Given that this forum is still populated mostly by British pilots (although some of us non-Brits working very hard at changing this), you may also want to post your question on
http://www.justhelicopters.com forum where most of the Americans hang out.
You might also find it useful to chop your "endless list" enquiry into smaller chunks so that a respondent isn't overwhelmed with the idea of having to write a 5,000 word essay all at once.
There is an excellent paper on your subject, written by a veteran instructor in Canada, titled "Bridging the Gap" which you can access via my web site under the aviation links.
Finally, the reason why this is a (relatively) good time to become a helicopter pilot has nothing to do with the airline hiring binge. The truth is that the vast majority of helo pilots is rapidly approaching mandatory retirement. When you realize that quite a few operators are faced with as much as half or more of their Captains being over age 50 (including yours truly), you can readily see the problem (for the operators) and opportunity (for you).
Good luck from All