I think the agenda lies at the feet of the poster. At the end of the day who gives a squat about psychometric testing, online tests, application limitations and group exercises etc, we all know it's a scheme to eliminate candidates and to stop a certain demographic applying. The restrictions are there because, well because they can afford to be fussy. You may not be old enough to remember but there used to be an equally good way of recruiting pilots, it involved talking to them for an hour to spot the undesirable, then stick them in the sim quickly. Believe it or not this avenue still works and of course a year x captain wouldn't apply to Virgin to be a first officer, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't want to work for them, I also would like to apply there, but I'd rather the guys who have no income coming in had the opportunity first, you can't begrudge them that. There is no dodgy ground, everyone has the right to rebuild their careers and start afresh.