Re: How employable are you if you have failed an Inital IR once or twice?
I think the best point made by a couple of the previous posters is that what's more important is how you dealt with the setback As long as you don't make one of those 'fly on the wall' programmes where they follow you on your ellusive path to an IR with your 32nd test attempt you will be regarded as just like any other pilot. I jest, but the fact is if you are really not up to it and take several attempts then you may have cause for concern (mainly because of your flawed judgement about suitability in your chosen career). A fail/ partial/ and a retest is not really a problem. In the interview they are trying to find out about YOU as a person, what makes you tick, how you react to things like this setback etc etc. They use a sim assessment to decide on your flying abilities and CRM etc.
What applies in this and every other setback you have ever faced (not just in flying) at interview, is how you present what happened/ what you felt about it/ what you did about it and what POSITIVE result you achieved through learning from the mistake/ failure etc.
Good luck.
PP