The Pentagon and Homeland Security Department have deployed similar strategies for tech-related roles in complex environments that require hours of focus.
In an effort to solve the decades-long shortage of air traffic controllers across U.S. airspace, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced a new hiring campaign targeted at video gamers interested in new career opportunities.
“To reach the next generation of air traffic controllers, we need to adapt. This campaign’s innovative communication style and focus on gaming taps into a growing demographic of young adults who have many of the hard skills it takes to be a successful controller,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement on April 10.
Announced last Friday, the FAA’s new air traffic controller hiring window opens at 12 a.m. ET on April 17, allowing interested candidates to apply for what the agency calls “one of the most dynamic jobs in the world.”
The FAA has faced a significant shortage of air traffic controllers since the 1980s, with thousands of retirements during the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating the deficit. Congress has provided the agency with supplemental funding over the past two years to increase staffing, and the Trump administration said it has thousands of trainees in the pipeline.
The FAA is also not the first federal agency to target video gamers with keen hand-eye coordination and quick decision-making skills for high-stakes positions. Both the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security have deployed similar strategies for tech-related roles in complex environments that require hours of focus.
The FAA is rolling out a new YouTube ad with bright and fluid graphics asking gamers, “Are you up for the challenge? You’ve been training for this.”
The ad entices gamers by comparing air traffic control tower computer workstations to video games, while promising an average salary of $155,000 per year after three years on the job.
“It’s not a game … it’s a career,” the ad says.
In the Transportation Department’s hiring announcement, the FAA says young adults who possess “demonstrated high cognitive functions, multitasking, spatial awareness, [and] strategy and problem-solving” may have useful skills that are transferable to working as an air traffic controller.
By Jacob Burg
