Hedges:
My story and timeline:
I graduated from university with the hope of applying to all sponsorships afterwards. If not successful I was planning to self fund a modular course. However 9/11 then happenned...
I did self fund but had to time it very carefully. As I have learned timing is everything in this industry. I worked out when I would be on the job market allowing my course to run over by 3 months.
In the mean time I got a relevant graduate job the help me towards the cost.
I ended up doing an integrated course at Cranfield Sept 2002 - Oct 2003. I managed first time passes in ground school and all flight tests (helps a lot if integrated with recommendations etc.)
Nov and Dec 2003 was spent doing CV's, on the phone to airlines and doing interview and simulator preperation.
January 2004: Selection with CTC and a TP operator.
Fabruary 2004: CTC MCC and Advanced handling course.
March 2004: Selection with easyJet.
April 2004: 737 Type rating.
Oct 2005: Just about to get my full ATPL. Airbus TR in November.
I was extremely lucky!! However on my course nearly everyone got a job within 6 months of finishing. Most with TP operators, myself and another jet jobs. The market now seems very good.
My advice is have a plan! Do your homework. Have target airlines you can concentrate on. Do your research on all the airlines you will apply to. Do that now, not when you finish. Have a CV done now and get this refined by showing lots of people. Go to the Balpa careers conference. Do well on your course. I used to get fed up with the whingers complaining about lack of flying. The same people couldn't see why Virgin wouldn't take 200hr FO's and and were shocked to hear TP FO's may earn under £18K (maybe a bit of research before spending 50K?). If you are willing to spend time at flightschool you will get slots. Look into flight instruction - courses costs etc. If I had nothing on the horizon 3-4 months after finishing I would have done an FI course. You have to keep flying and make yourself more attractive when your second CV to X airways gets sent off.
As for type ratings - It might be easy for me to say, but I really feel doing this will continue to decrease the overall T&C's for pilots. Look into it no doubt. Don't lose sight of reality though. As great as flying a 737 is, the thought of an additional 25K debt on top of existing 50K debt, increasing working hours and no social/family life may not make it worthwhile (and dont forget a reducing salary due to the number of people paying for ratings!).
All the best
