Happy Bandit,
What Icarus says in regards to pay etc is pretty well spot on. Agree that most future cadets will now be going to QLink, though perhaps the odd few may still go to the other employers (except Skippers - they're no longer taking QF cadets I believe) when the cadets currently there finish up. Also, the CIPP is for a set period of two years, the only reason you would stay at a CIPP employer is by your own choice or if QF wasn't recruiting at the time your 2 years was up....QF don't select cadets to stay on in industry placement indefinitely so it's very unlikely that you would not be relinquished irrespective of where you do your placement.
Not entirely sure where you're going with the FO business, to give a brief summary, at the end of the cadetship you will likely get an FO spot in one of the previously mentioned companies for approx 2 years then possibly be called up by QF to join as an SO, just like everyone else. Minimums have nothing to do with it, that's why cadetships exist; to train pilots the way the respective airline wants them trained. Even after the 2 years in placement with perhaps 1500hrs or so in the logbook you will find that the vast majority of cadets still wouldn't have the minimum requirements aka 500pic for QF Direct Entry!
As to why do the Cadetship and not just get your 500 pic and apply sooner? Well for me it was quite an easy decision, I wanted to fly for QF and the cadetship provided me with a way of reaching that dream ON TOP of the Direct Entry option. If I stuffed up with the cadet path, then I still had DE up my sleeve and I would have at least had exposure to some or all of the QF recruitment process which would have made it that little bit easier when that DE selection came. In a nutshell, I didn't want to put all my eggs in the one (DE) basket! Also,whilst 500 pic is the minimum, you could find that it may take all of those 2 years or so that you would be doing your CIPP before QF deemed you 'competitive' anyhow.
As i've stated in previous posts, the cadetship is not for everyone for various reasons, not least financially, however it does provide you with a couple more 'shots' at getting into the rat which was a good enough reason for me.
Hope this helps.
Last edited by brown_hornet; 9th Jul 2007 at 14:35.