15
When I was doing my com there were no work and we were all despondent. However through determination and never doing any flying for free or paying for a rating ( I did pay a bond - partially - when I left one company for another ) I have gone from single pistons to a major airline in six years. In that time I instructed at several schools, worked for two charter companies and a corporate and am now in my third airline job - hopefully the last one. I sent easily a hundred CV's over this time and flew an average of 900 hours a year for the last 5 years.
That is how you do it.