Yes ARP there are some out there that get the short end of the stick. But some of them do seal their own fate by doing dumb things, not being straight up with the boss or basicly sitting on their butt and waiting to be handed an airline interview.
On the other hand I know of some who did 20 months at the mountain, went to AA and got interveiws with stuff all multi with the link operators. It all comes down to your work ethic.