I have not applied to be a controller myself, but from speaking to people, it sounds like things changed dramatically very recently. The stories I was told were basically applicants got eliminated after taking a "get to know you" type biographical questionnaire-they didnt even get to move on to taking a cog test, knowledge test, or math test. And these were grads of ATC prep programs. Sounds like some good people were pretty devastated. Because of those cases I've heard of, I've been wondering what the hell was going on with hiring ATC people.
I fully understand my post is more hearsay than a strong, first hand account, but it does seems to match up with the posted story. But yeah, it seems something fishy IS going on, and qualified people are being turned away.
P.S an ATC instructor I know basically cited the same thing. He was pretty fired up.