Although Flyingoli doesn't have a job yet, I'm glad things are at least moving for him, and I wish him all the best for the next assessments. A clever operator hires the same number of experienced and junior pilots, and it seems he's found two of them that need pilots, which is great. I also hope they are not willing to put a heavy financial pressure on you (Flyingoli) if they offer you a position. Once again, good luck with your interviews.
Having said that, his presence (as a non-type rated wanabe) at an airline interview does not yet prove a shortage of type rated pilot: I believe that in Europe there's a long tradition of giving a chance to young pilots with less than 300 hours.
If possible, I'd like to have a rough idea of the number of "non-relocating pilots" he's talking about, and I'd like to know their profile. I'm not surprised that some of us are not ready to be based farther than 50 miles from home, but I'm really not sure we can build conclusions on that. I know dozens of pilots (half of them type rated), and 80% of them are ready to relocate anywhere in Europe (but if it's farther than that the percentage will dramatically fall of course).
You might think it's very hard to make me change my mind on a subject, but when I compare what half a dozen people are saying online ("there's a pilot shortage") with what hundreds of type rated pilots are saying ("I'm looking for job !") it makes sense to be careful. Not to mention the very very very relative objectivity (if any) of FTO/TRTO managers on this subject.
By the way, if we accept the idea that the tables are indeed turning ? Why spend another huge pile of cash now instead of waiting a bit, as Timzsta said ?
The people in charge of airline management (bean counters or not) know VERY WELL that we, pilots, are so motivated to fly that we are ready to deal with a lot more obstacles in our quest for a cockpit than most employees are. Among those airline managers, some of them think that a type rating is too expensive in an already expensive industry (I'm still waiting for a mathematical demonstration of that, because it's an investement, but if all you care about is immediate profit then a TR is definitely not a good short-term return on investment), that pilots are just professionnal whiners who will drop the airline for any reason (which is sometimes true unfortunately, but on the other hand if they're treated like trash why shouldn't they run away ASAP ?), that pilots are always overpaid (ask a surgeon what he brings home every month and which company paid his last seminar in the Caribbean), etc. Which means they'll take any opportunity to make you pay for your training. It also means that when the bean counters are looking for pilots and the flying experience is not really an issue (experienced and junior pilots both welcome), the job goes to the one who pays for it. Unless there's really no other way but to pay (with the company's money) for the type rating of a new hire in order to keep the aircraft flying, they'll always try to hypnotise those people that are so desperate to hear "Weee haaave a joooooob for youuuu". Airlines like that are having so much fun now because there are so many wanabes looking for a job, and so many experienced pilots who consider their selection process as scandalous and they will do anything they can to avoid those airlines.