Let’s be brutally honest here. The recruitment system is really not merit based. Everybody puts their best foot forward when they go through the process, but the people running around with their HR degrees select a number of pilot applicants based on a number of criteria. They select some GA, military, airline, internals and even some based on gender. That’s how it works. I know of internal check and trainers who “lacked merit” to become mainline SOs. Does that make sense? Of coarse not. It’s just a HR driven process. Just be persistent and keep applying. Your not a better or worse pilot than any others who get in, so don’t beat yourself up about it. And remember, there is life outside of Qantas.