There is a lot of focus here about airline recruitment, if people can cast their mind back to Pre-JAR it was virtually unheard of to get a job in an airliner without 1000hrs and even then a Jetstream!.
People instructed, Did banner towing, flew Parachute aircraft or glider towed, people "cut their teeth" (Now theres a concept.....) on 3 and 400 series cessnas & chieftains, getting to fly a king air as pilots assistant was a HUGE deal, wannabees spent 12 months looking longingly through the cockpit window of a citation in the Hangar.
Eventually when you had 700 hours you might get line trained to fly AOC work in a light twin, busy little sectors working Mil ATC units, off airways or just underneath them to avoid Eurocontrol, High workload flying....
People who will entertain this kind of work will still find this kind of work if you are prepared to serve some sort of apprenticeship. If you aspire for the big silver bird and lament at how well you hit the LNAV & VNAV button in the Oxford pseudo sim then join the ever increasing queue.
This is not a call to training.....put perhaps those who are qualifying now for whom things didnt seem so bad 15 months ago should lower their aspirations of a job that up until JAR never existed anyway (Unless you were the rugby club captain and your dad was a senior captain at BA)
If you are now thinking "I have a loan to service at £4figures a month" cant possibly think about getting a lesser paid job, then congratulations you have just priced yourself out of the existing job market.
By going back a step you will be better prepared for when the dream job comes, be 1000 hours nearer a command and over a 30 year career it will probably lose or cost you nothing in terms of total salary.
If you want to remain in aviation and are just qualifying then dont consider yourself a poor human, load cargo planes if necessary just get any foot in the door.......any door and good luck.