Hi guys, I did an interview with RAM and passed about a year ago, but decided not to join.
My overall experience with the whole interview process was quite nice. They provide return tickets from an airport of your choice (must be within their network ofc), once you arrive at Casablanca airport there is a guy waiting for you and gives you a ride to the 5 star hotel (Movenpick) - this is where pilots live if they choose to live in a hotel (in this case you dont get 1000 EUR extra). He also picks you up in the morning for the sim/interview. The hotel is simply amazing, with breakfast included, there is a gym and a nice bar/restaurant and pool at the rooftop. I was interviewed by two RAM captains (one of them is a chief pilot on 737 fleet, other a RAM captain and CAA examiner - I had to wait almost two hours for them to arrive but ok). They wanted to know reasons I applied for RAM, why I decided to leave my company, if I feel comfortable in a 737 seat (I had around 450 hrs on 737 at that time). Afterwards, they asked some basic questions like What is MORA, grid MORA, if I am familiar with LIDO flight plan (which I am) and couple of questions about items in it, then about SWC (they asked about a number on the chart - it was a tropopause height, cumulonimbus on the chart - what does it mean CB 250/XXX, turbulence and icing simbols). To be honest, you have nothing to worry about...if you dont know the answer they tell you that there is plenty of time to revise your knowledge, even though they are like You should know this bla bla...They also asked me some simple questions about 737, like When do we get an IMBAL indication and we had a discussion about it as different airlines can have different numbers (Boeing recommends one value, but companies can decide to change it - luckily I brought my company's IPAD
), then something about hydraulic system. In the end they gave me a 737-technical knowledge exam consisting of 20 or 25 question - it was an open book exam so bring your company IPAD or tablet if you have it. They left the room and said I have 30 minutes or more if I need it.
The following day I had a sim, they either send their FO to be your sim partner or you do it with another person doing the interview. The first day I got a paper with the possible scenarios ( (I was supposed to get it before I arrived to Casablanca but they forgot to send it). The list included: ILS approach and go around, engine fire or failure, one engine INOP landing and go around, NP approach and single engine NP approach, visual app and single engine visual APP and one of the malfunctions from the QRH. In the end I only did takeoff with engine failure after V1. memory items and QRH, single engine ILS app with go-around, then visual pattern and approach back for a landing (he froze the sim at one point and asked if I was high or low on profile). And one departure followed by PROBE HEAT illumination just to check QRH reading.
I can only tell you that company is really desperate for pilots at the moment, they have been looking for FOs constantly since July 2017...when I applied, the money was 5700 + 1000 for accomodation, now it is 8000 + 1000. The company is growing so they are doing everything to make people join them. Although I passed the interview, due to personal reasons I decided not to join them. Even if you don't do a perfect interview, **** up the sim or don't know answers to whatever they ask you, 99% you are in. It is important to know that the money Rishworth is talking about is gross but it all depends if you are planning to pay tax wherever you are a tax resident or not (their recommendation is not to apply for a residency in Morocco as you will have to give around 40% for the tax). I spoke to few FOs who work for them and nobody cares about the tax...
In my opinion, joining them could be a great epxerience, life is very cheap and you can save a lot of money, but the only problem are captains (if you are an expat and dont speak French, good luck with those guys). CRM is quite a new topic in Africa...