Variable Load;
you're missing something.
If, for example, two pilots turn up both of whom are suitable, then if one of them has an IR, he* will have the advantage. Paying for an IR is expensive and isn't a guarantee that you will get in as you might not fit the profile that CHC are looking for. So your best bet is make sure that you meet the profile, get an IR, apply for the job and get it. You could, of course, hope that the other candidates don't have an IR but the way things are, more and more pilots are self-funding their IR in order to make them more likely to get in.
I know of pilots that have gained their IR and then found that they did not meet the profile required. Good handling skills and experience are not as important to the big companies as good CRM.
Handling will improve over time, but if you have a forty-odd year old 7000 hr co-pilot, they need to make sure that he can deal with sitting next to a 22 year old 3000 hr captain. Don't think about any other gradients; it's the cockpit one that really matters.
*male pronoun used throughout, but applicable to those females also crazy enough to want to go out in that environment in that kind of weather.