IAA Student Controller Programme 2018

LORD A

I applied for the student controller programme and I was just wondering how long did it take for people to hear back?

notharrypotter

LORD A wrote: »

I applied for the student controller programme and I was just wondering how long did it take for people to hear back?

To whom did you apply?

LORD A

notharrypotter wrote: »

To whom did you apply?

Oh my apologies, I applied through the IAA via their online application

faoiarvok

You will not be contacted until they start the recruitment competition. Plan was to start the process before the end of Q1, but this may now be delayed to run more advertising prior to the competition.

LORD A

faoiarvok wrote: »

You will not be contacted until they start the recruitment competition. Plan was to start the process before the end of Q1, but this may now be delayed to run more advertising prior to the competition.

Oh right I see, you wouldn't know how delayed it wil be? Apologies I could not find out on the website

faoiarvok

Afraid not, that's second hand information – so a couple grains of salt could be appropriate.

LORD A

faoiarvok wrote: »

Afraid not, that's second hand information – so a couple grains of salt could be appropriate.

Haha thanks for the reply mate, just a waiting game I suppose!

notharrypotter

New recruitment has launched.

We are currently accepting applications and will invite those applicants who meet the minimum requirements to begin the selection process.

Applications close on 15th March 2017.

Closing date is 15/3/2017.

DeltaOscar

Has anyone else applied for this? I filled the form out on their website but haven't had any corespondance yet?

Bsal

Reading the small print there is no allowance/payments made to the candidate during the 16 months of training, just something to think about before applying.

duskyjoe

Bsal wrote: »

Reading the small print there is no allowance/payments made to the candidate during the 16 months of training, just something to think about before applying.

Big picture Bsal. Students in college don't get paid to go either except by their parents. To those applying I think it is a wonderful job and have the height of respect for ATC people. Having flown professionally all around the world I deem Irish ATC as total pros and excellent controllers.

marketty

duskyjoe wrote:

Big picture Bsal. Students in college don't get paid to go either except by their parents. To those applying I think it is a wonderful job and have the height of respect for ATC people. Having flown professionally all around the world I deem Irish ATC as total pros and excellent controllers.

You have a point, but this isn't college, so no grant or back to education allowance, effectively meaning only those still dependent on parents need apply, so pretty much ruling out people 25+. The whole concept of the aptitude testing is that it should be open to pretty much all backgrounds, and candidates judged by their aptitude as demonstrated in testing. To narrow the pool of those who can be tested to just young people whose parents can afford it is quite short sighted by the iaa in my humble opinion. Remember many of those excellent controllers you have encountered were paid enough to get by during training and I'm sure some may not have been able to afford to enter the career otherwise. Successful students will be paid a very good salary for the next 30-40 years, would it not be a good investment to provide accommodation and a modest allowance for the 2 years of training?

arccosh

NATS are hiring also, along with Eurocontrol, if you fancy getting out of Ireland.....

both paid, although wages are pants until first rating (18 months to 2 years)

marketty

arccosh wrote:

NATS are hiring also, along with Eurocontrol, if you fancy getting out of Ireland.....

arccosh wrote:

both paid, although wages are pants until first rating (18 months to 2 years)

Under 25 only for Eurocontrol. NATS seem to have a good approach, trainee wage with an accommodation allowance.

DeltaOscar

Has anyone got an invite to an assessment yet?

Stovepipe

What duskyjoe is also forgetting is that ATC students are routinely gazumped by Air Corps ATCOs leaving to join the IAA system and they certainly don't work for free. It is a cynical move by the IAA to avoid paying a trainee, who may fail, so it puts the burden on the trainee. Given the cost of housing and transport and living in Dublin, this is one hell of a hit on the pocket. Equating it with college is wrong.

notharrypotter

Stovepipe wrote: »

Given the cost of housing and transport and living in Dublin Shannon, this is one hell of a hit on the pocket. Equating it with college is wrong.

Corrected it for you.

rudders

Got my invitation to assesment this morning. Anyone else on April 4th?

CiboC

I got 6th April @ 11:45

DeltaOscar

Does it mean something if I haven't go an invite yet or is it just different for everyone? Did ye get it be email?

CiboC

Mine was by email, but didn't arrive until 1530 this afternoon.

notharrypotter

DeltaOscar wrote: »

Does it mean something if I haven't go an invite yet or is it just different for everyone? Did ye get it be email?

Check your junk mail folder just in case.

LORD A

I got my email yesterday at around half three. I was aware of the fact that we will not be paid if we get through to the training however at 19 i have nothing to lose.

DeltaOscar

Do ye think I should ring them if I haven't got an invite at this stage? My understanding was that they were inviting everyone who met the requirements to the next stage which I do?

MissMcAttack

Yes I got an email on the 23rd, I have my assessment on April 4th! Tests will be pretty tricky but they said in the information email that there isn't any practicing you can do.

Uncle Mclovin

Anyone else apply but not get called for assessments?

DeltaOscar - did you phone them?

Silane

MissMcAttack wrote: »

Yes I got an email on the 23rd, I have my assessment on April 4th! Tests will be pretty tricky but they said in the information email that there isn't any practicing you can do.

I've done the tests twice, you can try doing standard aptitude tests for spatial awareness etc. It won't make you good at it if you're not already, but it will get your head working the right way if you know what I mean. You'll have a better idea of what to look for.

DeltaOscar

Finally, I got an email for an assessment on the 19th of April at 11:45. I was getting worried for a while that I had messed something up on the application.

ambitious

Does anyone know what the starting salary is?

rudders

ambitious wrote: »

Does anyone know what the starting salary is?

51k I believe

faoiarvok

rudders wrote: »

51k I believe

Not anymore

CoisFharraige

ambitious wrote: »

Does anyone know what the starting salary is?

It was €52K thereabouts and dropped to €32K. It may have gone up a bit since and also as mentioned there's no allowance on the ~ 2 year course from application to validation. There's a shift allowance of between 20%-22% added onto your salary.

notharrypotter

CoisFharraige wrote: »

It was €52K thereabouts and dropped to €32K.

Curious.

When was the starting salary €52K?

There's a shift allowance of between 20%-22% added onto your salary.

Shift allowance is 27%.

CoisFharraige

notharrypotter wrote: »

Curious.

When was the starting salary €52K?

Shift allowance is 27%.

"Salaries
Republic of Ireland: Students are paid an allowance of €18,969 per annum. The basic starting salary for fully qualified controllers is just under €51,000. With a shift allowance included, it comes to nearly €75,000."

Quoted from a document in 2011. Is it incorrect? Pretty sure I remember hearing this aswell back a few years ago when I visited Shannon.

faoiarvok

CoisFharraige wrote: »

"Salaries
Republic of Ireland: Students are paid an allowance of €18,969 per annum. The basic starting salary for fully qualified controllers is just under €51,000. With a shift allowance included, it comes to nearly €75,000."

Quoted from a document in 2011. Is it incorrect? Pretty sure I remember hearing this aswell back a few years ago when I visited Shannon.

Those figures are out of date, yes.

Edit: Sorry, just realised you were replying to the question about when those figures WERE accurate.

notharrypotter

CoisFharraige wrote: »

"Salaries
Republic of Ireland: Students are paid an allowance of €18,969 per annum. The basic starting salary for fully qualified controllers is just under €51,000. With a shift allowance included, it comes to nearly €75,000."

Quoted from a document in 2011. Is it incorrect? Pretty sure I remember hearing this aswell back a few years ago when I visited Shannon.

Can you link the document?

Barmanhu

Sat the FEAST today, i know i prob failed it. Just curious as to how anyone else who has sat it this week got on?

CiboC

Mine is tomorrow. Any hints...:)?

Barmanhu

CiboC wrote: »

Mine is tomorrow. Any hints...:)?

None really, take your time and read the instructions and make sure you understand what you need to do! Sorry but i feel i did crap so im prob not the best to ask!

Silane

Barmanhu wrote: »

Sat the FEAST today, i know i prob failed it. Just curious as to how anyone else who has sat it this week got on?

I wouldn't be so sure, it's designed to make you make mistakes, everybody does. I thought I'd failed too and passed it twice.

omega99

I'm doing mine next week.
Should I brush up on my mental arithmetic and percentage problems e.g
"what is 40% of 140 multiplied by 5 ?" or "which is greater: 80% of 340 or 30% of 900 ?"

Any of these type questions in the test?

Thanks and best of luck to all...

Barmanhu

To be honest there's nothing that can prepare you for it, the arithmetic section is very basic (at least on our test, I'm assuming there are similar but different versions) identifying odd numbers and even numbers and putting them into the relevant category I.e categorise all evens as odd numbers and place in the 25-100 box and then the numbers flashed up for a secondary or if the sum of the 3 numbers added up to greater than 10 put them into the 0-50 category, if you catch what I'm saying? All I'll say is ready the instructions and understand them before doing it. Best of luck.

Silane

omega99 wrote: »

I'm doing mine next week.
Should I brush up on my mental arithmetic and percentage problems e.g
"what is 40% of 140 multiplied by 5 ?" or "which is greater: 80% of 340 or 30% of 900 ?"

Any of these type questions in the test?

Thanks and best of luck to all...

Do some spatial reasoning tests
https://www.123test.com/spatial-reasoning-test/

Do some stroop effect tests
http://www.math.unt.edu/~tam/SelfTests/StroopEffects.html

And try some random IQ tests, there's loads online. There's nothing you can really do to pass this test if you don't have an aptitude for it, but practicing some of these tests will give you an idea of what to expect. Some parts of test there's nothing you can do to prepare.

The only other advice I would give is that some of the tests require very quick responses on time sensitive questions. For example you decide the answer is A, but by the time you click A the next question has appeared, the answer is B but you've entered A, meaning you missed two questions, the test is designed that way on purpose, you just need to compose yourself and get back in the rhythm quickly, if you start panicking it snowballs.
I'm guessing here, but I think in some of the tests, they're not just about getting the answer correct, but also about how quickly you can recover from a wrong answer

LORD A

Anyone know when we will hear back?

DeltaOscar

LORD A wrote: »

Anyone know when we will hear back?

I had my feast last Wednesday and they said we should hear back in 2 weeks time. So maybe next wednesday.

Uncle Mclovin

Any idea how many sat the FEAST?

Think there was about 18 there the day I did it and that was back at the start of April.

DeltaOscar

Uncle Mclovin wrote: »

Any idea how many sat the FEAST?

Think there was about 18 there the day I did it and that was back at the start of April.

About 20 in my session I think.

siobhan08

any idea when applications will open again?
I assuming it would be 2018 or will there be another recruitment this year.

faoiarvok

siobhan08 wrote: »

any idea when applications will open again?
I assuming it would be 2018 or will there be another recruitment this year.

It's been roughly a year since the previous one, so I reckon it'll be at least a year before there's another.

Bonomc8

Anyone heard anything back yet?

MissMcAttack

Got an email this morning saying I have passed the FEAST and will be sitting the DART on June 14th! Whoop!