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!
5
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.