FAA Hiring Process Revamped

GolfChuck

GolfChuck

Trustworthy Source
As per NATCA's facebook page, the FAA sent out this letter to all CTI schools today:

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with your organization and values our partnership in the training of potential Air Traffic Controllers (ATC). Recently, the FAA completed a barrier analysis of the ATC occupation pursuant to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) Management Directive 715. As a result of the analysis, recommendations were identified that we are implementing to improve and streamline the selection of ATC candidates. These improvements will have a direct and present impact on all hiring sources, including CTI.

An overview of the immediate changes being made to the ATC hiring process is presented below.

Revisions to ATC Hiring Process

· A nationwide competitive FG-01 vacancy announcement open to all U.S. Citizens will be issued in February 2014. Any individual desiring consideration for employment (including CTI graduates) MUST apply. Existing inventories of past applicants will not be used.

· All applicants will be evaluated against the same set of qualification standards. Specifically, applicants must have at least 3 years of progressively responsible work experience, a 4 year degree, or a combination of the two.

· The existing testing process has been updated. The revised testing process is comprised of a biographical questionnaire (completed as part of the application process) and the cognitive portion of the AT-SAT. The cognitive portion of the AT-SAT will be administered only to those who meet the qualification standards and pass the biographical questionnaire. Applicants for the February 2014 announcement will be required to take and pass the new assessments in order to be referred on for a selection decision.

· Since a single vacancy announcement will be used for all applicant sources, a single nationwide referral list will be generated containing all candidates who meet the qualification standards and pass the assessments. Location preference will no longer be used as a determining factor for referral or selection.

Centralized selection panels will no longer be convened to make selections from the referral list. Selections will now be fully automated, grouping candidates by assessment scores and veteran’s preference.

These improvements to the ATC hiring process will significantly strengthen the long term sustainability of our program and offer our candidates a fair and viable opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities and potential for the ATC position.

We recognize that you may have questions concerning these changes. Considering the upcoming holiday season, we are planning a teleconference for Mid-January when we will more fully address questions and concerns you may have.

We want to reiterate that we very much value our partnership with the CTI program and look forward to assisting you in understanding our changes to the ATC selection process. We will be contacting you soon to schedule the January teleconference.
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In short, if you are already in the system, but have not received a ToL, you must apply again, and if you have a CTI degree, you most likely wasted your money.

Maybe this will bring this forum back to life.
 
One of my coworkers in the ramp tower finished CTI school two and a half years ago, I decided recently to start studying in time for the Feb OTS hiring. Sucks he's likely going to end up right where I am after dropping many thousands of dollars.

Is the green book still going to be a good test prep for this new process?
 
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I hate to be the guy that says i told you so but for years i was telling people this CTI course was a total scam, no one wanted to listen i was the crabby old unhappy guy and all the wanna bees only wanted to hear about the unicorns and rainbows being blown up their asses and how great the FFA was.nothing like pissing away thousand of dollars on training you really didnt need, now to have someone else get a slot before you that the FFA promised to you if you jumped through the CTI hoop.
 
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cmhumphr said:
Almost sounds better to just be a military air traffic controller, then go civilian.
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One of my best friends is Air Force ATC, and several of the guys from his shop who have gotten out in the past 2 years still haven't gotten civilian work. Some have moved on already. I've read that they should get priority, but timing is everything I suppose.
 
greg1016 said:
Didn't know you were still around swinte, how goes it?
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Hey Greg,

Things are good! It's been a few years since I've been on here but when a friend of mine posted the info you mentioned above on Facebook, I decided to come back and poke around.

I spent some time the other day reading my old posts and reflecting on life since then. I honestly can't complain about the way things have gone. If I happen to be given another shot at this, I will try again in a heartbeat.

How have things been for you? Hope you have a happy new year!
 
No problem with OTS at all, but if they market it as "ZOMG the pay!!!! " to drag every warm body in, at least bring back a real screen. Back in the day when they had a screen, passing it as an OTS made you something special.

This isn't the 80s. You can get into a CTI school with a GED. They weren't asking anyone to go to Harvard and borrow 100k. You don't get real world experience to be sure, but you learn the basics.

The same can be said about the military. They are very hesitant to wash anyone. I work approach for a military tower and had to cut them off after they didn't understand what visual separation was. I treat them now as an uncontrolled field generally speaking.

Let's not forget. At least in my experience they don't actually teach anything in the Academy. I learned divergence at the facility. That's not fair to hang on the OJTI.
 
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From what I have seen the washout rates between OTS and CTI have been similar, at least at my facility. The difference being that OTS washouts haven't racked up $30k+ worth of debt for a degree that does nothing for them besides (formerly) getting them more FAA job announcements to apply for. I believe the decision was made because this private sector screening process (CTI) basically cut out a lot of would-be applicants from lower income brackets.
 
The national bid part seems like the biggest change. I really hope it's not a system with no input at all from the candidate.

The only research done on CTI/OTS shows CTI trainees were 6.4% less likely to wash out by their first facility(or before). It's definitely lower than I thought it would be. There are a lot of us that went to 2 year colleges that only spent a couple thousand for the degree. It was well worth it to me just for the education. And being turned on to the flying world didn't hurt.
 
I took the test and qualified in 2009 or 2010 but was never contacted.

If I understand this correctly, all I need to do is re-apply in February?
 
From what I understand, everyone re-applies OTS in February. Those who qualify from that pool will then have to take the AT-SAT, whether or not they have taken it previously. So in my case, even though I scored a very high WQ score last spring, I would have to obtain a similar score to have a chance. Again, I don't know the accuracy, but that is how I have understood all of this.
 
greg1016 said:
From what I have seen the washout rates between OTS and CTI have been similar, at least at my facility. The difference being that OTS washouts haven't racked up $30k+ worth of debt for a degree that does nothing for them besides (formerly) getting them more FAA job announcements to apply for. I believe the decision was made because this private sector screening process (CTI) basically cut out a lot of would-be applicants from lower income brackets.
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The OTSers I've seen are more prepared and have much more success than the CTI "graduates."
 
greg1016 said:
From what I have seen the washout rates between OTS and CTI have been similar, at least at my facility. The difference being that OTS washouts haven't racked up $30k+ worth of debt for a degree that does nothing for them besides (formerly) getting them more FAA job announcements to apply for. I believe the decision was made because this private sector screening process (CTI) basically cut out a lot of would-be applicants from lower income brackets.
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Other than having a higher education it does nothing for the CTI graduate. Deriding a college education, regardless of major in favor of the Facebook favorite "School of Hard Knocks" is woefully ignorant. I have a degree in Political Science and I have never made my living pontificating on the current state of government affairs. If someone spent 30K as you put it and lacks any other tangible and marketable skill, that is on them and it a travesty. The truth of the matter is that CTI grad have many open employment avenues and on the whole the majority of CTI degrees can be had for far less than your number. My Poly Sci degree landed me a white collar job in insurance of all things. I did CTI when OTS wasn't a thing and parlayed those 4 classes into Airport Management paying double what my office job in insurance did. Would you honestly say the investment I made of about 3K wasn't worth another 30K a year in salary?

RobertB said:
The OTSers I've seen are more prepared and have much more success than the CTI "graduates."
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Really? OKC sets the baseline and they all go through the same program mostly. Are you sure you just aren't being anecdotal to make yourself feel better? I'll admit I've encountered that CTI attitude, but that can be broken in seconds. The worst sense of entitlement I've seen has been FAA transfer hands down.
 
genot said:
Really? OKC sets the baseline and they all go through the same program mostly. Are you sure you just aren't being anecdotal to make yourself feel better? I'll admit I've encountered that CTI attitude, but that can be broken in seconds. The worst sense of entitlement I've seen has been FAA transfer hands down.
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Yeah, minus the basics portion at the academy they go through the same program. My terminal class had 16 out of 18 leave the academy for their facilities. (Army controller and a CTI washed. Another CTI failed both PVs, but his facility still wanted him. Found out a year later that he washed out on ground control.)

I can only speak for my own experiences being certified at a level 8 and a level 12, but the most successful people I have seen have been prior military controllers ( not Army), ERRs being more successful than straight out of the military, and people who didn't go to CTI school. Now granted most of those few ERRs who certified, never went to CTI school, but had FAA experience before going to a level 12.

Talking about transfers and the sense of entitlement... Lower level transfers(7-9) seem to have the best success rate. Level 6 and lower almost have no chance. Level 10 and up seem to either wash in the labs, struggle on the floor if they make it that far and transfer out before their training hours are up, or make it through with no problems at all.
 
Too many CTI kids are whining because they felt entitled to the job since they spent money on the degree. A degree doesn't mean you get a guaranteed job in ANY field!
 
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