Just to give you guys some encouragement. I got my licence in late 98 and sold everything in early 99 to travel around the country looking for a job as I was told to do.
The reaction walking into companies with no hours was very disheartening. They had you picked and were shaking their heads before you even started to speak.
I decided to keep going till I ran out of money which I did, in the top end. I ended up driving a tractor on a farm to get some money together to keep going. As luck would have it the farmer was happy with my work and the careful way I treated his equipment so he called his friend the chief pilot at the local helicopter company, who up to that point weren't at all interested and had thrown out my resume , and put in a good word for me. I got an interview(about 5 minutes) and was offered a job on the spot.
So it can happen and the thing I learnt is that it pays to maintain a proffesional attitude no matter where you work as you just don't know where it could lead.