Our company has a similar program for it's AMT's. It was for years a priority to hire into the AMT ranks from within. 9/11 happened and there were lots of guys on the street, many chose to take a position as a handler. When the hire freeze was lifted they simply hired from within as long as you met minimum exp requirements. Needless to say many slugs made their way in and the company noticed it. I finally got my shot off the street with serious time on the airframes the company was operating.
For AC, hell if you want to throw bags to get a job go for it. Just know you will probably be respected less by your peers who really should not judge you for fighting for a job. What? You are not a Pilot until you have a yoke in your hands, is a pilot too good to perform manual labour? It is pathetic to knock a person's desire to succeed as quickly as possible in achieving his goals.