My stance on this is that one way or the other, you'll end up paying for the TR, be it on a lower salary, bonding etc.
I know 4 people who went through the BM thing mid 90's, all where offered jobs in the end. Also, on full pay rather than reduced pay, plus, by the time the'd had a refund from the tax office (not sure how this works, but I'm told it's what happened), the TR only cost about 7K. (one guy messed up a landing and had to do a go around in the a/c at a cost of £43 a minute - note the risk).
For myself, I'm not prepared to get a TR, unless it's conditional on a job ofer, for two reasons - 1. which TR, and secondly, 6 weeks off work would pretty much terminate my employment.
Yonks ago, when I was trying to get an IT job, I was prepared to work for a period pretty much for nothing to get a job. Almost without exception, this was seriously frowned upon by all interviewers. If I offer to pay for my own TR, will this also be the case in aviation, and will my CV receive an even quicker PFO?
Much as I don't like shelling out 20K for a rating, I can't help but think it's the way it's going in order to get a job. We never had to pay for MCC's, but the same applies there.
There are just too many people chasing too few jobs, and what more natural filter is there for the airlines when times are hard than to get individuals to take this on. Don't get me wrong, I'm not in favour of it, just I see it'll be the norm in a few years time.
S