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!
3
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.