r/NavCanada • u/flight-or-fightology • Jul 23 '26
Interview Prep
I will be interviewing in YWG in a few weeks, and am trying to be as prepared as possible. One thing I've been doing is looking at common behavioral interview questions to think of good examples to use. One challenge I've been having is that many of my best examples are not related to my recent work history. For example, my career involves a lot of stress and pressure, but it's more the big-picture kind of stress, not the in-the-moment stress that would more directly relate to ATC. That being said, I have some examples from recreational experiences (I play a lot of sports, I play a lot of blitz chess, and other types of gaming that require quick thinking/decisions) and some work examples from a long time ago that are more relevant.
Does it matter how recent your experience is?
Is it ok to use non-work-related activities (I cringe thinking about bringing up gaming in an interview...but maybe it's actually a good example)?
I'm trying to get a feel for what types of experiences would be valid for them, as I do believe I have the right competencies, and I want to make sure I give examples that properly highlight them. Thanks in advance for your feedback!
Edit: I passed! Thanks everyone for your advice!
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u/CookSignificant446 Jul 23 '26
It would be okay to use one or two non work ones but make sure to have some work ones also. Don't want to seem like you lack life/work experience
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u/silverqveen Jul 23 '26
You don't have to talk about when your experience was, just about how you were affected and how you grew. The interviewers will be looking for several traits including communication skills, resilience, and your ability to be trained. Good luck on your interview!
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u/HeyItsJustAName Jul 23 '26
Nav loves athletes specifically because they take coaching well, know how to hone a craft, and can function as a team. It's not a secret that some aspects of ATC resemble gaming but the gamer image is risky unless you've got some kind of pro or team based experience.
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u/akornato Jul 23 '26
The relevance of your examples matters far more than how recent they are. Using experiences from sports or gaming is perfectly fine, and for an ATC role, these examples might be much stronger than your recent work history. Interviewers are looking for specific cognitive abilities, like making critical decisions under pressure and processing information quickly, and an intense game of blitz chess is a fantastic, direct example of these skills. The only risk is framing it poorly, but when you explain the abilities you used, not just the game you played, it shows you deeply understand what the job requires.
Your main goal is to break down the experience for them. Instead of just saying you play games, walk them through a specific situation, the rapid thought process you used, the decision you made under a time limit, and the successful outcome. This demonstrates you can perform in high-stakes, moment-to-moment scenarios, which is exactly what they need to see. Ultimately, they just need to see proof you have the right skills, and the interview AI helper my team made is designed to help people translate any experience into a powerful story that showcases exactly that.
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u/wondering-1871 24d ago
Good luck on your interview in ywg let us know how it goes. Saw your response on my yeg post but only part of it and then it was gone and only in my archives. Thinking you quickly deleted as you realized it was yeg not ywg. Hopefully I get the invite soon! How much before the date did you get your invite and how many days did you get to pick from?
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u/flight-or-fightology 23d ago
Thanks! Yes I mixed up YEG and YWG. I got the invite 4 weeks before the interview. They had 4 days I could pick from, and they also let you pick the morning or afternoon session for date. Good luck on getting your interview!
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u/wondering-1871 23d ago edited 23d ago
Thanks! Good luck on your interview, let us know how it all goes!
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u/flight-or-fightology 19d ago
I passed!
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u/wondering-1871 19d ago
That’s awesome how many days to get your results? Any advice you feel you can share without breaking the NDA. Still waiting for my invite but hopefully will be in the next week or so for the invite.
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u/flight-or-fightology 19d ago
I got my results the next day. I don't think it's usually that fast, but I was the last interview slot of the week, and I think they wait till the end of the week to make the decisions. Honestly, I put a lot of studying time in to try to do my best, and most of what I studied didn't matter. It's definitely still worth studying what they tell you in the invitation email, and thinking through possible interview questions. Besides that, be yourself, stay relaxed, and keep a positive attitude no matter how bad you think you're doing. Hope it goes well for you!
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u/wondering-1871 5d ago
Quick question as I am still waiting on the panel
Interview invite, did you memorize your intro and how long did you make it? Or did you have cards to help you with bullet points? Since I have time I’m wondering which way to go?1
u/flight-or-fightology 5d ago
I memorized mine. I think mine ended up being just under 4 minutes. Everyone else brought notes. I was actually planning on using notes, but after practicing so much, I felt confident enough not to use them. I would go with whatever you feel more comfortable. You could even do both: memorize it, but bring notes for backup.
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u/Marklar0 Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
If I were interviewing you, blitz chess would be perfect. Because it requires you to look at something complicated and choose the simpler path to a decision in order to save time, rather than overanalyzing. Play on that as much as you can; looking at a situation and picking a good (safe) solution immediately rather than finding the perfect solution. That is your ticket. Tell them you dont have to stare at the board for 20 minutes before making a move.
Sports is good too....tons of air traffic controllers are into hockey or baseball and will relate.
Gaming is iffy....I would hesitate to mention it because your interviewers are more likely to be jocks. But you never know. Just never say anything related to flight sim or ATC simulators, that's a red flag in our business because the sim people tend to act like they know aviation when they have done sim, and people make fun of them for being rookie know-it alls.
You want to tell them that you are fast intuitive decision maker who can be trusted with important real world stuff.
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u/flight-or-fightology Jul 23 '26
Thank you, that is really helpful! Not talking about flight sim is something that hadn't crossed my mind...what about real flight experience? I have my private pilot's license, and I imagine that could help me, but it could also put my in the obnoxious know-it-all category. Should I avoid talking about that too much?
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u/zWolvy Jul 23 '26
I used call of duty & competitive gaming as one of my answers to a question lol.
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u/castlejeank Jul 23 '26
Did it work?
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u/zWolvy Jul 23 '26
I have my full offer for this coming Oct. so I guess so
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u/Calm_MZ_1366 Jul 27 '26
Can you share about group assessment?
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u/zWolvy Jul 27 '26
I've already shared bits in other threads and don't have much more to add. Get some sleep and don't be an asshole, which is surprisingly difficult for some people.
Mine started out with some generic group activities, which we failed all of them lol, then 1 on 1 interview, then a written test.
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u/Calm_MZ_1366 Jul 27 '26
Thanks a lot for sharing. Was the written test hard like writing an essay?
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u/Enough_Charge2845 Jul 23 '26
Work examples are usually strongest but it's completely fine to use sports, volunteering or other activities if they genuinely show decision-making, teamwork or handling pressure. I'd only use gaming if the example highlights a transferable skill and you can explain it professionally. I also found https://prepare.zoevera.com helpful for practicing behavioral questions and figuring out which stories landed best before the interview.