I think we could discuss seniority systems versus upgrade the better candidate for ever. But just my opinion: why should the better candidate have to wait for an upgrade just because the less suitable candidate joined the company before him/her??
The other part I did not understand: Whats wrong with the TR?? When a pilot joining the company is not A320-rated, he will go to Airbus in France for the initial training. We can discuss about the price of the training at Airbus, but I don't think we can argue long about the quality of the training.
There is another route, via Storm Aviation, but I'm not familliar with that program. My understanding is that the training is done at GCAT to UK/CAA/JAR standards, which are good, as far as I know.