Our type-rated pilots who come from other airlines can be very good, but that is not always the case. It is particularly tricky if someone comes with their own ideas of how they want to do things - they quickly find that easyJet is a big follower of SOPs and unashamedly expects its pilots to embrace them.
So how have those coming from the likes of Vueling, Livingston, Windjet, Vistajet, etc (to name few but all...) managed to survive your grueling and flawless screening process?
You can give the party line all day long about cadets being full of "raw talent", follow SOPs perfectly and doing exactly as they are told Blah Blah Blah, but personally I think they are preferred because of the 9 million in revenue they will bring this year and the years of reduced pay untill they either leave to BA or make command (then the whole process starts again).
I think Enzo hit the nail on the head here, despite whatever your great leaders tell you to say. A notorious former DFO from a eJ-like TP operator in the UK once told me that his management was knocking his door every other day to implement this business model...pardon...TALENT-scouting procedure within their operation.
It looks like there is method in the madness...