No Sponsor, Pot Kettle,
Not sure what school you went to, but all but one of my acquaintances when I was looking for a job in the last downturn went modular, at one or more of a few small but good schools. To quote something I posted elsewhere:
Of all the guys who went commercial I kept in touch with from starting training to getting my first public-transport job (I was an instructor in the meantime for several years in the last downturn, so knew a lot) none is now out of work.
...
When my company needed more pilots and wanted those with a personal recommendation I could only find two willing to apply and both were offered jobs here. One decided he didn't want to move .... The other was already flying commercially, and stayed in his job ...
We took on a few pilots who claimed they'd stay for a while, and found we could not keep them (even with a bond) as they were in such demand, until we managed to get some by personal recommendation who wanted to work for longer in our sector. They could have taken jobs elsewhere by now ...
The good times can be very good, if you are currently in the business and keeping up your contacts when that time comes!
Oh, and if you think that the expensive courses buy a job, I have recently had to disappoint one pilot because he did an integrated course, just when I was looking for a pilot with low experience. The modular course is just better preparation for the type of flying in our sector. Integrated courses are too specialised.
And those talking about Monarch this and Easy that, might I suggest that you look at the list on the CAA website of AOC holders? There are far more of us than any of you have ever heard of (and that isw just in the UK), and the little-known ones will probably be the ones still recruiting newbies in the downturn, as the big boys only take experienced pilots for their shrinking needs.