Arrowhead,
your "second-hand" information is a bit wide of the mark....
Astraeus has trained over 100 pilots since we started our TRTO. 90% of them are now flying 737's. 14 pilots are currently under training and already have jobs.
Of the remainder, well, lets just say that some are better than others. Everyone who does a course gets a de-brief at the end on their performance, capabilities and weaknesses, and we tell them if they have not flown the simulator for a period of time, to do a couple of hours refresher training before undertaking an assessment for an airline.
As regards the other matter, I hired a jet qualified pilot who has another profession. Over the years I have hired many such pilots. This one is no different (except slightly higher profile).
H