Hi All,
Just a quick note to add to the already extensive thread. I applied for Flybe in Sept 2014 via the old portal and finally got an interview in late Jan. Pretty relaxed setup with 1 pilot and one HR member. Two people being interviewed at a time. It was predominately competence based questions and a few tech. Unfortuneately I didn't nail them and on my feedback (about 20 mins later) I was told I just fell short of the cutoff score to progress to the next stage, i.e. the sim check.
If I had passed that phase, the sim check was to be done that same afternoon. I don't have a JOC (MCC only) and they were aware of that, so I would suggest JOC is not the be all and end all at that stage but most likely helpful. The other person interviewing at the same time as me passed and went onto the sim check and she didn't have a JOC either.
This may change under the CTC regime, but that is a summary of my experience. I was told to re-apply in 12 months.
Hope that helps some out there.