Air Traffic Controller CV Examples & Writing Guide

A CV for a validated controller with twelve years in air traffic control: six in the RAF, six at a civil airport tower and approach radar unit. The name is made up and the unit name is left out on purpose. This is the two-page version used for moves between units and providers and for outside employers; applications to NATS and other air navigation service providers usually add an online form, covered further down.

Controllers write CVs for four different readers, and each wants something different. Know which one you are writing for before you start.

• NATS and other air navigation service providers, for trainee intakes. Recruitment screens the online application against the stated entry requirements, then uses aptitude tests, an assessment day and interviews. Your CV and form must tell the same story, with dates that match.
• Unit managers, for validated controllers moving between units or providers. They want the unit type, your ratings and endorsements, which positions you are validated on, how long validation took, your safety record, and whether you hold an OJTI endorsement or supervise a watch.
• Airports and smaller providers that run their own air traffic control, often at regional airports. They want a valid ATCO licence with the right ratings, a current Class 3 medical, tower or approach experience with traffic counts, and availability. Two pages, normal CV format.
• Employers outside air traffic control, for controllers leaving the field or retiring. They need the skills translated into plain operations language; do not assume they know what approach radar or a unit endorsement is.

“When a transfer package comes in, I look at facility level, the positions checked out, how long it took, and the error history. A controller who certified early, trains others and has a clean record can pick a facility. The CV has to make those four facts impossible to miss.”

Air traffic control has its own vocabulary of licences and endorsements, and the exact words matter. Use the names on your licence, give the dates, and put the most important status in your title line under your name.

• Air Traffic Controller (ATCO) Licence: issued by the UK Civil Aviation Authority. Give the ratings it carries, for example Aerodrome Control Instrument (ADI), Approach Control Surveillance (APS) or Area Control Surveillance (ACS), and any rating endorsements.
• Student Air Traffic Controller Licence: held during training. If you are still training, say which ratings you hold, which positions you have completed at the unit and when you expect to validate; it is a real and understood status.
• Unit endorsement: the endorsement that lets you control at a particular unit, sector or group of positions. Name the positions (Air, Ground, Delivery; radar positions by name; for area control, the sectors). A manager reads the list to place you on a watch.
• Instructor and assessor endorsements: an OJTI endorsement for training on live positions, and an assessor endorsement if you hold one. Give the year.
• Medical and language: a Class 3 medical certificate kept current, and your English language proficiency level. Write "Class 3 medical, current" rather than giving medical details.
• Security clearance: controllers usually go through national security vetting, and military controllers often already hold SC. List the level and whether it is active, never the details.
• Military controllers: give your service (RAF, Royal Navy, Army), the unit type (station tower, approach radar, area), your military qualifications and any civil licence or conversion training. Civil employers want to see how close you are to a UK CAA ATCO licence with the ratings they need.

Most people searching for an air traffic controller CV have never controlled traffic. They are applying to a NATS trainee intake or another provider's training programme. The CV cannot show ATC skill, so it has to do two other things: show you meet the entry requirements exactly, and show the traits the aptitude tests, assessment day and college training look for.

1. 1Check the rules before writing. Each provider sets its own entry requirements, so read the current advert: typically you must be at least 18, have GCSEs including English and maths, have the right to work in the UK, and be able to pass a Class 3 medical and security vetting. There is no degree requirement for most trainee schemes.
2. 2Write a clear two-page CV and keep it consistent with the online application. For every job: employer type, town, start and end month and year, title, full or part-time, and what you were responsible for. Gaps and overlapping dates get questioned.
3. 3Show responsibility plainly: promotions, added duties, supervision of others, money or safety you were trusted with. A warehouse shift leader, a bank cashier who became a team leader, a corporal, a control room operator, a nurse: all are strong if the dates are there.
4. 4Show the traits: fast decisions under pressure, tracking many things at once, clear spoken communication, working rotating or overnight shifts, staying calm during incidents. Give examples with numbers (calls an hour, aircraft or vehicles tracked, incidents handled).
5. 5Education: GCSEs and A-levels (or equivalent) with grades, and any degree with classification and year. An aviation degree helps you understand the job but does not replace the provider's training.
6. 6Aviation background of any kind helps and belongs in its own section: a PPL and hours, air cadets, flight operations or dispatch work, military aviation, aviation degree modules, or a job at an airport.

A strong controller bullet gives the unit and traffic, the positions or equipment, and a measurable fact: movements an hour, hours on position, safety occurrences (none), trainees validated, time to validate.

People searching "what skills do you need to be an air traffic controller" get lists of personality traits. On a CV, lead with the technical skills a unit manager can check, then add the traits with evidence.

• Control skills by environment: aerodrome (Air, Ground, Delivery), approach radar (arrival and departure sequencing, vectoring, speed control, final director), area control (sector operation, handovers, level and route changes, oceanic procedures if applicable).
• Rules and documents: CAP 493 Manual of Air Traffic Services Part 1, unit MATS Part 2 and letters of agreement, CAP 413 radiotelephony phraseology, NOTAM handling, weather reports (METAR, TAF, SIGMET, pilot reports), wake turbulence and runway separation.
• Equipment: radar display and flight data systems, electronic flight progress strips, ATIS, A-SMGCS or surface movement radar, wind shear and runway visual range displays, voice communication systems, and any simulator you trained on.
• Flow management: CTOTs and slot compliance, Network Manager regulations, re-routes, coordination with the area control centre and the flow management position.
• Leadership and training: OJTI, assessor, watch supervisor, team leadership, training plan development, assessments.
• Safety culture: safety management system, Mandatory Occurrence Reporting, Just Culture, occurrence investigations and debriefs.
• Traits with proof: multitasking (aircraft or movements tracked at once), decision speed, radio clarity, stress tolerance (shift patterns worked), attention to detail (safety record).

Keep two versions in step. NATS and many other providers recruit through an online application with competency questions and aptitude tests, whether you are a trainee or a validated controller. The CV is for unit moves, smaller providers, outside employers and networking, and some providers ask for it alongside the form.

• Online application: answer competency questions with specific examples (situation, what you did, the result), and keep every job title, date and qualification identical to your CV. Validated controllers give their licence, ratings, unit endorsement dates and medical expiry exactly.
• Have ready what the provider asks for: copies of your licence and medical certificate, GCSE and A-level certificates if you qualify by education, proof of right to work, and military service records if you are leaving the forces.
• CV: two pages for most controllers, one for trainees with short work histories. Order: header with licence status, personal statement, licence and ratings, experience, skills, education. Single column, plain font, no photo, no date of birth.
• Keywords to include in either version: "air traffic controller", "ATCO licence", your ratings (ADI, APS, ACS), "unit endorsement", position names, "OJTI", "watch supervisor", "MATS", "CAP 493", "safety management system", and for trainees, "aptitude", "multitasking" and "shift work".
• Outside the UK the same document may be called a resume. In the US, the FAA hires through USAJOBS with a long federal resume and its own terms (CPC, CTO certificate); other countries use ICAO-based controller licences with ratings much like the UK's.

Run the advert text and your CV through the cvplex ATS checker. It flags wording you did not mirror, a licence, rating or endorsement named in the advert that is missing, and jobs without dates.