I can't give any good advice about being an jet pilot since I'm still stuck in a turboprop due to some circumstances (bankruptcies) But there is only one thing that would help you to a job. Write letters till you drop of your chair, call the guys concerned and one day...or a year you'll get your job as a pilot.
The only real washouts are the guys working in offices saying they had no other choice then to work in an office and give up on flying. And believe me after my employer went bankrupt and sitting at home for a year... You'll get pretty close to give up.
At the moment I am working for a U.S. D.o.D. and i love the flying as I never was able to do so before. As I was an FMS/AP/FD junkie.
Besides @ the time of the 9/11 the airliners were looking for pilots. Hope they'll be doing that again in the old way...That's hiring LOTS of US