I have been lucky enough to experience both sides of our industry. I am currently working for a well-respected airline with many hours on the 320. Previous, I was working for a small corporate company.
In my opinion I preferred the corporate scenario. You had to do a lot more than just fly a plane but that was what made it more interesting. I’ll try and weigh up the difference between the two from my experience.
On call a lot however a lot of time off especially if you can get a one week on one week off scenario which is becoming more and more industry standard. T&C's tend to be, on the whole, less than what you would receive in the airlines however that is rapidly changing as airlines constantly try to degrade remunerations. Sometimes, long waits down route for punters. Job stability maybe perceived as less in the Biz Jet world but this is common throughout the whole industry these days.
Interesting PAX that you can interact with. Occasional night stops where you are able to see and enjoy where you have flown to. Real flying into real airports that tend to not be as busy as the airline saturated ones. From my experience a more Laissez-Faire cockpit scenario.
A small cog in a big machine. Able to fly large jets (if that floats your boat). Home most nights. Stable Roster. Supposedly better T&C's! Engineering backup at most outstations. Generally having your rear wiped for you.
Repetition of boring routes into fully radar controlled airports all of which have ILS's. On the whole, very early starts and long days of the above mentioned type of flying which then move over to lates in the next rotation. Occasionally having to deal with the superiority complex of some airline created Captains. No social interaction with PAX's and because of that, being treated like a glorified bus driver by the PAX's. Constant fights between Unions and Company that creates a “them and us” scenario. 800 - 900 hrs a year of flying.
I do realize that some people have had totally different experiences than myself and some may put each of my comments in different "box's" and I would love to hear other peoples thoughts and experiences, but for me, if I was given a choice between my current employer and a well-respected biz jet outfit, I would choose the latter because it is not as boring as airline flying.