You will definitely be in a better position having done your CIR with the company you are seking employment with. They will treat this as a kind of pre-employment assessment and if you are trained by the company's CFI/CP they know you are following their preferred operational methods. You will find this true for any operator who also conducts their own training, however be aware another operator will also prefer you trained with them. Also if you don't put in the effort during your course...
QAS does have a good reputation in their standard of IF training and the CFI should have testing approval very shortly. (Yay! Another renewal possibility for those in the area waiting in queue!)
You start on the 6's and move up from there. Look at it as a probation period. Most guys progress within 6 months if they don't have twin already, but opportunity may mean earlier progression.