I don't want to get into an argument about any of this but think it should be acknowledged that the way in which this has all been handled was poor.
It was a massive effort and financial commitment for those that applied, myself included. I had to re do my me-ir and then paid for an a320 sim to practice after a couple of years away from commercial flying (due to airline collapsing just during covid). I also paid for travel and hotels to attend interviews and sims.
I finally felt it was safe to return to the airline world and was overjoyed to meet the benchmark for a job with jet2.
After waiting eagerly in the hold pool for 4 months i felt it was poor show for jet 2 to reward my patience and effort with an automared email but more than that. I found it very strange for them to have spent money and effort recruiting me. Informing me I had met the standard, flushing me as though they didn't need any more pilots and then running a "pilot roadshow to recruit more pilots at Bournemouth the same week.....
I posed the question to a recruiter that wouldn't it make more sense to leave me in the hold pool until a position becomes available rather than recruiting more people and was told the head recruiter would call me and discuss when he was back from leave (2 weeks time). I then contacted the same recruiter 2 weeks later and was palmed off with a dismissive automated rejection email when i asked if he was available for that call....
All round quite a disappointing experience from an airline that I had really, genuinely, believed cared about people.
I now feel I was nieve to have thought that maybe pilots were becoming valued and cared for again and that the industry was becoming a stable, safe option.