I know they've been telling the guys in very recent interviews that they can expect. Upgrade to FO in a year and a half to two years.
The AOA just asked management about this, as it seems interviewers have been creative and rather misleading to new recruits . Here is the quote from the 24th August AOA update.
It has recently been brought to the AOA’s attention that some of the cadets returning from Adelaide have reportedly been led to expect 18 month SO tenures as part of an “Accelerated JFO program.” Naturally, with 324 Second Officers presently on the Seniority List, and current JFO courses being allocated around the 4 year mark, rumors of such a programme has given cause for concern about possible bypassing of seniority amongst present Second Officers.
After discussing the matter with the HKAOA, the DFO recently made it clear that no such programme exists and all Second Officers will upgrade in Seniority as per their CoS.
If
all the stars align, it
may come down to 36 months. Nothing is indicating that the stars are even close to aligning, and nothing is motivating the company to attempt an alignment.