Working for Free!
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It has been brought to my attention for a flying job advertised within Australia,
Sometimes a difficult decision indeed. With a huge over-supply of pilots in Australia, something has to give. Everyone has an angle and in the end it all boils down to how much are you prepared to spend to get a flying job. Take Lion air Indonesia where pay-to-fly is all the go. CPL graduate gets himself a 737 type rating in USA at half the price he will pay for an Australian based type rating provider.
He then coughs up another 20 grand or more to buy himself a right hand seat slot in an Asian airline via Eagle Jet in USA or similar. No pay of course. Six months later he has 300 hours on the 737/A320 and is offered a full time job with pay in the RH seat having proved he isn't a nutter. Six years later with 4-5000 hours on the Airbus or 737 he will be upgraded to captain. From there on he is home and hosed.
Never happen in Australia because of the surfeit of spare pilots doing instructor courses on a C152 after CPL. Six years later he will be a grade one with 2500 hours as an instructor if he gets the job and his compatriot in Indonesia is a 737 captain. It is a no brainer if you have the money to spare.
Whether you fly for free in a Cessna 172/210 in Australian general aviation to get ahead of the mob or fly for free in an airliner in Indonesia to get ahead of the mob, what's the difference in principle. I don't agree with the principle but take it or leave it.