somewhere else...
Most wannabees would fly for next to nothing just to get the wheel started. I observed plenty of them lately, some having had to wait up to 5 years (at great expense) before landing their first job.
As a young F/O, the next step is the full ATPL. Buiding hours and experience you then start looking elsewhere, realizing that your airline pays peanuts (the very reason they employed you in the first place!). Moving to a better place, bigger/better craft and racking hours, soon in a position to move LHS. You will then either upgrade in the present company with some bond scheme or still earning peanuts, or move some place else.
Once positionned on the cosy port seat, you again start collecting hours, thereby conforting your position.
Then, and only then, will you have the luxury to relax and watch the grass grow and go for the most attractive one
I don't really observe any "pilot shortage" in the good (well paying, looking after their flight crew, future oriented, etc) airlines, but a "pilot demand" in the smaller and less attractive outfits.
Thing is also, that in the recession a lot of elderly pilots have had to take their hat into retirement, leaving a void that has not be filled yet. Associated to market expansion, it has created in the last 2 years a demand wave that is now slowly diminishing.
Well, all in all, just a contant evolution of the market
