This thread helped me prepare for my interview which i am really pleased to say i passed - So hopefully what i write here will help some more people though it in the future and also help to ease some minds! There seems to be no logical explanation when it comes to what order they call people in so once you have submitted that application best just to forget about it and not second guess when they will contact you. Personally about the time they contacted me i had almost given up hope and was about to explore other options like further training as i really wasnt getting any traction on the job hunt...... then out of the blue this popped up and within 4 weeks i got the life changing news!!!
I applied on 6th March.
I then heard nothing until i got an email saying they were going to call within 14 days on the 20 April.
Received a call on 23 April offering me a date of 14th May.
I stayed in the Premier Inn which worked out cheaper than the travelodge when you include breakfast and is much nicer. Good nights sleep in a quiet room in a comfy bed - just what you need the night before. It took me about 8 - 10 minutes to have a slow stroll to the Ryanair building - nice stroll to settle the nerves a bit!
As soon as we were collected from reception they work to make you relaxed - and they did a great job of it! I was obviously very nervous on my way to the building but after about 10 minutes of being with them the nerves started to settle and i could focus on the task at hand.
Interview wise if you read the last few post where people go into detail about what question they were asked you will know exactly what i got asked! There really is no point in repeating them. I will say that the interview felt very relaxed, a nice chat if anything and i actually found it quite enjoyable as it was the first opportunity i had to show anyone my real passion about aviation...... i could have happily talked with then all day!
Before the sim we were told that they are not trying to catch us out - there is no way the weather will change etc. and sure enough, they were extremely helpful and nice in the sim!
Sim was liverpool wal 2t sid.
some basic handling (climb, descend, accelerate, de-accelerate etc).
Then my partner got vectors for ils and ils approach. At some point on those vectors sim was paused and we were asked to point to where we are on the chart. Plenty of time to decide - use the instruments and you can retune if you need to. Dont over think this part would be my advice - just look at the tail of the pointer for the QDR / radial and the DME for distance and use some common sense to position yourself on the chart which of course is not to scale...... any issues then tune another navaid and work out where the lines cross.
I on the other hand after the basic handling got track a qdr to the ndb, sim paused and asked to point where are we just as i was approaching it. Sick passenger (dodar, nits etc) and the full ils procedure.
I made a few mistakes but i realised them and said out loud i had done it. They are certainly not looking for perfection - do your best, make good decisions and talk to your partner about those decisions. Also, try to help your sim partner when PM as much as possible - make it your job to ensure they get the job!
Also, brief thoroughly before hand with your partner. It was clear that my MCC taught things in a very different way with regards to thrust handlng as my partners...... We realised this and briefed a lot before hand so there couldnt be any confusion.
Thats about it really!
So my overall advice....... if you have applied and not heard try not to worry - it will probably come when you least expect it and then it will all happen very fast! Then try not to let nerves get the better of you before hand - you are going to be stressed and worried but that will all settle down on the day because they do a great job of trying to settle you down so they can see the best in you.
Thank you to all the contributors of this thread in the past for all the information - i found it really helpful.
Good luck to all those applying!