I found the initial job post on an online job portal and applied via the TUI careers website (slightly annoying, involved putting in salary expectations, which you always feel under pressure to not overstate in order to be in with a better chance. I put in a relatively modest sum that is worth less than I am, really, as a minimum, and this was, coincidentally, the precise amount that was offered at a later point in the interview).
I received an invitation to interview via employee administrative email about a month later, scheduled for the following week. The date they had pre-selected was inconvenient, and I would have preferred that they call to arrange, rather than assume my availability. Nevertheless, I was able to rearrange for another mutually convenient date (though the administrator's email response took 2 days and was rather blunt).
There was no one at the reception to the quite large and confusingly laid-out building, so I had to find the right office on my own, which made me a few minutes late. Even so, there was some waiting around in the office for my interviewers for around 10-15 minutes.
The interviewer that met with me was pleasant, and took me into a room to complete a handwritten blog-writing assignment. I was allowed 30 mins, and was vaguely asked to write about "my last holiday". No target audience, word count or other specifics/directions were given, which made it somewhat challenging, and slightly reminiscent of those back-to-school, post-half-term writing assignments. I realise that the handwritten aspect may have been to assess spelling etc., but not having computer access (for a computer-based job) was bizarre and inconvenient.
After this, I was taken back to the waiting area again while my interviewers read over my magnum opus. 5-10 mins later, I was taken into another room for the face-to-face interview with two interviewers (the marketing manager and the team member manager, who had shown me into the first room for the writing test).
This was fairly standard, with no particularly difficult questions. The main interviewer hadn't seemed to have checked over my CV very thoroughly in advance at all, and asked me some irrelevant and surface-skimming questions that showed this - not a good sign. Otherwise, I was mostly asked questions that arose from responses I had given as opposed to prepared questions, and asked general questions about qualities I had, rather than specific experience and skills. The interview did not last as long as I anticipated, and the main interviewer came across as quite tired and disinterested from start to finish. I even tried to lighten the atmosphere by cracking an innocuous joke at one point, which was met with stony silence. Geez.
I felt I performed well, but came away with the distinct impression they had already pretty much decided they would not employ me and did not like the fact that I lived over an hour away (a comment was made about how long it takes to drive from my address, but they did not seem interested enough to ask whether I would be willing to relocate or not - which I was). This made it seem that there was little I could have done to succeed in this situation, which left me feeling somewhat powerless and put out.
At the interview's conclusion, I asked if they would like to view my online portfolio, which they expressed an interest in. I emailed it that afternoon to their secretary to pass on, as I wasn't given their contact details. No one responded, but I instead received a rejection email the next day. Lovely.
Oh, and the email was automated and could not be responded to, so I was unable to get any feedback, either.