Air Traffic Controller

djmcr

Getting a little ahead of myself but i was wondering about the medical, is this something similar to the pilots medical(Class 1 or 2) or something similar

skywatch

in control wrote: »

reading your messages, i wish to advise you of the following,
I am an air traffic controller with a fair bit of experience based in shannon centre. The job is tough and is not getting any easier . In Shannon we control out to 256 miles west of Ireland , north to 57n latitude and south to 49north and east as far as the coast of England, Wales and France. The shift is 5 days on and three days off starting at 1130am on a late duty finishing at 2115 that day . the next is a swing duty starting at 0930 and finishing at 1700 followed by 0800 start finishing at 1300 and back that night at 0000 ( midnight ) finishing at 0945. You are back in again at 2100 that night finishing at 0815 next morning. It is a quick changeover and you will be fairly tired at the end . The good news is that you are free for 3 days. On a positive side the money is good starting at €47000 . Add to this 27% shift allowance and bank holidays you start after training at circa €65000 rising to €100000 at the top of the scale. At the moment due staff shortages you can make a fair bit in overtime but it is not compulsory and up to you. Most of the controllers are good fun and like a drink but the shift is hard on your system and you cannot come to work with a sore head as it can be crazy busy and you would be a libability to your team .Hope this a bit of help to those applying.

Just one quick question in control, are you paid shift allowance while taking annual leave or how does it work and also how many days leave do new qualified controllers get? Thanks a lot for the information, very helpful:)

McGintyMcGoo

For any of you that are interested, here are some lecture notes for an MIT course in ATC.

Cheers

McGintyMcGoo

in control

skywatch wrote: »

Just one quick question in control, are you paid shift allowance while taking annual leave or how does it work and also how many days leave do new qualified controllers get? Thanks a lot for the information, very helpful:)

Yeah its paid all year round and included in your cheque every two weeks. I think it is 30 days leave when you qualify. Not sure of when you are training. The shift allowance works out at 27 per cent of your salary and covers weekends , nights etc . On top of that you get public holiday pay for xmas , easter, and other bank holidays.

jse

hi skywatch, check your private messages!

djmcr

djmcr wrote: »

Getting a little ahead of myself but i was wondering about the medical, is this something similar to the pilots medical(Class 1 or 2) or something similar

.

djmcr

syberspud wrote: »

Apparently there's going to be no mathsy calculations - it's just gonna be pure waffle! My interview is on the 26th - ****ting it is an understatement since I reckon the calibre of the candidates is very high at this stage and like a previous poster said I really haven't been taking it seriously up until now...they called back 100 so a 1 in 4 shot at a dream job ain't bad I guess. May the force be with you all anyway...and hopefully I'll even get to meet some of you in person on our team building adventure weekend jazz!

Well how did you get on

syberspud

Bit of a nightmare tbh...kinda reluctant to say too much since my anonymity may be threatened...but still... :mad: Definitely the toughest interview I've sat (then again I haven't sat many). Pretty standard interview questions to be fair but they really do grill your sorry ass - sometimes barely giving you time to answer the questions and often interrupting you with secondary and related questions. You really will have to fight your corner. Make sure you say what you want to say because a moments hesitation and they will cut you off and move on. Expect some random ATC related scenarios as well where you're asked what course of action you'd take in the following situation and they give you a big spiel about some bollix or another. These felt like there was a definite right or wrong thread of reasoning although they gave no indication either way and moved on. A lot of my prepared answers went completely out the window under their forceful scrutiny but overall, I'd say I fielded the majority of them quite well. I didn't lose my cool at least but it was tempting on several occasions. Definitely messed up a few questions where I kinda changed my answer - mid answer if you like and felt bad about it afterwards. But (like exams) you tend to overanalyse in the postmortem and of course a better answer always pops into your head as soon as you leave the building!:rolleyes: Don't feel that confident because it kinda felt like they were shoving me out the door at the end! Suffice to say, I went for a few beers afterwards and felt a bit more philosophical about the whole thing. But still, delighted it's over.
Best of luck to the rest of you! Play it :cool:

expediateclimb

They wanted to see if you could handle yourself competently while under pressure. Trust me, in ATC when the s*** hits the fan you will definitely need that skill.

jw86

well,still,probably it wasn't the worst interview u had:rolleyes: how long was the show? how many of them were there?:rolleyes:

syberspud

It was the same as the preliminary interview - about 40 minutes (felt like 4!) and there was a panel of three (although no hottie like the first one! ) The only perceivable difference in the setup is that you're a lot further away from the panel cos the table is MASSIVE and their attitude is generally more hard nosed!

tomcollins97

A friend of mine got through to the final stage & has just had his interview. Went OK he thinks but I suppose you can never really know. He got asked some tricky questions but was happy enough with how it all went.

Apparently everyone will know by around the 3rd week of December.

Good luck everyone - I hope Santa brings you what you wish for!

Tom

tomcollins97

Has anyone got the results of their final interview yet? I think that they were due to finish on 11th so any day now... :rolleyes:

Neo#

They told me we would find out just before christmas. So id give it another week or so.

djmcr

Guys, news out

Neo#

How i the new out. Did you get a phone call?

djmcr

Neo# wrote: »

How i the new out. Did you get a phone call?

Know someone who got called...

tomcollins97

Me too! And it's all good!!!! Good luck to everyone else

manhattan28

tomcollins97 wrote: »

Me too! And it's all good!!!! Good luck to everyone else

You are some man, you told us earlier you didn't get past the preliminary interview as you were a "senior manager" and now you've got the job, some going!!

Dundhoone

tomcollins97 wrote: »

I got a letter of doom too ! Maybe having a good career already is not such a good thing for the IAA!

What kind of areas are other people in who have been turned down & accepted? I am a Senior Manager with an investsment bank!

TomC

Tom got turned down AND accepted. What a rollercoaster of a letter that must have been.

remember those planes need clear instruction Tom:D

jse

Reads to me like tom is saying he "knows someone" who got accepted as opposed to got accepted himself.

djmcr

jse wrote: »

Reads to me like tom is saying he "knows someone" who got accepted as opposed to got accepted himself.

Tom said "me too" to my comment which was that I knew someone that got called.

skelliser

i saw an ad in the indo or irish times during the week about some european(as in E.U HQ or something) atc centre recruiting ppl, similar to this, 2 years training and then promoted etc

djmcr

skelliser wrote: »

i saw an ad in the indo or irish times during the week about some european(as in E.U HQ or something) atc centre recruiting ppl, similar to this, 2 years training and then promoted etc

Its Eurocontrol that is recruiting and here is the link for those interested

http://www.eurocontrol.int/muac/public/standard_page/NoticeOfCompetition.html

manhattan28

djmcr wrote: »

Tom said "me too" to my comment which was that I knew someone that got called.

did you get accepted djmcr and did your friend that got the call get accepted?

tomcollins97

jse wrote: »

Reads to me like tom is saying he "knows someone" who got accepted as opposed to got accepted himself.

Correct - apologies for all the confusion - I'm not trying to annoy anyone! I did get turned down but a freiend got accepted, and I am delighted for them - and anyone else who made it! It is an incredible achievement and you should all be very proud. Well done

tomcollins97

manhattan28 wrote: »

You are some man, you told us earlier you didn't get past the preliminary interview as you were a "senior manager" and now you've got the job, some going!!

I never said I got the job - read the post again!

Neo#

Is there anyone here like me still waiting to see how you did?

Mint

Neo# wrote: »

Is there anyone here like me still waiting to see how you did?

I'm waiting too Neo - but seeing as its going to be a rejection - I'm not too bothered when it gets here.

Merry Christmas to everyone!!

jse

Don't be too despondent about rejection/no letters, i believe there will most likely be another class of recruits taken from the same panel so places 25 to 48 will probably be sufficient. Happy Christmas all..