Originally Posted by AKAFresh
Chaps..
The main reason for the telephone interview is to assess your command of ENGLISH.
So if your not a native English speaker and English is not your strong point then this should be your primary concern. Ryanair tend to hire alot more foreign crew, so this is a bigger factor for them. Remember theres no point inviting people for interviews only to find out that their level of English is not up to the standard, it wastes the airlines time.
If your job hunting then make sure you continue to fresh up on your ATPL technical knowledge. Don't wait to be called for interviews to prepare for technical/personal questions. (Ace The Technical Pilot Interview - Excellent book! Highly recommended). You never know when the call for an interview may come and you should have researched the companies you have applied too (at least know some basic info about them e.g fleets, routes etc). Therefore if they do call you with short notice for telephone interviews or panel interviews you don't have to rush and cram.
Airlines have a habit of calling people for interviews and only giving them a few days before the actual day. Iv even been asked to come to an airline interview the very next day the reason being was that the TR would start the following week! I'm sure there are guys who have even been called on that very day for an interview! Therefore you should have already prepared good answers for the basic questions that every airline will undoubtedly ask such as 'why do you want to be a pilot', 'why X airline' etc and basic tech questions etc..
Ps. I don't work for FR but iv done the telephone interview, albeit awhile back. Your command of English is the primary factor, getting you to answers questions is just a way of making you do more of the talking. Answers to the tech/personal questions will be more important at the panel interview stage, but obviously sensible and correct answers do help your cause!.. so brush up on that knowledge!