Almost every short- and medium-haul jet operator in the UK hires low-houred pilots (below 500 hours) and puts them into the right seat of their airliners. Many of these pilots have come straight from basic training. It is a fact of the UK market and has been so for many, many years - with BA (and BOAC before it) being in the vanguard of the practice. For those who have a problem with that, I'm afraid that particular horse bolted while you may have still been in nappies - it's far too late to shut that stable door now.
So, bearing that in mind, perhaps we can keep the advice to Addy's particular problem within the UK market as it actually is, not how some would wish it to be?
Scroggs