When one thinks that things are bad, you hear stories that suggest things are getting worse than just having to pay for a rating (which is bad enough). Can anybody confirm the following from their own experience?
Ryanair are specialising in recruiting a large number of "Second Officers" with very low time and who are concerned about the validity and renewal of their licences, getting a job, etc. The successful candidates pay, in advance of course, for their B737-800 rating - but do so because their rating is believed to be the route to a job. This part of their "recruitment" is via an "independent" agency. (This is an independent money making part of the FR empire - this means that any subsequent argument about training is NOT with Ryanair who can claim it is not their problem).
O.K. says you, that's business. However.... the failure rate is currently very high (I am told it is between 40& & 60%, but I have no solid source). Which is interesting, since it is a source of profit for Ryanair and not a problem for them - but it can be a problem for the person left without a valid licence, 737 rating, etc, but with a substantial debt.
There is more. Ryanair, with their usual cleverness has done some kind of a deal with the IAA to allow them to delay line training for many months after the simulator training is over. Of course the significance of this is not immediately obvious, but you don't get paid as a S/O in Ryanair (until you have lost your "safety pilot" during line training, that is). What might this mean? Well, it can mean many, many months without ANY pay - even if the S/O or "cadet" was told at interview it would be the "usual" period of time. This latter bit of information came to me via a pilot who is in the middle of that very experience. He says that some people have gone without pay for periods as high as 10-14 months, though it is shorter for many.
He has been talking to some colleagues who have gone ahead and is alarmed to hear about other bits of bad news (like the 1 year to a promised pay increase from very low S/O pay that turns out to be 23 months, etc).
I am confident that what I have said above is an accurate picture, but confirmation from somebody with direct experience would be helpful in helping to identify just what else this particular "offer" involves. It kinda gives you a different take on "Self Funded Type ratings", does it not?