Pinkus has it right, u only get one reqest per month a flight OR 4 days off. But u might not get it. And if u fall sick before or after ur leave or requested days off u get a warning and lose 3months of requests... Most of the now crew are only being trained for coral (economy) and pearl (business). But if most of the crew is fairly new (as has been happening for the past couple of months due to the number of 'senior' crew leaving) then u might find urself working in diamond (first class).
As for hiring, only recently i was in the recruitment dep dropping off a cv for a friend where i was told they would not be recruiting till august and they didnt even take my friends resume (why they couldnt just hold onto it beats me
)