Sorry if this seems a tad negative, however I'm fairly convinced they almost know who they are going to take on before you even pay your £250. At the end of the day, 9/10 candidates for assessment have exactly the same number of hours, same licence etc, the interview is merely to confirm you are up to the job and probably to make up numbers. I'd barely been in my interview two minutes and I already knew they wouldn't pick me, just by the style of questioning which I've never experienced in an interview before. And my fears were confirmed when me and my partner were given around 10 minutes each in the sim because a first officer had to do his yearly check and they had run late. I wasn't that set on going the ryanair route to start with, I just thought perhaps the interview and sim check would be a good experience and I would see what happened. The only experience I got was realising that their aim is to make money out of you and no I am not actually bitter I didn't get accepted, I am just bitter that I got no feedback and the whole experience cost me near £500.

Having been through the system and been successful, I'd say it's more like 25% are successful, if that. And that was nearly 2 years ago when they were desperate for cadets! :p

I had never flown a 738 before the assessment day and paid for some time in a full motion 738 sim, not so much to get a head start, but to make sure I felt comfortable with the layout and feel of the sim. I am convinced that this was worthwhile and the proof is in the pudding: I had a good assessment day and passed. My sim buddy had a mare and got a rejection email within days.

I also had a good-humoured and friendly interview. Remember, whatever you may have heard about FR, they're not just looking for people who can be trained, they want people who are socially adept. Be friendly, cheerful, smile, but know your technical stuff.



PS: 10 minutes in the sim is normal, but yes, the TRE will know within seconds whether you have the aptitude to fly a jet. He doesn't need 30 minutes of hold entries or raw data ILS approaches to form a view!!


PPS: I gave the assessment day a substantial investment of time. money and effort. 2 or 3 years ago there were few other options, if any, and my gamble paid off. These days there are other airlines recruiting...

"I wasn't that set on going the ryanair route to start with"

Flyinguy - looks like the interviewers are good at their job.

lol maybe you're right! however I didn't make that obvious on the day - I did give it everything. Also all the guys got 45 minutes each in the sim that day, and we were told we were being cut short because they sim was booked. They apologised but like I said, if I'd got my 45 minutes at least the £250 went to something enjoyable :)

I have also passed, but getting only 10 minutes in the sim seems to me unfair, as you are paying for it. On my assessment day each applicant got a minimum of 45 min some even more....
@liveview your friend definitely doesn't know what he is talking about, I personally got in a few months ago with more than 500hrs in GA and having finished my training years ago. I know many guys who got in years after they finished their training.

In addition to the above where %'s are being thrown around, they are all guessing.

3 years ago, there were 4 applicants on my day, all 4 got selected. I'm sure there were days where 12 showed up and none got through. Basically, you either meet their standard or you don't - for whatever reason.

My sim was a good 45 mins with my partner then doing the same after.

Waiting and Waiting
 

Hi Guys I sent my application in december but no answer. How long you must wait ??

Hello.

I read in the thread earlier Ryanair won't even consider you if you failed anything before. Is that really true? I failed one ATPL exam and passed it in the second attempt. Am i out of chance already? All other checkrides passed in first..

to WeMadeYou

i don't think it should be a problem mate i failed may cpl and partialed it seceond time and still got the interview just make sure when you apply to them throw OAA where you have the space to fill under "Additional Info"you write some words to let them know how much you are interested
this is what i have done and it did took me to the interview in a couple of weeks know the hard bit is to pass it

don't worry be positive keep sending

bye

Avio77,

It varies on how long it takes them to get in touch with you after sending the initial application. It only took a matter of days for one friend of mine, crazy! Then at the other end of the scale I know someone who waited around 4 months.

I was one of the fortunate ones and got contacted within 2 weeks. I can't figure out a logic behind their selection, maybe top of the pile etc like I've seen before in this discussion.

All the best anyway,

Gyro
 

Many Thanks Gyro, all the best to you !

Maybe somebody can answer this,

I applied through CAE about a year ago and and heard nothing so i called to see if my application was uploaded ok and they said yes and that i should hear something within a week or so which i did and the email was that my application was not going through to the next stage and that they could not give me a reason because of the overwelming amount of CVs they recieve on a daily basis,so then i applied through OAA and after a two month wait i emailed them to see if everything was ok and the reply was the same as the one i got back from CAE ,i passed all my atpls first time 90% avg and all my skills tests first time also so i really dont know what the problem could maybe my age 33? is there anybody else with the same problem?

I'm afraid you are right...

I was 32 when I applied. 4 guys on my TR were 30+.

Mikehotel152, when did you apply?

Has anyone on here, over 30, got an interview recently?

hi there!
I read that every assessment is attended by 7 or 8 persons, does anybody know how many, average, pass it?
if they make pairs for the sim, why do they call odd number of people to the assessment day?

cheers guys!!

Hey when I went there was 9 of us. All paired up with people we didn't know for the sim check. Not too sure how they delt with the odd guy out!

Got the call last week from them, going for induction on 23rd May and TR on 6th June...Anyone else here on that course?

Difficult one though, either twice as much chance of impressing them or twice as much chance of making a mistake. I wouldn't want to push my luck with a second round in the sim!

thanks guys!
congrats irish_flyer and good luck for everyone else going following days!!

any one guys going on the 23/3 to the assessment in stansted?
any updates thx