I commenced my training prior to 911 so I'm afraid self sponsoring a type rating was not a real possibility when I borrowed my training money from HSBC. In fact not once did anyone ever mention that a type rating was the way forward following training indeed the idea was considered absurd by the majority of those undertaking their training prior to 911. It was once the same with MCC's because we never used to be expected to pay for those either but I did factor for that as the trend was changing towards the kind of 'proactive' (read:expensive) approach now being championed by many.
There are strong opinions amongst many in my situation against pushing the goal posts further away in an attempt to gain advantage over others. Soon the possibility of becoming a commercial pilot will be impossible due to the cost if everyone is to be expected to pay for their type ratings without promise of employment. There needs to be some kind of unity amongst us to ensure this doesn't happen but when there are rich scabs about who'll offer to work for free this kind of utopia is unobtainable and type ratings are the least of our worries.
Obviously the ideas you mooted have already been considered and I'm currently in the process of deciding whether to incur further debt by purchasing a type rating however you hear differing stories as to the usefulness of this particular course of action depending upon who you speak to. Everyone is an expert as you may have already discovered if you've been in the aviation 'sphere' for any considerable period of time but the depressing reality is that nobody has the definative answer to obtaining initial employment because predicting pilot recruitment trends is comparable to picking the lotto bonus ball. There is no reliable trend from one source to another.
VFE.