Find out the top 10 core skills you need to master as an air traffic controller and what hard skills you need to know to succeed in this job.

An Air Traffic Controller is capable of coordinating the movement of air traffic to allow safe distances between aircraft. This position is a pivotal role in ensuring the safety of taking offs and landings without any hitches.

More important tasks include, authorizing flight path changes, monitoring and directing the movement of aircraft using the radar equipment, providing weather updates to pilots, alerting airport response staff in the event of an airplane emergency, issuing precise landing and takeoffs instructions to pilots, managing communications by transferring control of departing flights to traffic control centers, controlling all ground traffic at airports including baggage vehicles and airport workers, providing valuable information to pilots such as runaway closures, weather updates etc.

Core Skills Required to be an Air Traffic Controller

Core skills describe a set of non-technical abilities, knowledge, and understanding that form the basis for successful participation in the workplace. Core skills enable employees to efficiently and professionally navigate the world of work and interact with others, as well as adapt and think critically to solve problems.

Core skills are often tagged onto job descriptions to find or attract employees with specific essential core values that enable the company to remain competitive, build relationships, and improve productivity.

An air traffic controller should master the following 10 core skills to fulfill her job properly.

Listening Skills:

Listening Skills are a practical ability to accurately receive and interpret messages you receive during the communication process to ensure flow and accuracy are maintained.

An Air Traffic Controller ought to have outstanding listening skills that lead to a better understanding at the workplace between the management and the staff, customer satisfaction in return yielding greater productivity with fewer mistakes and increased sharing of information in a more creative and innovative way.

Innovation:

Innovation is the process of translating new invention into a service that creates value or brings better solutions that meet the requirements.

An Air Traffic Controller ought to introduce innovation in their business to help save time and money giving a competitive advantage to grow and adapt the business in today's marketplace as well as creating more efficient processes and ideas with a likelihood for your business to succeed.

Networking:

Networking is the process that encourages an exchange of information and ideas among individuals or groups that share the same interests.

An Air Traffic Controller is required to establish policies and procedures that govern networking to form professional relationships that will boost the future of business and employment prospects while maintaining regular contact with each other to gain each other's trust thus developing few quality relationships.

Appraisal and Evaluation Skills:

Appraisal and Evaluation Skills are services that allow employers to assess their employees? contributions to the organization for the period they have been working with them.

An Air Traffic Controller must creatively develop a robust evaluation process that includes the standard evaluation form, approved performance measures, guidelines for presenting feedback and disciplinary procedures to promote staff recognition and rewarding following a fair assessment and appraisal process.

Equal Opportunity and Diversity:

Equal Opportunity and Diversity means having employees from a wide range of background that includes different ages, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious belief, educational background, physical ability and treating them equally.

An Air Traffic Controller is required by the law to create a workplace free from discrimination and harassment to its employees as well as understand and adhere to the rights and responsibilities under the human rights and antidiscrimination law.

Persistence:

Persistence is the refusal to give up or let go of a firm or obstinate continuous course of action despite difficulties or opposition that you may face.

An Air Traffic Controller should strongly emphasize the need for persistence as the fundamental difference between a successful outcome and a failed one while developing this important quality in each creating happy employees and business.

Personal Relationships:

Personal Relationships is the relationship between individuals who have or have had a continuing relationship of any nature either professional or informal.

An Air Traffic Controller reserves the right to take prompt action if an actual or potential conflict of interest arises concerning individuals who engage in a personal relationship that may affect terms and conditions of employment and he should not also date a subordinate.

Time Management:

Time Management is the capacity for an individual to assign specific time slots to activities as per their importance and urgency to make the best possible use of time.

An Air Traffic Controller must schedule each task within a stipulated period for each employee and ensure all the tasks are completed promptly thus actually teaching the staff the value of time and how to utilize it for the interest of the business and their growth.

Process Improvement:

Process Improvement is the creation of new processes or improving the existing ones that will work and take your corporation to the next level.

An Air Traffic Controller must maintain the continuous improvements in the workplace that are favorable to the current investors, potential investors, and stock owners while working with methods that can serve as a foundation for future business decisions causing a profitable growth.

Technical Skills:

Technical Skills are the abilities and knowledge mostly related to mechanical, IT, scientific and mathematical needed to perform specific tasks in the workplace.

An Air Traffic Controller ought to hire employees with particular talents and expertise that helps them perform certain duties and jobs that other skills like soft skills cannot perform to grow both the business and the employee and bring in productivity.

Hard Skills Required to be an Air Traffic Controller

Hard skills are job-specific skill sets, or expertise, that are teachable and whose presence can be tested through exams. While core skills are more difficult to quantify and less tangible, hard skills are quantifiable and more defined.

Hard skills are usually listed on an applicant's resume to help recruiters know the applicant's qualifications for the applied position. A recruiter, therefore, needs to review the applicant's resume and education to find out if he/she has the knowledge necessary to get the job done.

An air traffic controller should have a good command of the following hard skills to succeed in her job.

Air Traffic Controller: Hard skills list

Active listening
Approach Controller
Area Controller
Aerodrome Controller
Administration
Computers
Coordination
Customer and Personal Service
Education and Training
Electronics
Geography
Innovative
IT
Learning Strategies
Management
Mathematics
Media
Operational Analysis
Operation and Control
Operational Monitoring
Psychology
Public Safety
Quality Control Analysis
Security
Telecommunications
Time Management
Transportation
System Analysis
System Evaluation
Speaking
Writing

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