Home Air Traffic Controller Resume template
Air Traffic Controller resume template
A clean starting structure with example content grounded in what air traffic controllers actually do day to day, not generic filler. Download and replace the bracketed placeholders with your own details.
Which resume format should you use?
Reverse chronological
You have a steady work history. This is the format almost every recruiter and ATS expects by default.
Functional
You're changing fields or have gaps in your employment. Leads with skills rather than a job-by-job timeline.
Combination
You're early career or have worked consistently but for only a few employers. Blends a skills summary with a shorter chronological history.
This template uses the reverse chronological format: the one most air traffic controllers should default to, since most Australian recruiters and ATS software expect it.
Professional summary
Air Traffic Controller with strong situational awareness and a disciplined approach to separation standards and emergency procedures. Experienced in coordinating aircraft movements across tower, approach and en-route environments under strict international and Australian aviation safety requirements. Works calmly under sustained cognitive load and communicates clearly with pilots and adjacent sectors during high-density traffic periods.
Key skills
- Operations management
- Risk and internal controls
- Emergency response
- Radar display systems
- Radio communication equipment
- Flight data processing systems
- Aeronautical charts and publications
- Strip marking equipment
- Attention to detail
- Stakeholder management
- Time and deadline management
- Problem solving
Experience: example bullet points
- Monitored aircraft positions and altitudes on radar displays, issuing vectoring instructions that maintained safe separation throughout peak traffic periods
- Issued landing clearances, runway assignments and go-around directives, sequencing multiple aircraft without loss of separation during high-density arrival banks
- Coordinated handoffs between control sectors and adjacent facilities, maintaining accurate communication logs and reducing ambiguity during shift transitions
- Managed airspace congestion during peak periods by resequencing arrivals and departures to keep delays to a minimum
- Responded to in-flight emergencies including mechanical failures and medical diversions, applying emergency procedures to bring aircraft down safely
- Maintained flight strip and flight data records in line with Manual of Air Traffic Services (MATS) requirements throughout each shift
Education
Entry typically requires completion of a CASA-approved Diploma of Aviation (Air Traffic Control) or an Airservices Australia cadetship, followed by unit-specific endorsement training and an Air Traffic Control Licence; a bachelor degree in aviation is also a common pathway.
Keywords an ATS is likely to scan for
Applicant tracking systems match your resume against terms in the job ad before a person ever sees it. Only include the ones that actually apply to your experience, but if a term below matches something you've done, use the same wording the job ad uses.
- Airservices Australia
- CASA
- Air Traffic Control Licence
- ICAO phraseology
- radiotelephony
- Manual of Air Traffic Services (MATS)
- separation standards
- radar vectoring
- NAIPS
- flight data processing
- aerodrome control
- approach control
- en-route control
- unit endorsement
- aviation safety management system
Getting past ATS screening
- Match the specific skills, certifications and terms used in the job ad, not just your own wording for the same thing.
- Keep formatting simple: no tables, text boxes, columns, headers/footers or graphics. Parsers frequently drop content placed in these.
- Submit as .docx or PDF unless the job ad specifies otherwise.
- Use standard section headings (Experience, Education, Skills) rather than creative alternatives.
- List your core skills and technical competencies in their own section so a keyword scan can find them instantly.
This is a starting point, not a guarantee of interviews. Tailor every bullet point to your own real experience and the specific job ad.