Checked 26 October 2026. Interview stages and qualities are as NAV CANADA’s selection page, careers page, FAQ for job seekers and Workday posting stated them on 26 October 2026. NAV CANADA does not publish its interview questions; every practice question here is ours.
NAV CANADA interviews air traffic controller candidates twice: a short pre-screening interview on the day of the in-person test, and an interview as part of the half-day assessment centre, whose own length is not stated. It does not publish its questions. It does publish the qualities it looks for and some advice on how to show them. This guide puts those together and gives you practice questions of our own, with what a strong answer shows, so you can prepare real examples from your own life.
ProSyllabus is an independent study site. It is not part of NAV CANADA, and NAV CANADA’s words appear only where they are attributed to it by name. Our own comments, examples and practice questions are marked as ours. Every rule, time and date below is taken from the NAV CANADA pages listed under Sources, each read on 26 October 2026.
NAV CANADA, Air Traffic Control Selection and Training; NAV CANADA blog, 9 June 2023; read 26 Oct 2026.
The two interviews, as NAV CANADA describes them
| Interview | When | Length | What NAV CANADA says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-screening interview | Same day as the in-person test, after it | 15 minutes | “Candidates who are successful at this test will be invited to complete a 15-minute pre-screening interview on the same day.” Nothing more is published about its content. |
| Assessment-centre interview | At the assessment centre, after the in-person test | Part of a half-day session | The sessions “include various group and individual exercises as well as an interview designed to assess candidates’ skills, abilities and attitudes.” Candidates “should be prepared to discuss their academic and work experience, as well as their interest in a career in air traffic control.” Bilingual positions in the Montreal flight information region have a bilingual session. |
The Toronto Workday posting sums up the process in one line: it “includes cognitive testing, pre-screening interview, and an assessment centre which includes individual and group exercises as well as an interview.” It also says that if you are contacted, you should tell the interview coordinator about any accommodation measures you may require.
NAV CANADA’s general FAQ for job seekers, which covers its hiring in general and points air traffic services applicants to a separate ATS FAQ, adds useful background on how it interviews. It says: “We ask behavioural and situational questions and are seeking strong examples from your personal or professional experience that match the requirements of the position.” It suggests you review the job posting, think about how your experience relates to it, and “make a list of potential questions and practice your answers.” It describes a typical panel as the manager accountable for the position, one or two other managers or a technical expert, and a member of the talent acquisition team. We cannot confirm from the pages read that the ATC interviews follow the general FAQ exactly, so treat this as guidance on NAV CANADA’s general approach.
Source: NAV CANADA, Air Traffic Control Selection and Training. The page does not give a separate period for the pre-screening interview.
The chart is why the interview deserves real preparation. The assessment centre is the last test before language testing and selection, and an unsuccessful result there carries the longest wait, three years.
The qualities NAV CANADA lists
NAV CANADA lists the qualities it looks for in two places: the careers page, under “What We Value”, and the ATC postings, among the basic requirements. They overlap. These are the qualities your examples need to show.
| Quality | Careers page wording | ATC posting wording |
|---|---|---|
| Communication and listening | “Good memory, effective verbal communication and keen listening skills” | “Clear verbal communication skills” |
| Memory | (in the same line as above) | “Demonstrate good memorization skills” |
| Problem-solving and decisions | “Excellent problem-solving and decision-making skills” | “Have effective problem-solving and decision-making abilities” |
| Teamwork | “Strong commitment to teamwork” | “Strongly committed to teamwork” |
| Resilience under pressure | “Resilience and ability to perform under pressure” | “Possess a high level of resilience and an ability to perform under pressure” |
| Motivation | “Highly motivated” | The posting says NAV CANADA is looking for “highly motivated individuals” |
NAV CANADA’s 2023 blog, written with its Manager of Air Traffic Service Recruitment and Selection, adds two practical points. When interviewed, “showcase your problem-solving and teamwork skills by providing examples of situations where you demonstrated quick thinking and adaptability.” And you do not need aviation experience for those examples: it names school projects, team sports and even multiplayer video games as places to build these skills.
How to build a strong answer: STAR
A common way to structure an example is STAR: Situation, Task, Action, Result. NAV CANADA does not name STAR; we use it because it fits what its FAQ asks for, strong examples from your own experience. Keep each answer to about two minutes, and spend most of it on what you did.
| Part | What to say (our guidance) | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Situation | Where and when, in one or two sentences. Just enough for the listener to follow. | A long story before anything happens. |
| Task | What you had to achieve or decide, and what made it hard: time, pressure, missing information. | Leaving out why it was difficult, so the example shows nothing. |
| Action | What you did, step by step, and why. Say “I”, not “we”, for your part. | Describing what the team did and hiding your own role. |
| Result | What happened, with a number if you have one, and what you learned or would do differently. | Stopping at the action, or claiming everything went perfectly. |
A worked example answer (ours, invented)
Question (ours). Tell us about a time you had to make a quick decision with incomplete information.
Sample answer, an invented example. Situation: I was a shift lead at a busy restaurant on a Saturday night when the card machine stopped working. Task: I had about forty tables and no way to know when the machine would come back. Action: I checked the problem was not just our connection, then decided within a few minutes to tell each table before they ordered dessert, set up cash and e-transfer, and asked one server to call the provider while the rest of us kept serving. I told the team the plan in two sentences so nobody gave customers different answers. Result: We took every payment that night with no complaints, and the next week I wrote a one-page plan for the next outage.
Why it works. It shows a decision under time pressure with missing information, clear communication to a team, and learning afterwards. It is short and specific, and the speaker’s own actions are clear. Use your own example, not this one.
Practice questions (ours) and what a strong answer shows
These questions are written by us, based on the qualities NAV CANADA lists and the topics its selection page says to prepare. They are not NAV CANADA’s questions and we do not claim they will be asked. Our suggested approach is to prepare one example for each quality, so you have something specific to draw on however a question is put.
| Practice question (ours) | Quality or topic | What a strong answer shows |
|---|---|---|
| Why do you want to be an air traffic controller? | Motivation; your interest in the career (selection page) | Specific reasons tied to the job as NAV CANADA describes it, and evidence you have looked into it: its pages, the training, the shift work and relocation. |
| Walk us through your education and work so far. | Academic and work experience (selection page) | A short, ordered summary that links each step to something useful for the job. |
| Tell us about a time you had to pass on detailed information quickly and accurately. | Clear verbal communication | How you made sure it was understood, for example by asking for it to be repeated back. |
| Describe a time you missed something someone told you. What did you do? | Keen listening skills | Honesty about the mistake, how you fixed it, and the habit you changed. |
| How do you learn and remember a large amount of new material? | Memory | A real method you use, with a result, not just “I have a good memory”. |
| Tell us about a decision you had to make quickly without all the facts. | Problem-solving and decision-making | What you knew, what you decided, why, and what you did when more information came. |
| Describe a time a plan changed at the last minute. | Quick thinking and adaptability (NAV CANADA blog) | Calm, fast re-planning and telling others about the change. |
| Tell us about a time a team you were in disagreed. What was your part? | Teamwork | Listening to others, focusing on the goal, and a fair way to settle it. |
| Describe the most pressure you have worked under. | Resilience and performing under pressure | That you kept working accurately, how, and how you recovered afterwards. |
| Tell us about a mistake you made and how you handled it. | Resilience; attitudes (assessment centre) | Owning it quickly, fixing it, and learning, without blaming others. |
| Training may mean moving. How do you feel about relocating? | Willingness to relocate (a requirement) | A clear, honest yes, with signs you have thought about it. |
| The job runs 24/7. How would shift work fit your life? | Interest and realism about the career | That you understand it and have a practical plan, not just “it is fine”. |
Situational questions and group exercises (ours)
NAV CANADA’s general FAQ says it asks situational questions, and the assessment centre includes group exercises. It does not publish them. These practice situations are ours. In each, a strong answer usually does three things: puts safety and the shared goal first, communicates clearly and early, and owns the decision.
| Situation (ours) | What a strong response shows |
|---|---|
| In a group task, two people are arguing and time is running out. | Restating the goal and the time left, asking each for their key point in one sentence, and helping the group pick and move on. |
| You notice your teammate’s figure is wrong just before the group presents. | Telling them straight away and quietly, checking together, and fixing it before it is used. |
| An instruction you were given seems to clash with another one. | Not guessing: asking for clarification at once and saying exactly what clashes. |
| You have several urgent tasks and cannot do them all at once. | Putting them in order by risk and deadline, saying what will wait, and telling those affected. |
| The group is about to agree on a plan you think is unsafe. | Speaking up clearly and early with a reason, offering an alternative, and staying part of the team. |
Our advice for group exercises: speak, but do not take over. Listen and build on others’ ideas, summarise when the group is lost, keep an eye on time, and admit a mistake when you make one.
How to prepare, step by step (our suggestions)
| Step | What to do (ours) | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Read NAV CANADA’s careers page, selection page and your posting. Note the qualities and the requirements. | NAV CANADA’s FAQ suggests reviewing the posting and thinking about how your experience relates to it. |
| 2 | Write one STAR example for each quality in the table above, from school, work, sport, volunteering or anywhere else. | NAV CANADA asks for strong examples from personal or professional experience; aviation experience is not required. |
| 3 | Prepare a 60-second answer to “why air traffic control?” for the 15-minute pre-screening interview. | It comes at the end of a six-hour test day, so short, ready answers help. |
| 4 | Practise out loud. NAV CANADA’s blog suggests reading aloud to improve the clarity of your speech, and read-back and hear-back exercises. | Clear verbal communication is one of the qualities it lists. |
| 5 | Prepare one or two questions of your own to ask. | NAV CANADA’s FAQ says to come prepared with any questions you may have. |
For the stages before the interviews, see our guides to the online assessment and to spatial skills for the in-person test. For every requirement and stage, see the requirements and selection guide, and for what happens if you are selected, the training and salary guide.
Frequently asked questions
What questions are asked in the NAV CANADA ATC interview?
NAV CANADA does not publish its interview questions. Its selection page says to be prepared to discuss your academic and work experience and your interest in a career in air traffic control, and its general FAQ for job seekers says it asks behavioural and situational questions and looks for strong examples from your experience. The practice questions in this guide are ours.
How long is the NAV CANADA pre-screening interview?
15 minutes. Candidates who are successful at the in-person test are invited to it on the same day.
What happens at the NAV CANADA assessment centre?
A half-day session, typically at an area control centre, with various group and individual exercises and an interview designed to assess skills, abilities and attitudes. Candidates for bilingual positions in the Montreal flight information region complete a bilingual session.
What qualities does NAV CANADA look for?
Its careers page lists resilience and the ability to perform under pressure, being highly motivated, excellent problem-solving and decision-making skills, good memory, effective verbal communication and keen listening skills, and a strong commitment to teamwork. The ATC postings list similar qualities.
Do I need aviation experience for the interview examples?
No. NAV CANADA says aviation experience is not required, and its 2023 blog names school projects, team sports and even multiplayer video games as places to build problem-solving and teamwork skills.
Should I use the STAR method?
NAV CANADA does not name STAR. It asks for strong examples from your personal or professional experience, and STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) is a simple way to tell one clearly. That suggestion is ours.
What if I am unsuccessful at the assessment centre?
NAV CANADA says you may reapply three years after the assessment date.
Can I ask for accommodations?
Yes. The Workday posting says to advise the interview coordinator of the accommodation measures you may require if you are contacted.
Our practice. Our NAV CANADA In-Person Test Practice has ability sets, a working-speed set, a 60-question long run, and 40 interview and situational questions. It is our own practice for the abilities NAV CANADA tests, not NAV CANADA material, and it does not replace the training platform NAV CANADA sends candidates.
Sources
- official — NAV CANADA: Air Traffic Control Selection and Training (selection stages, reapply periods, training length and salary)
- official — NAV CANADA: Air Traffic Controller careers page (what we require, qualities, locations, salary ranges)
- official — NAV CANADA Workday posting JR-7704: Air Traffic Control (ATC) Careers, Toronto Flight Information Region (posting end date 31 October 2026)
- official — NAV CANADA: FAQ for job seekers (passing a step does not guarantee an invitation; scores compared with other applicants)
- official — NAV CANADA blog, 9 June 2023: How to become an air traffic controller or flight service specialist: essential tips for aspiring candidates
official = a document published by the conducting body. reported = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.
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