nikki,
in the past I have heard about airlines who didn't want to be bothered with people who already had some kind of experience, for reasons only clear to themselves. Sometimes the Chiefs CC/Instructors don't want to risk having people around who might aspire to their job. But it tended to be small outfits. For what I can personally tell, the Big Ones always cared a lot about previous experience. In recruitment periods they want to avoid having lots of juniors storming the galleys at a time. At least that was the case when I joined AF; at the same time I was going through the selection process with BA and at the first interview (over the phone) they were delighted about my past experience (but I didn't go until the end of the process because I decided to accept AF). Same was for a friend of mine who joined Alitalia. HE was hired after 1 interview and put on a 10 days course because they were desperate for people with a previous experience.