Good point, nickler. There's indeed a difference between hiring and recruitment. Hiring is happening even as we speak, however dire the situation now. But recruitment, defined as a proactive search for employees on part of a company, will not be happening on any significant scale this year or next year. Why? Because most DFOs already have a list of people to call whenever someone needs to be hired. Those might be pilots made redundant by the same operator earlier on, acquaintances returning from the Middle East, people who have worked for the operator at some past point and have demonstrated a good track record etc. They will inevitably have priority over any external applicant.
With this in mind, my piece of advice for those looking for a job is - don't leave unchecked any opportunity to return to a place where you have previously worked, whether that was 1, 3 or 5 years ago. As long as you left on good terms, that's where your chances are higher than anywhere else. When vacancies are few and far between, those who are already known to the right people and have proven their worth are usually considered first.