Thought I'd add a couple of thoughts to this, as the OP seems to have made an effort - although that is more than many of his peers, it appears as though there's something going wrong for him...
As controversial as this may sound - it has actually never been easier to get a start in GA. I am currently sitting in my office looking at my resources & looking for who I can engage to carry us through the next 12 months or so. With the current general movement into the airlines, I am not the only one doing this around northern Australia!
In the past three months, the most recent half dozen pilots we have employed in our Company(s) have all been first-job types (that's all we hire because that's where our operations sit in the industry), all have been sub-250 hours & all had been in the Northern Territory for less than 4 weeks at DOH. They are all full-time, get paid at / above Award & are on a rate of flying of between 600-800 hours per year, depending on how hard they want to drive themselves.
Driving around the whole country, waiting for the phone to ring - even if one hangs around in a location for months - is admirable, but is not the whole story of how to get a "golden ticket". All I can say is that as the CP / HOO of two NT operations, also being deeply involved in the management of two others, I have not heard this story from any of the prospectives walking through my door in the past 12 months or so... therefore I can only suggest that I may have been left off the list!
Nevertheless, a few ideas that might help - based on over 20 years of living / working in the NT:
- Based on the OP's intent, the FIR was a waste of time. We actually need an Instructor in our Company (with a balance of charter flying as well) - but we are not keen on pilots who have the rating for simple "hour-building" - you need to have a desire to teach & a sense of service to your trainees if you are to be of any value as an Instructor. Sounds harsh - but it is clear that the OP did not have a motivation to teach when deciding to get the FIR - but in the future, this rating might be the most lucrative (as the FIR is certainly desirable in C&T organisations, etc)
- Keep knocking on the doors & if the CP isn't there, or not inclined to see you at that moment (heaven forbid, he might actually be busy!) - then make an appointment & keep trying. From my personal experience, this doesn't happen very often at all...
- Listening to podcasts from people who have never worked in the "normal" GA charter space doesn't really help - the people you need to listen to & network with are actually the senior pilots & Chief Pilots of the organisations you are seeking a start from. How does one do this? Knock on the door & make an appointment. Proper networking is NOT going to a pool party in Darwin surrounded by other 200 hour pilots who either don't have a job & are backstabbing every operator in town, or who have just started in a job & are backstabbing every operator in town! Trust me, as employers we are aware that our character gets regularly assassinated - sometimes deservedly so, but more often out of ignorance from those who treat our businesses like an amusement park & carelessly / arrogantly trash our equipment. Think about how you can make a CP feel comfortable that you are not that person.
- Other pilots who are looking for work or who are at the same "level" as you in the industry are NOT your friends - many will cut your throat in a heartbeat to secure any advantage. Drink beer & be sociable with them, that's important, but tell them nothing that they could use to "throw you under the bus". Don't believe everything they tell you - the rumour network is rampant at all levels of aviation! Don't succumb to collective negativity - the bigger a group of pilots, the more negativity there will likely be. It's like a "groupthink" phenomenon... employers actually like genuine positivity & as hard as that is to maintain when the hits seem to keep on coming - you will need to find a way!
- Be aware that every prospective pilot will absolutely work for the first Company that says "yes" first - keep this in mind when hearing pilots who are bagging out their own, or other, companies. Don't become that person. The healthiest approach is to remember that this is the start of your career, hopefully not the endstate - so enjoy the flying you get in your first job, treat whichever Company it is with respect & take any hardships (real or perceived) on the chin. When the time comes to move on, maintain your integrity - often, the apparent poor attitudes of companies has been shaped by previous pilots burning them on the way out the door. Try to make the journey for those that follow easier by contributing to the GA space, not lamenting it or contributing to its destruction.
- DO NOT do the GA Ready Course if you think that it a "buy yourself a job" product. Most don't get a job out of it because there simply just isn't the amount of jobs in the associated companies to provide one to every single comer. However, it can provide decent networking (with some of the relevant people) & helps you "get your name out there" in the local region, but opportunities from that course are still based on the age-old "fit for the business" concept. Regardless of how much money one throws at something, or how many stamps are in the logbook / on the licence - Rule #1 of hiring people still applies. In the case of the OP - there may be a real question of currency / recency - if there has been little or no flying in the past year or so, a potential issue is applying for a job without being current - so the effort needs to be made to ensure that flying skills / recency are demonstrably in place. The GA Course may assist with that as well as provide insight into flying operations in the NT that won't be learned by driving around
- When you do get an interview with a CP - tell them about your journey, including any funny / challenging experiences along the way. Most (at least those older than 25...) will be able to empathise, a personal connection helps. I have also extinguished a mattress that has been on fire in my yard, even having had two (not just one) cars stolen from my front yard in the same night... As one of my pilots says, it's a little like dating in high school - first you must do the dance...
Many flying schools ARE very transparent about all this - they are usually the smaller ones that tell you that their role is to prepare you for your first job in industry - which will be flying a clapped out, 40 year old C210 or similar in remote Australia. These schools are usually ignored because unfortunately, at the time of making the "buying decision", the vast majority of about-to-be student pilots don't like that story very much, so they end up at one of the bigger schools with the glossy brochures that use words like "academy", have major airline badges on their wall & describe what their "alumni" are up to... whilst promising that their course will prepare you for an airline. It is only after they have one's money that one comes to realise that unless you are engaged by an airline with a written agreement regarding a cadetship with guaranteed employment into said airline upon completion of training, a flying school can guarantee nothing in that space. In the vast majority of cases, in Australia at least, what prepares you for an airline is the flying (& life) experience gained in GA, coupled with whatever mumbo-jumbo the HR types throw in about behaviour & "tell me about a time when..." - which you can read about elsewhere in these forums.
Anyway, from all this, many on here will know where I sit in the industry - not worried about that so much - but reading the OP made me think it's about time to "re-calibrate" some paradigms & if what I have put here (from the perspective of "the enemy") has assisted in some way for someone doing the "hard yards", then my good deed for the day is done - all before mornos!
Finally, regarding Alice - agree 100% - having lived there for a few years quite a while ago & recently re-visiting on a task... The pilot I was working with had never been before, so late in the afternoon after knock off we strolled across / through the Todd on the way to the casino for a beer. On the way back, it was dark - and although I do recall some previous "naps in the Todd" - you'd be a brave man nowadays to walk anywhere that is not public & well-lit. The place has, sadly, become a dump & something really needs to be done.