Well explained Pixy, new joiners should read this and see where they are going. The terms conditions and pay are melting like the proverbial ice cube in the desert sun. For years and years the company has said rosters would become more manageable, both with hours flown and ease of bidding. This HAS NOT happened. If you are lucky you will get one flight you bid for in each of the two top bid months (regardless of seniority), the remaining three months are a mess of critically fatiguing night flights with 1 or 2 days off between them (very occasionally 3) You will fly your full 900hrs a year plus you can also fly well in excess since this doesn’t include augment time, only seat time.
They are keeping up with pilot demand by lowering the threshold for joining and with it the standards, all whilst moaning that there are more and more incidents. Any fool can realise that the two obviously go hand in hand.
The new joiners now rarely have any aspiration to stay long term, it is now an adventure into shiny jets and long haul for a few years before moving on. Gone are the days where you joined with a career in mind. Even the company realises this and tries to tie the new joiners to the company with higher bonds and longer periods required to pay them off, even requiring command bonds now due to the loss of new commanders.