in it too.

Test was hard in parts ok in others. Sort of a on the day thing

rediguana

I'm supposed to be tested on Wednesday. I don't think I'm going to go though. Hard to get time off work and, after seeing the shifts and the ratio of applicants to jobs, I don't feel as motivated.

That's me though. I think anyone interested should give it their best shot. If nothing else, you get some free practice at real-life psychometric tests. They're hard to avoid these days.

If you like planes, have some cash, and aren't a dumbo, check out Sigmar Aviation. For E100K, you can train in South Africa to be a pilot. I did their tests and was accepted onto their programme. Then I remembered that I didn't have the bread. Nice dream.

AlanD

Just had my exam today. It was ok. Some tricky things. But all manageable if you have the right aptitude. I either did useless or did really well. Who knows!!!

Celtic07

AlanD wrote:

Just had my exam today. It was ok. Some tricky things. But all manageable if you have the right aptitude. I either did useless or did really well. Who knows!!!

The tests are on saturdays as well so......god alot must have applyed alrite

AlanD

any idea when they'll post out the letters to say how we got on? Dying to find out.

Neo#

It would have to be soon enough with that schedule they posted. The tests are still going though. I dont have mine until friday.

Celtic07

AlanD wrote:

any idea when they'll post out the letters to say how we got on? Dying to find out.

It cant be much longer if the interviews are on in mid oct....cause they will have to give you 2 weeks notice for it id say. Id be suprised if i get a call back...