A lot of very short memories here.
If you can remember back to 1989, you may remember how airlines were hiring anybody with a licence and a pulse. Even BA was taking some very un-qualified folk as DE pilots - one guy, who I knew quite well, got in despite failing his IR three times. I ended up going to Loganair (back when it was a larger airline), because they offered to pay for my Instrument Rating. I had 695 hours at the time. Many airlines, such as Loganair, BMI, and one or two others were actively recruiting in Canada, Australia and New Zealand - as in sending the chief pilot out to actively find people.
People were joining the likes of Jersey European (as they were then), doing a few months in the right seat of a Bandeirante, then going straight onto the 757 at Air Europe with only 800-900 hours total time.
The day I joined Loganair, I commented to our groundschool instructor that the company must be pleased to have us, as the six of us should solve the staffing problems. He laughed as he informed me that Loganair had received 23 resignations the week before, with 6 guys leaving at the end of that week - forget three months notice. It was about this time that bonds became common.
Airlines were poaching pilots left, right and centre, many airlines (such as Air Europe) were offering to pay off bonds if people would leave their previous employer with little or no notice. How do I know? Well, I still have the letter with the offer on it.
The flying schools weren't even close to keeping up, and the CAA was so far behind in flight testing that if you stuffed up your IR or GFTs, you had a three month wait for a re-sit - mainly because the FTOs had accepted airline offers with large incentives attached. Many schools were unable to offer test slots for up to 12 months ahead.
Yes, it was a wild old time. It had been predicted, but when push came to shove, there was a very serious shortage indeed. It could easily happen again.
Ask anybody who got their first job around 1989...