What I mainly want to know is, have they're ever been Wings cadets, that right after finishing up their ab-initio fATPL, have satisfactorily secured an offer of employment with an airline that's not part of the CTC airline partners?
I am sure there probably have been, but not many, because the partners are the USP ("unique" selling point!) Nothing prevents you ordinarily from completing the course and seeking out employment on your own, however, and without wishing to repeat myself, this is a very difficult endeavour. Nevertheless, in principle, it is possible. I am sure there must have been graduates who have done this, but I doubt they exist in any significant number, and of course the partners are the constituent part of the advanced portion of the wings cadet course.
Outside of a structured cadet scheme there are very few airlines that would consider applicants with this level of low experience, and that would be the problem that would constantly resurface. Nevertheless, if you can find one, that would be fine.
I've read in this forum some have had to wait months until finally entering either easyJet or another partner airline when in the "holding pool". I am hoping to get a good picture of the overall situation once you've finished the course. Perhaps rather than having to wait for so long there are a few opportunities with other airlines that may be interesting too.
Yes. Airline recruitment very much depends on the airlines actual and projected need for the forthcoming season. They may well have an idea of how many pilots they are going to need in the future, but it is only ever going to be an abstract figure. The real need, and hence hard recruitment, takes place only a few short months before the actual need arises. For that reason alone (and there are many others,) it is impossible to forecast with any accuracy what a recruitment situation is likely to be in anything other than the short term.
Many airlines (including partner airlines) complete the majority of their training in the Winter/Spring period. This is often the period when the operational requirements of the company allow for a greater availability of training tracks.
Ab-initio advanced training of this nature is extremely demanding of those resources, and again it tends to focus those opportunities into this Winter/Spring period. The result is that where cadet vacancies do arise they tend to do so in a seasonal fashion. Outside of these seasons the "pools" tend to fill up, and they then empty as the recruitment season gets under way. By way of example, I have seen cadets graduate straight into partner airlines without any waiting at all in the last 24 months. However graduates immediately in line behind this group then had to wait almost a year for the next sequential vacancies(with the same partner) to arise. Therefore you should allow for this very real possibility in your planning. You should also bear in mind that the airline placements depend completely on the customer airlines requirements and their individual terms and conditions (which vary) at any given point in time.
In summary, you simply cannot guarantee anything and you need to be very aware of that. You should also be aware that the first tier airline market for low hour pilots may not be what you imagine it to be. Those airlines that offer cadet programmes to low hour pilots tend to do so in conjunction with specific FTO's. Those that do not, may require you to spend over a third of the entire fATPL syllabus cost (in addition) on the type rating alone. Clearly, the partner airline programmes offer significant advantages, but again, they are seasonal and very much dependent on the state of the market within each airlines own sphere at any given point in time.