I'll jump through hoops if it means a guaranteed job at the end of training, thanks very much.
There are many routes into the rhs of a commercial airliner and there will always be many opinions on which one is the best one, which one is a waste of money, yadda yadda yadda... each to their own I say, and if you want to pay £65k to get you that job asap, like I do, then go for it. If I don't manage a sponsored/mentored course then I'll do the modular route I expect, but with that comes the uncertainty of being able to secure the job I dream of.
In my opinion, I believe Flybe runs such a scheme on top of all the hundreds of applications they have taken for direct entry for reasons of loyalty, amonst others. I can only really comment based on my own position I suppose, but for wannabes applying to the 'sponsorship' scheme they will be bloody grateful if they get selected knowing that all they have to do is work hard for 18months and they'll be on the line living the dream. Flybe represents a great opportunity for a future career, with the option to progress onto jets without moving employers. They seem quite turned on to employee satisfaction from what I read, and no it's not all roses but then where is it?
I'm very interested in job stability as well as the opportunity to progress internally to jet, TRI, TRE etc. Direct entry pilots looking for a job at Flybe have already demonstrated that they are willing to up sticks to somewhere greener so what's to stop them doing the same again soon. Cadets on this scheme will go in at the bottom and there will be carrots on sticks in the form of jet jobs just a few years away, so Flybe gives them something to stop them getting too bored for a while. Hopefully any cadet starting in 2009 will still be with them 10-12 years after that, they lay the best groundwork possible at the beginning and then keeping employees is another challenge that every employer strives to get right.
Obviously Flybe benefit with the reduced salary that bonded pilots are on for 5 years, but I can't think of a way into this job that doesn't involve tightening the purse strings for a while at the beginning. Besides, even the reduced salary isn't my idea of a poor one!