I have very little interest in what’s fair or how things should be or what pilots think is a good metric to make them more valuable or skilled than other pilots. I really only care about what those in charge of hiring value, and for most purposes that seems be a competent pilot first (no or minimal checkride failures, no incidents, some token amount of PIC time that shows you’re not a total idiot) and then fill in their extracurriculars of choice. If the majors say they value wearing a blue top hat while unicycling I’d sign up for lessons tomorrow.

Many seem to value training department time, and I’ve watched many excellent pilots at my company who were passed over for years get snatched up as soon as they become instructors. Were they a better pilot all of a sudden because they were teaching new hires what buttons to push for a month? Not really. They checked off another box and that triggered an interview for them.

Not really up to me or any non-management pilot to decide what employers should look for. Maybe it’s a generational thing but I’m more of a pragmatist than an idealist and I think it’s a waste of energy to focus on how things should be unless you’re in or trying to get into a position to change them. If it really bugs people, start politicking through management and make changes.