Only partly true regarding the contract/overseas positions...It's mostly a Captains world in that part of aviation. Emirates, Etihad and Qatar all hire FO's with an upgrade program of a sort (they ALL hire Direct Entry Captains ahead of potentially upgrade-able FO's) so expect delays for a command. Asia hires mostly DEC pilots and most do not have any upgrade policies...careful about taking any advice unless it's from someone who has any actual experience in the contract world...plus once a move is made to leave, it's not as easy to get back...the three carriers mentioned above all used to require a resignation of a seniority number before they hired and may still require it...and we all know how much fun it could be to go back to the bottom of a list..unless of course there isn't a company left!
(imho AC will drop farther into the red and file again...)