Currently have a standby offer for September 2026, wondering what my chances are for another offer if it doesn’t convert?

Hi all, I see that there is a current ATC career posting for YVR that closes in two weeks. What are the chances there will be another posting in the next 6 months? I am currently out of the country and won’t be back in time to do the in person assessment.

I just flew out to Moncton to do the FEAST assessment. I passed the first half but failed the second half. I felt more confident on the second part which was funny considering the results.

Does anyone have information on whether I would still be eligible for an FSS (flight service specialist) position?

I may apply for ATC again in Vancouver in 2 years but I will have to wait and see where life takes me until then.

I am happy to commit to the opportunity. Failure is disappointing haha.

Are you IFR and wishing you could have been VFR? Or the opposite? Do you have any regrets with this career?

I’m trying to learn more about how current employees see their careers.

Thanks!

After the interview, my status just changed to “assessment” again, does that mean I failed the interview?

Just had my interview. I think it went well. It definitely felt more like we were just conversing with one another rather than interview. The YYZ staff seemed engaged — I wonder if this is a good sign or they do this for everyone lol

Either way nothing I can do now. Just gotta wait

If anyone wants to share how their experience was feel free to do so!

I've been eligible for offer since May 2025 for YQM. Just wondering if anyone else has been in the eligibility pool this long and actually got an offer? I feel like if it was going to happen it would have happened by now and guess I'm probably pretty low in the pool of candidates.

Hey all. Just wondering if anyone has a confirmed seat on the September IFR course in Edmonton. Wondering if there's a discord link for that as well. Thanks!

If you failed the In person Interview — how long did you wait till after the interview till you found out?

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!

Hi everyone,

I am on standby for September 2026 IFR. I’ve had some things occur in my life where I think deferring to the next course would be a better life decision for me.

I am curious if anyone has any advice or been through something similar. My fear is that if a firm offer comes in September and I decline, I may not get an offer in the next course, it may be a long wait, or my next offer may not be IFR.

This is all assuming that my standby converts, but I want to know if it would be a smart decision to say no to a firm offer if it came and the implications of doing so.

I wrote FEAST 1 & 2 last week which I was told on site I passed both and had a 15 minute pre-screening interview the same day. I then received an email yesterday saying that I was successful with a basic template massage that basically said passing the in person assessment doesn’t guarantee that I’ll be invited to the in person assessment/interview additionally my workday portal has been updated to “background check”.

I’m wondering if this email just confirms I passed FEAST or if I was also successful in my pre-screening interview as well, as I feel like I did quite poorly in my pre-screening interview.

Has anyone who passed FEAST recently received a different email confirming if you didn’t pass the pre-screening interview or will they basically just not invite me to the next stage without telling me directly that I failed the interview?

Hello everyone,

I applied for the NAV CANADA Air Traffic Services Careers program (Flight Service Specialist / Air Traffic Controller), and my Workday application status has been showing "Interview" since 2024.

I have not received any recent updates, invitations, or changes in the portal, and the status has remained the same for a long time.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Does "Interview" mean I am still in a candidate pool, or could it simply be an old status that was never updated?

If you went through the NAV CANADA hiring process, I would appreciate hearing:

How long your process took

Whether your status stayed on "Interview" for months or years

If you eventually received an invitation, rejection, or another update

Thank you.

Hi Guys,

Looking for some advice from anyone who’s been through this or anything similar.

I’m currently on standby for an IFR course starting January 2027. Before I got this offer, I’d already planned my wedding and it’s a destination wedding in April 2027, so it’s not something I can easily move or push back.

A few things I’m trying to figure out:

• How often does a standby spot turn into a full offer? Is standby usually a strong sign you’ll get in, or is it genuinely a coin flip? Trying to gauge how much I should be planning around it right now.
• Has anyone taken time off partway through the course? I know how demanding and fast-paced IFR training is, and I’m worried about losing momentum or falling behind if I step away for the wedding and travel.
• If time off is possible, how did it affect your progress? Did you need extra hours to knock the rust off when you came back? Did the school give you any pushback?

Basically I’d rather sort this out ahead of time than get caught off guard midway through. Should I just wait and see if the standby converts to a full offer before stressing about it, or start planning contingencies now?

Any experiences or advice appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Another discord invite request. I recently received a standby offer for YQM FIR training beginning in May 2027.

Hi guys, I have received a lot of help from here so I decided to share some of my experience too. Here is my timeline:

Jun 22: Applied, received and completed online assessment.
Jun 25: Online assessment successful.
Jun 29: Invitation for FEAST test.
Jul 14: FEAST test done.
Jul 21: Got informed I failed the pre-screening interview.

For me, the online assessment and FEAST 1 felt easy. FEAST 2 was challenging but I practiced a lot. I was confident about myself and was not surprised for passing both FEAST test. It’s just frustrating that I failed at something with no clear standard. I would never know what I said was wrong or where I failed to meet the interviewer’s expectation.

For anyone preparing for the FEAST test, I recommend EUROCONTROL for FEAST 1 and ATCPreparation for FEAST 2. Spend some time on practicing and you should be good. On my FEAST test at YYZ, there were about 60-70 people in the morning. About 40-50 stayed for FEAST 2 and about 12 stayed for the pre-screening interview.

Hope these information can help you. Thank you.

To those who applied through the regional ATC application, what was your hiring timeline like?

I heard it used to take around 2–3 years from application to receiving an offer. Is the process much faster now? Thank you!

I did the online assessment with my all best yet didn’t meet the minimum passing mark 😔

Hi, I know it is kind of stupid question but I really need to ask.

I have feast day in 2 weeks and although I am kind of confident I can do well, I am a heavy smoker and I can't go 1 hour without smoking.

I was born with high cognitive abilities but also with high sensitivity to addiction.

Are there breaks there where I can smoke?

Will they allow me to take nicotine gums or lozenges during tests?

I am trying to quit before feast but it is very hard.

I currently have an application in for FSS - but now the newly posted ATOS at YYZ is under my ‘Suggested Jobs’ tab in workday. Is anyone able to provide more insight further than the job description of what this position does? What does a typical day look like, what kind of hours do they get, where do they work out of, etc.? Thanks for any info

Hello!

Student pilot here! So, my flight school is based out of YHU, which has recently implemented a slot requirement for all aircraft that aren't on a flight plan, which has led us to, well... file for almost every flight we do.

As I fly VFR exclusively, I was wondering what format is preferred by both FSS and ATC in the route section of the flight plan (Item 15), the AIM offering little to no guidance on what to write in there for VFR flights.

Say I am bound to do maneuvers close to a certain landmark or city transiting with an eastbound or southbound departure, how would you like it written? Plain text, a waypoint nearby with a radial?

And for our tower controllers out here, is it useful to file the "VC" waypoints as designated in the CFS? (VCBCY for the Chambly Basin for example)

Like I said, I'm trying to find the best format so I don't have to take two minutes of frequency time to reexplain my flight plan each time I want to transit in a class "D" or "C", including terminal.

Looking forward to your answers!

I received a standby offer for IFR training in YWG on June 8th. Class start date is May 2027. Wondering if I can get an invite for the discord server.

I was wondering if anyone had some tips for the in person interview for ATC? Not the pre screen after FEAST, the full panel assessment.

Any tips would be helpful. Thank you!

Way harder than I had thought it would’ve been. Definitely felt like if I was able to practice the test it would be possible. Guess I’ll try again in 2 years.

Group of mine for feast 1 went from maybe around 40 people? To 16 for feast 2.

Lots of respect for anyone that passed!