The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Sean Duffy announced on Sunday (August 9th) on social media that a recruitment campaign has broken several recruitment records of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), including the number of candidates recruited within a year, surpassing over 2,000 recruits.
The FAA, a subsidiary of DOT responsible for civil aviation affairs, is in charge of implementing various aviation safety, airspace control, and airworthiness certification tasks across the United States.
On April 10th this year, the FAA issued a notice recruiting “NextGen air traffic controllers,” emphasizing that applicants need to possess advanced skills in playing electronic games, including problem-solving abilities and the capability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously.
Currently, this recruitment strategy has proven to be quite effective.
Secretary Duffy wrote on Facebook, “In April, we launched a new initiative to recruit video game players to serve as air traffic controllers and significantly expedited the recruitment process, attracting the most outstanding and brightest talents.”
He declared, “The results are historic.”
He emphasized that this recruitment campaign used the “most streamlined recruiting process” and has identified over 2,000 “best & brightest” candidates. As of Sunday, FAA has achieved 94% of its recruitment target.
Drawing a parallel between video games and a very crucial and high-pressure job may sound absurd, but this idea stemmed from a suggestion by FAA employees rather than a spontaneous decision by FAA management.
The FAA stated, “Currently, only about 25% of controllers possess traditional college degrees. Therefore, the focus of this recruitment effort is to identify talented young individuals, many of whom are active in the gaming field. Some controllers have pointed out that games have cultivated their abilities to think quickly, stay focused, and handle complex situations as they leave the job.”
In 2024, the FAA stated that air traffic control staffing shortages have been a “decades-long” problem. FAA data shows that the problem has worsened sharply around the time of the pandemic, due in part to the lengthy training required for controllers, taking 18-24 months to complete certification for specific airspace. In 2025, the federal government began to consider the shortage of air traffic controllers along with aging equipment as a national aviation infrastructure issue.
On April 6th this year, the FAA proposed in its budget application to recruit 2,300 individuals for air traffic controller training to address the long-standing shortage of personnel in this position.
(Reference: Congressional Hill Report)