Unfortunately, that's what the Cadetship is primarily about. The idea is to get em' before they have been trained by somebody else. That's probably why they treat bare CPL or similar applicants like lepers! It works well enough on paper, but the Cadetship in the first place has to be seriously well evolved, well funded, and with a suitable endgame result for all parties. IMHO, the REX Cadetship falls flat on all three.
Ironically, the first 6 Cadets to roll off the production line all had some previous experience! Most had at least PPL's, and by all acounts are progressing well. Mind you it still took a year to get them into SAAB groundschool. Just a tad longer than JD's boast of 8 months. As for the rest (most having zero previous experience), the jury is still out.
Stay tuned!