Hiring Bid Air Traffic Control Specialist - Trainee: FAA-ATO-18-ALLSRCE-57792

[yngwie]

I'm curious about something from the test. On the differences section, after you put in your answer a new number would pop up immediately. So did you guys try to do these as fast and accurate as possible and solve more? Did it stop after a set number of problems or was there a timer? I thought it felt like it lasted 2 minutes or so, and I tried to solve as many as I could in that time. But I'm not sure if that will help my score at all.

 

[MagioX1]

I'm curious about something from the test. On the differences section, after you put in your answer a new number would pop up immediately. So did you guys try to do these as fast and accurate as possible and solve more? Did it stop after a set number of problems or was there a timer? I thought it felt like it lasted 2 minutes or so, and I tried to solve as many as I could in that time. But I'm not sure if that will help my score at all.

I solved them as fast as I could as the faster I solved the problems the less chance I had to forget the previous number.

I felt like I did horrible on the test yet I got referred so I'm super excited!

 

[Tmaxx219]

Gotcha. Well the fact that you got an invitation to take the AT-SA means that you did do everything right and that you actually did pass the initial screening. HR goes through and weeds out people who don't have the requisite work experience/education requirements BEFORE sending out invitations to take the AT-SA. Not everyone who applies gets invited to take the test, so if you didn't receive an invitation to take the test then that would be a good reason to call and ask them for advice.

However, since you did get an invite to take the test, unfortunately the only thing that kept you from getting Referred was your score on the AT-SA. There's literally no other factors whatsoever. Best advice would be to study up and hopefully do better next time. But nothing in your application package kept you from being referred.

thanks for the advice man!

 

[ChuckMastaT]

I'm curious about something from the test. On the differences section, after you put in your answer a new number would pop up immediately. So did you guys try to do these as fast and accurate as possible and solve more? Did it stop after a set number of problems or was there a timer? I thought it felt like it lasted 2 minutes or so, and I tried to solve as many as I could in that time. But I'm not sure if that will help my score at all.

Mixed. I did that section like 7 or 8 times. The first few times I went nice and easy, then by like the 6th time I was seeing how fast I can go without messing up.

 

[Allen1138]

I just checked and found out that I got referred as well, which was shocking because I thought I bombed the test. Does anyone know how they decide who to pick from pool 1 and pool 2? I was referred as a pool 1 candidate, hoping to get a TOL in the next couple of months. Fingers crossed.

 

[Sunshine]

This may be dumb question, but.....

It seems that people are assigned Enroute or Tower. So how do you get the TRACON jobs? I see TRACON locations listed on the Tower List for placement after the academy but I've never read about someone being assigned TRACON.

 

[kshaky]

This may be dumb question, but.....

It seems that people are assigned Enroute or Tower. So how do you get the TRACON jobs? I see TRACON locations listed on the Tower List for placement after the academy but I've never read about someone being assigned TRACON.

TRACON falls under the category of Terminal. From what I read Tower and TRACON are both Terminal positions. There seem to be specific classes for TRACON.

 

[Sunshine]

So if you are chosen for Terminal but you really want TRACON. How do you get TRACON?

 

[OKbusyB]

I just checked and found out that I got referred as well, which was shocking because I thought I bombed the test. Does anyone know how they decide who to pick from pool 1 and pool 2? I was referred as a pool 1 candidate, hoping to get a TOL in the next couple of months. Fingers crossed.

No one knows for sure, but based on how many they’re wanting to hire, they decide a cutoff percentage based on the scores.

 

[OKbusyB]

So if you are chosen for Terminal but you really want TRACON. How do you get TRACON?

You’ll need to pass Terminal at the academy, certify at your first facility, and try and transfer to an Up/Down facility.

 

[justfishing]

I may have missed this information so apologies if this has already been asked and answered, but at what point, if ever, do we find out if we were referred band 1 vs band 2? Looking at previous comments about prior bids I have seen numbers that rough out how many TOLs are sent to each band, I just haven't seen anything to indicate whether or not a candidate is informed about their band status for current bids. Thanks.

 

[Cmsgthokage]

You’ll need to pass Terminal at the academy, certify at your first facility, and try and transfer to an Up/Down facility.

I haven’t been keeping up with what academy grads are getting offered, but I don’t think I’ve seen any TRACONs like Y90, U90, S56, or similar being offered to them recently. I think it’s all level 4-7 tower only?

 

[ATCHopeful]

I may have missed this information so apologies if this has already been asked and answered, but at what point, if ever, do we find out if we were referred band 1 vs band 2? Looking at previous comments about prior bids I have seen numbers that rough out how many TOLs are sent to each band, I just haven't seen anything to indicate whether or not a candidate is informed about their band status for current bids. Thanks.

You won't ever know your score/band for the ATSA.

 

[sizziano]

I haven’t been keeping up with what academy grads are getting offered, but I don’t think I’ve seen any TRACONs like Y90, U90, S56, or similar being offered to them recently. I think it’s all level 4-7 tower only?

4-7 Towers and Up/Downs with the odd 8 showing up a couple of times a year.

So if you are chosen for Terminal but you really want TRACON. How do you get TRACON?

An Up/Down facility consists of a tower and a TRACON so you can choose one if it's on your list. Very likely you'll have one on it.

 

[randoturbo33]

So if you are chosen for Terminal but you really want TRACON. How do you get TRACON?

I know of at least one person from last year's OTS bid that received a TOL for Enroute but requested and was granted a TRACON class instead. However this is currently synonymous with N90 - if you want to go to NCT/SCT/S46/Y90/etc. I believe you're SOL, but anyone actually wanting to go to N90 I think will be able to get their wish.

I may have missed this information so apologies if this has already been asked and answered, but at what point, if ever, do we find out if we were referred band 1 vs band 2? Looking at previous comments about prior bids I have seen numbers that rough out how many TOLs are sent to each band, I just haven't seen anything to indicate whether or not a candidate is informed about their band status for current bids. Thanks.

Unfortunately you'll never know. If you do get a TOL, then there's a better than average chance that you scored in Band 1, but as far as I know that's all you'll ever hear. In reality, I don't think which band you're in actually matters that much. From what I understand, they simply start with the highest score (obviously in Band 1) and work their way down until they either hit their hiring goal or exhaust all of Band 1. If, and only if, they exhaust Band 1 and still have empty slots, I believe they then randomize everyone in Band 2 and pick from that. And just to be clear, this process happens in tandem for both Pool 1 and Pool 2 applicants - they need to hire approximately the same number of people from each Pool, but there will likely be little to no hires from Band 2.

 

[justfishing]

Unfortunately you'll never know. If you do get a TOL, then there's a better than average chance that you scored in Band 1, but as far as I know that's all you'll ever hear. In reality, I don't think which band you're in actually matters that much. From what I understand, they simply start with the highest score (obviously in Band 1) and work their way down until they either hit their hiring goal or exhaust all of Band 1. If, and only if, they exhaust Band 1 and still have empty slots, I believe they then randomize everyone in Band 2 and pick from that. And just to be clear, this process happens in tandem for both Pool 1 and Pool 2 applicants - they need to hire approximately the same number of people from each Pool, but there will likely be little to no hires from Band 2.

Makes sense. Thanks for the reply. I figured that information wouldn't be provided to candidates, but just thought I would double check. And as a possibly redundant follow-up, the figures posted in past comments re hiring data from previous years is coming from people who are involved in the hiring process? Or is there a publicly available source that outlines stats such as total applicants, number of those that are qualified, ATSA invites/submittals, etc.? Thanks.

 

[ChuckMastaT]

I know of at least one person from last year's OTS bid that received a TOL for Enroute but requested and was granted a TRACON class instead. However this is currently synonymous with N90 - if you want to go to NCT/SCT/S46/Y90/etc. I believe you're SOL, but anyone actually wanting to go to N90 I think will be able to get their wish.

Just wondering then, and maybe I’m just confused, but does that mean they generally send most OTS to terminal? Or is it possible to get into a class that goes to ZTL or ZKC?

 

[yup]

Don't know the numbers offhand (I'm just an applicant like you) but they go down the list alternating Terminal/Enroute/Terminal/Enroute TOLs until they run out of terminal, which they do, after which it's all Enroute. Doesn't matter OTS, CTI, whatever. Terminal will only get lists for tower-only or up/down, no large TRACONs with the possible exception of N90.

All this info is purely stuff I've picked up from reading this forum. There's a search function. Don't be afraid to use it.

 

[ChuckMastaT]

Don't know the numbers offhand (I'm just an applicant like you) but they go down the list alternating Terminal/Enroute/Terminal/Enroute TOLs until they run out of terminal, which they do, after which it's all Enroute. Doesn't matter OTS, CTI, whatever. Terminal will only get lists for tower-only or up/down, no large TRACONs with the possible exception of N90.

All this info is purely stuff I've picked up from reading this forum. There's a search function. Don't be afraid to use it.

Lol I’ve spent more time reading here than I’m willing to admit to haha..... it’s just the whole terminal/up down/ TRACON/ ARTCC/enraptured thing that confuses me

 

[TushingPin]

Lol I’ve spent more time reading here than I’m willing to admit to haha..... it’s just the whole terminal/up down/ TRACON/ ARTCC/enraptured thing that confuses me

The FAA more or less does it at random. You go to terminal or enroute school. Likelihood of getting ZTL or ZKC is possible, but you have to be selected for enroute school which is a fairly random process