Further to your "Pilot shortage" question:
There is in fact a shortage of pilots in the UK North Sea sector at the moment and both companies (Bristow, CHC Scotia) have been recruiting quite heavily since the end of last year. Bristow is also talking about taking up the sponsorship scheme again with next year (and Scotia proposing to take all their surplus pilots of those courses)
The problem for inexperienced pilots is to get their JAR instrument ratings which are now required for every pilot. In the UK this can only be obtained either through the Bristow IR school in Norwich on a single engine (they also take self sponsored people) or with Cabair in Cranfield (Twin engine).
This is a very expensive course and most courses are already booked till the end of the year.
But if you are lucky (or rich) enough to have your JAR instrument rating you are almost certainly guaranteed a job with either of the companies.
Hope this helps