Amen to everything that Angus has written, could have been my words except for the financial career part. At the moment Flybe are recruiting direct entry Captains but not F/Os which indicates that they have no shortage of inexperienced F/Os and that the F/Os that they have are leaving before they have the experience/ recommendations to be promoted to command internally.
Interestingly RYR are trying to temp TP pilots with ATR or Dash8 ratings away from their current employers so the likes of Flybe and Stobart might lose some people.
Virgin Atlantic are inviting applications from anyone with a Boeing rating to fly their shiny new 787s so we might see RYR and Jet2 losing people to pastures new as well.
I think Angus and I both qualified at the wrong time when recruitment was in a lull (it was pretty buoyant when I started training) we both had commitments which meant we had to find well paid work outside the flightdeck while keeping ratings and medical in date. However by the time recruitment picked up then we were out of currency, a bit of a vicious circle but it is what it is. Good luck in the new job and flying job hunting Angus