The truth 2SP is that there are far too many fATPL holders who are virtually unemployable. I’ve seen people struggling away (at both the flying and groundschool), failing tests repeatedly, pouring good money after bad until eventually, in a triumph of persistence over ability, they get their licence. Extraordinary, but they often seem to be the people who have difficulty getting a job.
If you were an airline (or CTC) and were inundated with applications from people who where theoretically qualified for the small number of places you had available would you spend your time looking at:
a) the applicants who had several attempts at the JAA groundschool exams and passed their CPL and IR on second or more attempts, or alternatively…
b) those who passed everything first time?
Sure, there is far more to suitability than passing everything first time round (which may explain some exceptions to the rule). Sure there are plenty of people who have got jobs who did not pass everything first time (especially in times of less competition for jobs). But if you were paying for someone’s type rating, I suspect you’d pick the person who looked as if they would be the lowest risk of needing extra training and/or failing. Past performance in training is an excellent predictor of future performance in training.