I finished my exams in January this year & I'm currently hours building. From my experience, I couldn't find much time to fly whilst doing the study but still managed just over 1 hour per month to keep some currency. The study took about 15 hours per week on top of my full time job with the RN (engineer, not pilot) taking just about 12 months to finish all exams. I felt it important to do my best with the study & take the hit on the flying. I aim to be doing the ME/MEIR/CPL courses next August, with the ultimate aim of looking for work in 2009 so have the time to reach 150. How you do it is down to your own requirements. How many hours do you have now? When do you want to be at the magical 150? When will you finish the exams? I'm not sure of the perception of potential employers to any timescales but can't see as it's really relevant so long as all the boxes are ticked, remember you have to get CPL/IR within 36months of finishing the exams though. Hope this helps, best of luck with the study.
Noz