Hi Tony,
When you join QCCA you complete 5-6 weeks training. Our rosters work over 8 weeks, so you finish off whatever is left of that current roster period ( we call them bid periods) by being on reserve. If this is greater than 4 weeks, then you could get a flying roster the next bid period, but generally most new crew are given a full reserve roster as their first full 8 week roster.
Starting next week, there are 4 classes (approx 64 crew) being transferred from 744/767/333 flying to go onto the A380. This has been predominantly made up of QCCA crew that started 3 years ago, although there are some QAL crew that are moving over. For this new A380 I do not believe there will be any external recruitment.
The next 380 is due Feb/March, and there are still 20-30 QCCA left on 744 etc, so they will also be transferred across. I can not say whether this will be enough crew or not, as they are currently recruiting for the London base, and they may fill the gap.
Hope this helps.... hopefully external recruitment will start again soon.