Skycapt - finally someone with some intelligence on this site.
I'm sure you realise already this industry is still stuck in the old fashioned culture of "do your time living in a caravan washing the CP's car every morning and hoping to get 0.1 hrs doing a maintenance circuit in the 152".
Aviation is moving forwards, pushing every pilot through a GA apprenticeship is unsustainable for the growth of the industry, hence many companies have had to start cadet/traineeships to keep quality applicants filling the right hand seat. QFlink and Skipps are just two examples. Cadet and trainee schemes are also a response to the highly mobile pilot workforce - why recruit someone with 2000TT and 500multi when they will leave at the first opportunity, a cadet can be bonded and doesn't have the hours to go elsewhere for years to come - so which is the best choice from a manager's point of view?
The people that had to put up with the hardship of a GA apprenticeship are always going to be bitter about the new generation not having to do it.