These are the general steps, or how it used to be a few months ago based on my peers:
1. you apply on the CAE website
2. They send you an email with questions (hours, exams, license, CV, etc). Apparently these then get forwarded to ryanair, and they decide if they want to continue with your application or not.
3. The CAE emails you to reject your application, or they send you an email stating when they'll call you (note, sometimes they 'forget' to send the email and just call out of the blue). This generally takes about 14 days.
4. during the call they'll confirm your hours, exams, etc etc again. If you're not a native speaker you'll get a very brief and easy english test. They'll read you a short paragraph, twice, and ask you 2 or 3 very simple questions. Takes less then 2 min total. They'll immediately tell you if you passed and invite you for an assessment. They'll tell you the date and give you general instructions. If you failed they'll "let you know the results' and email you.
5. if you passed, they'll send you an email confirming your assessment and giving detailed payment instructions.
6. You'll get another email a few days before teh assessment with guidelines, SOP, speeds, profiles, etc to study.
7. Assessment day
8. within roughly 14 days tops, they'll send an email giving you the results
9. if positive, they'll contact you again and give you extra info and plan the TR course etc etc