There will always be those who will worship the wide-bodies as the only aeroplanes fit for a "real" pilot. There will always be those who claim that "aircraft type X is the one and only true airplane and everything else is rubbish". There will always be those who will think that only the lowly, unambitious and mediocre pilots out there wouldn't want to work for the likes of EK.
But guess what? A lot of that thinking vanishes with experience, both professional and life experience. People get to realise that the type and registration aren't that important as all transport category aircraft have like 80% commonality in terms of how they are flown. People find out that how you feel about yourself is way more important than what others think of you. People realise that being happy with your base, roster and pay and maintaining a healthy work-life balance is a long way more important than flying the heaviest piece of metal out there. Hence all those who ditch the A380 for a narrow-body or a business jet with no intention of ever going back. But, to reach this stage in their thinking, most need to "live the dream" first and find out first-hand what it's like. And this will ensure a never-ending flow of applicants to EK.