Things will never change, as long ago as 1995, when I was looking for that first job, guys were paying for 737 ratings , with British midland. Of the 2 I knew that did it, one ended up at regional on the EMB and the other got an earlier offer on the Fokker.
It was tough then, the gulf war had killed demand. At least there were many smaller airlines to apply to as a non TR pilot....not so now , cock up your chance with easy or Ryanair and there’s not many other places to go.
And the idea that any new pilot who’s just spent €120k on their licence will campaign against P2F is ludicrous, their classmates will just run them down in the rush to sign up.......just don’t be amazed when you do a few years with loco and try and move onto better TCs because there won’t be any.