Capt. J and AMEX
Capt J, I am surprised brookfield turned you down. Almost all of the pilots interviewing had no type ratings, but did have PIC turbine experience in "make" aircraft such as Hawker, Bombardier, and Falcon. Only 1 had time in GV, currently typed, and he didn't pass the medical, go figure.
Most had over 5000 TT.
You are correct AMEX, the deal is at the low end of the scale, which is why they have the option of new type rating "5 year contract" option... the "bonus" also changed to 10K per year for Capt. and 5K for F.O.'s However, almost all the F.O.'s will be Chinese. I too, found it a bit odd about having the pilots pay their way to the Sim test, and reimbursed after a pass. However, in light of understanding their reasoning after getting to Beijing, it made sense. Basically, the company had a bad experience with a couple pilots coming over getting hired, then leaving after just 6 months or earlier, complaining about few things, etc. Ie. A few of the Chinese Captains had reportedly smoked in the cockpit, which the foreigners' (us) didn't like, rightly so. So, my take is, though they may seem like a cheap company, not taking care of their pilots, on the contrary, money is not an issue and they do take care of the pilots (best hotels, and all food included on the road instead of per diem), they just want to make sure the pilots really want to make the effort to be there and not leave later...
my two cents worth anyways
-RM