Customer story: SureSelect strikes a chord with ANSPs

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SureSelect helps air navigation service providers (ANSPs) choose the right candidates most likely to succeed as an air traffic controller. SureSelect’s toolkit of test suites can be tailored to suit any ANSP's needs, depending on their goals and budget. To bring this to life, we outline how different organisations took advantage of the flexibility of SureSelect to meet their specific goals.

Airservices Australia

Approx 3,000 candidates to be tested every year for three years

Unsupervised testing online, with validation testing later

SureSelect chosen for ATC specific testing

Airservices Australia is a government-owned organisation responsible for the safety of 11% of the world’s airspace and managing air traffic operations for around 160 million passengers on more than 4 million domestic and international flights annually (pre Covid-19).

When Airservices Australia was in the market for a robust, objective and validated testing solution for ATC candidates, they chose SureSelect - following a report released by IATA around ATC attraction, recruitment and selection which showed a clear correlation between ATC-specific testing and success in ATC training for candidates.

The organisation was utilising generic personality and skills competencies testing as a component of their ATC selection processes. Looking to enhance their selection and testing regime to incorporate best practice, Airservices Australia reviewed the findings from the IATA report and began reaching out to global organisations offering ATC-specific testing.

Airservices Australia signed a three-year contract with AIL to access SureSelect’s suite of ATC-specific tests, including ATC Skill Simulations, the Cognitive Ability suite, and the Behavioural Traits questionnaire.

More than 600 ATC candidates have already undertaken SureSelect testing since the contract began in August 2021, which is a great achievement especially given the challenges of the recent Covid-19 Delta outbreak.

Ghana Civil Aviation Authority

214 ATC candidates successfully completed testing over two days

Target of recruiting 20 ATCs exceeded - 22 candidates selected

Excellent results in training – 100% pass rate for candidates

The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) is the national aviation authority and regulatory agency of the Republic of Ghana. GCAA provides air navigation services within the Accra Flight Information Region, which comprises the airspace over the Republics of Ghana, Togo and Benin, and a large area over the Atlantic Ocean in the Gulf of Guinea.

GCAA undertook a recruitment campaign to recruit 20 new air traffic controllers. Using locally provided psychometric tests to address their unique cultural requirements, they shortlisted 214 candidates to undertake SureSelect’s ATC Skill Simulations tests at a testing centre.

This engaging gamified suite of role-specific tests assesses real on-the-job behaviours, with tests for short term memory, spatial awareness, remembering relationships, and effectiveness in a radar simulation (safety, efficiency and multi-tasking).

The ultimate positive outcome was a 100% pass rate in training for the selected candidates – thanks to a robust, objective approach to selection and testing.

Ebenezer Kwesi Sagoe GCAA Director of Human Resources

SureSelect's thorough testing provided us quality assured results, enabling us to make a sound judgement with no room for disputes. It was independent testing, self-driven, without bias or external influence.

Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation

52 trainees recruited over two recruitment campaigns

97% pass rate at the training academy

Confidence in selection methodology

Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation (VATM) is the air navigation service provider responsible for the delivery of air traffic services in Vietnam. VATM manages two Flight Information Regions (FIRs), eight international airports, 13 domestic airports and approx. 800,000 flights per year.

When VATM started their search for ways to evolve their selection process, they looked to SureSelect by Airways. VATM had a relationship with Airways for ATC training, and used SureSelect to identify suitable students to travel to New Zealand for air traffic control training with Airways through the VATM Study Abroad Programme, before returning to Vietnam to complete on-the-job training with VATM.

Ms. Vu Thi Thanh Nga VATM Personnel Department

VATM appreciates the cooperation for over 20 years with Airways New Zealand, one of the leading training providers of the next generation of ATCs in Vietnam. The SureSelect process is very suitable and effective to identify capable candidates that assure training success. This has been proven by reliable training outcomes.

Given the investment the students and their families were making, and the opportunity VATM was providing, it was essential that candidates selected possessed the core competencies predictive of ATC success. Therefore, VATM wanted to use validated selection tools tailored to the ATC sector. They utilised SureSelect because of its toolkit approach, which enabled VATM to undertake their own assessment of cultural fit, while also relying on SureSelect modules.

Over two recruitment campaigns, VATM selected 52 trainees with the underlying attributes required to successfully complete ab initio training. Incorporating SureSelect into their selection process has yielded great results with training success to date at 97% in the training academy and on the job training pass rates tracking as expected.

Azerbaijan Air Navigation Services (AZANS)

40 candidates tested over 12 months

Supervised testing - ATC Skill Simulations & Cognitive Ability

Flexibility of SureSelect ideal for AZANS' needs

Azerbaijan Air Navigation Services (AZANS) is the responsible body for ATC within the airspace of Azerbaijan Republic - covering an airspace of 165,400 square kilometres and with a route network of around 8,000km.

This niche air navigation service provider chose SureSelect's ATC Skill Simulations and ATC Cognitive Ability test modules to assess candidates in a supervised testing environment, with 40 candidates tested over a period of 12 months. Covid-19 travel restrictions in place and the requirement for social distancing presented a challenge – AZANS needed to split the testing across several months to ensure safety and social distancing compliance.

The flexibility of SureSelect, particularly the ability to test any number of candidates at once on the cloud-based product, meant it was the ideal solution to meet AZANS’ needs.

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SureSelect’s flexible ATC candidate testing strikes a chord with ANSPs

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