Pretty much.
Interview with Atlas, job offer at Southern, with the promise that the two groups will be merged soon and working under a new and improved contract.

Sneaky. Very sneaky.

This info was relayed to me recently, by an Atlas pilot:

The pilot was a former mil guy, a relatively recent new-hire, and he was telling me about his mil buddy.
His buddy applied and interviewed. Atlas HR called him with -777 class. He asked if it was Southern, they said yes. He said he wanted only Atlas. They told him the schedule of 777/Southern and 767/747 Atlas new hire classes. They told him he would get in quickest by taking the Southern 777 class. He told them he was not interested, so they put him in the pool for Atlas.
In about 6 weeks or so, they called him with his Atlas class date.
He told them no, Atlas was too late, and that he accepted a job somewhere else (I think it was DAL).

Can you apply to Southern and get hired at Hughes Airwest (Top Banana in the West) or North Central (Howard the Duck) before they all merge???

I think Flying a CV580 in the Midwest winters, would be exciting!

So, he interviewed for Atlas (767/747), then they put him in the pool for Atlas, and then they offered him an Atlas class date. Doesn't sound like a bait and switch to me.

You can't blame HR for trying to fill classes... unless they lie about it or are otherwise deceitful. Sounds like they were very upfront about it.

Buddy interviewed at Atlas recently (within the last month). HR said to the entire group, 'This is an Atlas interview for Atlas aircraft. If you are successful, you'll be placed in a hiring pool for a 747/767 class. If you're interested in Southern, that is a separate interview but we organize those as well. But make no mistake, this interview will not place you on a Southern 777 or 737.'

Sounds like the "bait and switch" is no longer a thing.