The trip wasn't wasted, you would have got a feel for the employment process, met a few people and picked up some useful information. You now have a head start when you next go looking.
Unfortunately the job flow is downward at the moment and you are competing against pilots who would normally be looking at higher level jobs more suited to their experience.
You can either sit at home and give it another try in a years time or take a punt on moving to a location which is likely have opportunities once things pick up. As long as you can get a job which pays enough to live on in the mean time you would be first in the queue once recruitment begins again and have the advantage of being established in the town and immediately available.