I know we are talking airlines but...
Let's play the situation out in regards to a corporate job. Most corporate jobs nowadays want time in type, preferably type rating in the type to be flown, FSI or SimuFlite in the last 12 months, AND a current 8410 if part 135. They point to their insurance requirements *BUT*.......they say....
If Big Time Corporate outfit with Challengers, Lears and Gulfstreams agrees to put you in the right seat of one on the condition that you go get a type an SIC course on your own nickle first, would you do it, and is that also PFT? Sure the company is required to provide training for it's pilots, but the fact is it won't hire anyone without experience in type, therefore they skirt that obligation with new hire people and just pay for the recurrent training for pilots already on board.
Now, this is happening all the time, not just at "shady operators" but with reputable 135, 91 and 91K places because of all the yahoos who previously got their type training on the employers dime and flew the coop when the airlines called back in the pre 9-11 heyday. I've talked to many chiefs of corporate flight departments and they all say the same thing. That and no matter how good the industry gets, they won't likely be going back to taking that chance with new pilots again. One guy told me how they paid for someone's GIII training and they up and left for Delta within a week of getting it. Now entry level people trying to get in the right seat of a Citation or Lear have to pay the consequences.
So question is, if you had to pay for your own SimuFlite school to get the job, is that more on par with paying for a rating like your ATP...in that it qualifies you to apply for the job? Or is that just another mutation of the classic PFT or PFJ scenario?