Huge!
Not implying for a second that the said employee did not pass or deserve his position, in this case I believe quite the opposite. This particular pilot had (and probably still has) an impeccable knack for both his IFR technique and rules just to mention a few of his attributes.
my point was simply that he viewed himself as too old and unable to succeed in obtaining an airline job. It would appear that a couple of connections from his former employer simply got his resume on the higher side of the pile.
So long as this sort of thing doesn't derail the usual due process it can only be a good thing for a guy such as this as he may well have been otherwise perceived as "past it".
It does very much seem that stage 2 (skills and psychometric etc.) is the big hurdle, Huge, would you know what the typical failure rates for this are? I have heard something in the order of 50% for main line, with many being invited back for a second crack and others simply shown the door.
Willie