APPLICATION FAQ ANSWERS

[moosetracks]

First of all NAV CANADA does have many of the commonly asked questions answered on their website so please look there first making sure to check the additional pages linked at the bottom on "Career Opportunities", "Recruitment and Training", and "Application Process". Many of these will not be answered here in this thread, please do your own homework. https://takecharge.navcanada.ca/

THE PROCESS
Wonderlic Test: The approximate pass rate is 40% for this step and you should see your workday account change to something like "assessment" if you were successful. Refer to NAV CANADA hiring pages to see specific course dates for your region, do not expect to be contacted much before those dates for an invitation to FEAST.

FEAST: If your online score is in the top ~100 people in a region or you are an employee referral you will then be invited to FEAST testing about 2-4 weeks after their application deadline for your region. There is intentionally little information on this due to an NDA. It is a computer based series of tests lasting about 5 hours with breaks. You do not need to do any special training or preparation beforehand. If you are successful in FEAST you will get an email indicating you obtained the minimum passing mark. You MAY then be invited to the bootcamp depending on your score and overall ranking.

2 Day Bootcamp: This is normally 20-30 people with the top marks from that round of FEAST and any people from previous hiring periods who made the new top mark. This is their new interview process and much like FEAST you will be hard pressed to find specific information due to the NDA, but it is safe to say you do not need any specific preparations beyond what you might do for a normal job interview.

Offer: If you are successful in the bootcamp you can expect an email confirming you passed and may get an email or call with an offer. NAV CANADA takes over the specifics from there and that is beyond the scope of this post.

Notifications: At each stage NAV CANADA WILL notify you one way or the other. If you are successful in moving to the next stage you will receive a pass mark email and if you are selected for the next stage will get a scheduling email. Scheduling is done through Workday and you can check your current status at each point on there as well. If you are unsuccessful you will receive notification that you did not meet the minimum mark and will be eligible to reapply in 18 months (I think NAV CANADA website may still say 12 months but this is outdated).

Limbo Zone: There is a chance that you get a passing mark but are not invited to the next step immediately after at every stage. I term this the limbo zone and you are now waiting for the next round of applicants (normally six months later) and hoping that your mark is in the top of that "class". It is unclear how many people fall into this category at each stage, but it is in your best interest to do your best at each step and not share specific information on here as you may be competing against those people in the next round and wouldn't want them to have an unfair advantage and to artificially increase their score; you are only hurting yourself.

The Odds: It seems that about 20-40% of people are successful at each step. So for each region and hiring round about 400-300 people take the online test, 100 are invited to FEAST, 20-30 to the 2 day bootcamp, and then about 10 to training. The bootcamp numbers and training seat offers may vary depending on operational and regional requirements. Training qualifications seem to be about 20-40% depending on IFR vs VFR stream and specific IFR specialty. The overall odds of fully qualifying if your are invited to FEAST would then be at most 2-4% and easily <1% of everyone who initially took the Wonderlic test.

The Wait: The application process is a long one. They will give you an idea when you will receive notifications during each in person step, but the exact timeline will not be the same for each region. It seems that once FEAST starts the process is about 4 months to offers.

Scores: You will never hear how well you did on anything so don't bother asking. You will either fail and be notified, or pass and be notified. If you pass it's just a waiting game to see if you scored high enough to actually move on to the next step. This appears to be based on comparative ranking, meaning there is no score that guarantees you move on to the next stage at any point but instead compares and ranks you with the other candidates in your region.

If there are any other questions feel free to ask them and I will add appropriate answers to this initial post. Do not ask for specifics about the status of your application or for what to expect on FEAST or the bootcamp as I cannot and will not answer those questions, respectively. If you would like me to add any edits to this feel free to comment and I will try and update the original post with additional information as well.

[BoardManPaid]

Training qualifications seem to be about 40-50% depending on IFR vs VFR stream and specific IFR specialty.

Nav Canada would be over the moon if IFR checkouts were within the 40-50% range.

Solid write up tho

[Nekton]

Thanks Moosetracks, this is exactly what I was hoping to end up with as my similarly titled thread evolved. If you don't object I'm going to add a link to your post here as this is all a new or prospective applicant might want to know I think. Very interesting to see the % estimates for pass rate, really puts things into perspective.

Good luck as you continue through the process yourself.

[pupelarajaka]

I don't know if these are worth mentioning but to add...

• Each FIR has 2-3 rounds per year. A round is basically the whole process starting from the FEAST up to the course start. So if you just missed the deadline for, let's say... the Spring round in Toronto, then you have to wait until the next round starts in the Fall.

• I've been told the passing percentage for FEAST is 30%.

• As of last year, Nav has started implementing the new application process involving the FEAST. Before the FEAST, Nav used to use the w-sim, which involved a phone interview that is no longer being done. Montreal FIR will be the last region to get the FEAST (since the process needs to be translated to French etc).

• Any stage of the application expires after 18 months from your last pass/fail. So for example you fail the FEAST, then you can reapply 18 months from when you took+failed the FEAST. If you do the interview and fail, then you can reapply 18 months from when you did your interview.

[moosetracks]

• Any stage of the application expires after 18 months from your last pass/fail. So for example you fail the FEAST, then you can reapply 18 months from when you took+failed the FEAST. If you do the interview and fail, then you can reapply 18 months from when you did your interview.

[/quote]

Thanks for the comments I may add a section on reapplication, fortunately I haven't had to do this yet so some of the "details" of exactly what you receive from NAV CANADA when you don't pass a step are a bit unclear to me.

[moosetracks]

Thanks Moosetracks, this is exactly what I was hoping to end up with as my similarly titled thread evolved. If you don't object I'm going to add a link to your post here as this is all a new or prospective applicant might want to know I think. Very interesting to see the % estimates for pass rate, really puts things into perspective.

Good luck as you continue through the process yourself.

No problem, things tend to get a bit bloated on here, especially with "misinformation" from people who haven't been through the process or don't work for NAV CANADA, so I figured I'd condense what I know of the process into one post while it's relatively fresh in my head. NAV CANADA does have many commonly asked questions answered on their website people just need to read up on them, but the process is often not clear and wait times between steps are often long even if you pass and are invited to the next step which often worries people.

The exact percentages, pass rates, overall success rates, etc. are still a bit unclear and are probably only really known to those doing the hiring/training. A conservative figure is 1 in 10 people invited to FEAST will get a training seat, and maybe 2-4 of these people will actually qualify which is probably easily <1% of initial online applicants. I'm not sure what the exact pitfalls in training might be, but I think it is safe to assume that NAV CANADA wants you to succeed so there are other factors that must be playing in that they just haven't been able to and may never be able to identify that cause even highly adept people to fail.

[kevenv]

A conservative figure is 1 in 10 people invited to FEAST will get a training seat, and maybe 2-4 of these people will actually qualify which is probably easily <1% of initial online applicants.

I'm not sure how many people actually go through the online process but from those who do, 100 or so are invited to FEAST, from those, 30 are invited back to the 2 day bootcamp and 10ish of those will receive an IFR offer. Your 1 in 10 isn't conservative at all, it's pretty bang on.

[moosetracks]

A conservative figure is 1 in 10 people invited to FEAST will get a training seat, and maybe 2-4 of these people will actually qualify which is probably easily <1% of initial online applicants.

I'm not sure how many people actually go through the online process but from those who do, 100 or so are invited to FEAST, from those, 30 are invited back to the 2 day bootcamp and 10ish of those will receive an IFR offer. Your 1 in 10 isn't conservative at all, it's pretty bang on.

Kevenv, thanks for the confirmation.

They list a 40% success rate on their website for the online test but don't indicate how many people actually pass and are never offered a FEAST seat, but yes beyond that the numbers are pretty good with some variability based on FIR and needs. For example, I have heard that YYZ might have 150 in FEAST and scale things up proportionally but I don't have any hard "evidence" of that.

[mojoman]

A conservative figure is 1 in 10 people invited to FEAST will get a training seat, and maybe 2-4 of these people will actually qualify which is probably easily <1% of initial online applicants.

I'm not sure how many people actually go through the online process but from those who do, 100 or so are invited to FEAST, from those, 30 are invited back to the 2 day bootcamp and 10ish of those will receive an IFR offer. Your 1 in 10 isn't conservative at all, it's pretty bang on.

Kevenv, thanks for the confirmation.

They list a 40% success rate on their website for the online test but don't indicate how many people actually pass and are never offered a FEAST seat, but yes beyond that the numbers are pretty good with some variability based on FIR and needs. For example, I have heard that YYZ might have 150 in FEAST and scale things up proportionally but I don't have any hard "evidence" of that.

I went through the most recent round of FEAST and interview at YYZ. I think there were 120 to 150 people invited to do the FEAST. 40 people were invited to 2 day selection camp, and they said they're looking to fill 17 or 18 training spots.

[Auguthy]

Montreal area. I heard around 200 people were invited for the FEAST exam this spring 2023, they expect to choose about 40 people.

[Citabria62]

THE PROCESS
Wonderlic Test: The approximate pass rate is 40% for this step and you should see your workday account change to something like "assessment" if you were successful. Refer to NAV CANADA hiring pages to see specific course dates for your region, do not expect to be contacted much before those dates for an invitation to FEAST.


2 Day Bootcamp: This is normally 20-30 people with the top marks from that round of FEAST and any people from previous hiring periods who made the new top mark. This is their new interview process and much like FEAST you will be hard pressed to find specific information due to the NDA, but it is safe to say you do not need any specific preparations beyond what you might do for a normal job interview.

Good day,
i recently went through the hiring process and this is not true to my experience, the do not seem to use the wonderlic test anymore, and there is no two day boot camp. I went from feast, to a half day interview, and now I'm eligible for offer. just so everyone is aware that this may or may not be true anymore. i'm in YWG if that matters.

Cheers,

[TransplantPilot]

Good day,
i recently went through the hiring process and this is not true to my experience, the do not seem to use the wonderlic test anymore, and there is no two day boot camp. I went from feast, to a half day interview, and now I'm eligible for offer. just so everyone is aware that this may or may not be true anymore. i'm in YWG if that matters.

Cheers,

Hi,

Thanks for sharing your experience. Did you go from feast to the half-day interview directly, or did you also have the virtual on-demand interview?

Cheers!

[Citabria62]

correct, i went from feast, to half day assessment, with an in person interview at the end.
since this post got to the front of the forum again, i just wanted to amend some of the info that was seemingly now outdated

[TransplantPilot]

It's definitely appreciated by those of us going through the process!

I just sat the feast last week, and I had thought that the next step would be the on-demand virtual interview but it sounds like that might be getting phased out. I'm in YYZ though so it might be different here.

[kobe.rayan]

Montreal area. I heard around 200 people were invited for the FEAST exam this spring 2023, they expect to choose about 40 people.

Do you know if they are expecting to invite 40 people to the half day assessment/bootcamp, or is it for the next training classes?