Nichibei,
Virtually all UK airlines will recruit a low hours first officer who possesses an fATPL with minimum hours. If, like me, you did the integrated route, your licence requirements are 195 hours of which 55 can be completed in a ground based sim/ FNPT2. which makes 140 hours. Add your CPL and IR skills test, and you get 145 hours.
Both myself and the 30 odd people who I knew at my FTO all went into airline work with around these sort of hours.
Some paid for type ratings, others did not. But maybe you don't consider the likes of BA, Easy, Thomas Cook, Jet2, Excel, Ryanair, DHL, BMI, Flybe and Thomsonfly to be "real airlines or real careers"?
Your original assertion that;
"students graduate (sic) with a little over 200 hours of time logged, which is far below the requirements of European airlines"
... is not correct.