Factored hours are what the company deem equivalent hours. Short haul co-pilot is 0.8, so you need a minimum of 2500 'other' hours to get 2000 factored eJ hours. Obviously hours flown for eJ are factored at 1.
You can't apply until you've been in the company 6 months and passed your probationary period. You also need 1 recurrent sim I believe. 2 years is possible if you are happy to go to a base with no waiting list and you have no issues at any point in the process. Timing is also key. Every March an NTC is released with the number of expected internal upgrades, base possibilities and hours requirements. However, it is not uncommon for people to have the odd issue here or there which can delay, or keep delaying the whole process.