No offence taken, you have a point, no doubt about it - but the company is running a business, I suspect they would rather everyone was rated. Its a fair bit cheaper and massively reduces corporate risk. However, we (the TOM pilot group) have pushed it to be more open to other candidates (specifically TOM employees) and this should be viewed as a massive achievement.
My understanding is that CTC will not be used as a recruitment tool this time after some protesting from TOM pilots about the way they conduct their business.
The fact is magic, there are very few jobs out there and IMO TOM is one of the top 3 jobs in the country, they have the pick of the crop. I've heard they are looking at 30-40 positions. I suspect they'll have several thousands of applications. Why would they open it up further to non rated, and get another 10,000 applications? It would be nice if they did, dont get me wrong but alas, we all know there's just no point.
Anyway, seen as I'm such a nice guy, PM me and I might be able to help.