I'll add my bit for what it's worth! I've been instructing on and off for 15 years or so and never had any interest in the airlines so have spent my time finding areas of instructing that I personally find fun, ie vintage and aerobatic flying. This helps to add a bit of excitement amongst the conventional instructing! I only mention this as I do think many people who contemplate going into instructing fail to see beyond circuit bashing, but with a bit of effort it can be quite varied. As for hours on getting the first job I do think the most important thing to consider is the demand for instructors. When I first started it didn't matter how many hours you had there were few jobs around. Now however it's a very different market and from what I can gather if you're willing to be flexible there are plenty of jobs out there. Not sure on full time pay at the moment but freelance work £25/hour shouldn't be a problem at all especially if slightly more advanced stuff such as tail wheel instructing etc. Hope some of this helps.