The boom times are a bit mythical, to be honest. In a few years I'm sure the story will be that anyone who got an IR got offered a job, but it is simply not the case. The last boom arguably saw some airlines taking people from a very restricted source, such as CTC. Certainly, Easy Jet was off limits for anyone who did not come out of CTC. Monarch, Thomas Cook, First Choice, etc, only took CTC cadets.
For those who went to other schools, and did the modular route it was very tricky, and did not at all feel like a boom. It took me almost 18 months to get a job. I had one interview in all that time, and heard nothing else from all those applications and letters. I was fortunate to have a recommendation from my flying school. At the time it was depressing to hear of people coming out of some schools and getting interviews, just because they had gone to school x, and had never even sent out a single CV! For others I knew, they had contacts, which worked very well for the majority of them.
There were others who graduated both before and after me, who still have no airline job, many of whom have now lapsed their IR. And I'm not talking about nut-jocks with two left feet, can't fly for toffee people, but really good guys, with first time passes in everything, decent conversationalists, with very rounded outlooks, who would make very good first officers. I guess at some point, you have to realize that it is just not going to happen, and get on with your life.
So take it with a pinch of salt. For some, it was the land of milk and honey, for others a desert.