Ark et al,
Our local PAW is currently about 50% coppers become pilots, and the majority of them are totally competent and professional. They've done the hard graft just getting there, having paid for their own training and then racked up the hours and experience by coming to employers such as myself in their spare time (9 weeks leave a year, 'sob') to eventually be able to work their way into the pilot's seat.
They start with the AS350, and after a long and thorough apprenticeship, move on to the 365. Quite a few of the IF EMS captains are true plods who have made excellent pilots.
Back to the thread, they obviously have little or no twin experience before they are put out to work on the Dauphin, so I would join in and ask why the demand for 500 hours twin? The only answer I would offer is "because they can". If I had the choice of hiring a pilot who could walk straight into the job with minimal supervision, against one who would need a year or so of training and supervision, sheer commercial good sense dictates the experienced guy (or guyess) gets the guernsey.
Low time or non twin experienced pilots that I hire get the jobs suitable for their experience level. Once the experience is there, they get the "better" jobs. Hard to justify any other way of running a business.