hughesyd,
That's exactly my point - there is no such thing as a 'boom' in the aviation industry. There are times when there are a few more jobs dotted around here and there, but as a whole, it has never and will never be easy to secure a job as an a commercial pilot, airline or otherwise. It simply means that one must change their tact somewhat, from sending out mountains of CVs when the market is 'good', to moving back into good old networking and accepting you'll probably be flying something that's not made by Boeing or Airbus when times are tough. There will always be jobs around for the 250 hour cadet, and perhaps in one of the so called 'booms' these guys from XL, Sterling, Futura, Zoom etc would have an advantage. Unfortunately, as 90% of these guys have less than 5,000 hours on type, they are at no advantage to anybody else, including cadets, because the jobs on such hardware will ONLY go to the very experienced guys. Just take a look at what's happening with Jet2 - many hopes were raised only to be thwarted when the harsh reality kicked in.
If anything, low houred pilots may in fact be in a better position as I know of only one airline currently recruiting for the 737, and that's my airline. And I know we prefer the less experienced guys because they tend to stay here longer, as opposed to leaving when the going becomes a little easier to tackle.
And apart from that, the only other jobs around are found through contacts - somebody might have 10,000 hours, but if most of that time is in the airlines with little to zilch spent in the general aviation side of things, it will be very difficult to make the transition now. It's perhaps ironic that some of these people were the guys who, many years ago, swore they would never accept anything less than a jet, who now find themselves in this situation where there is nothing available to them because they closed their minds to the majority of the aviation industry, where the jobs do still remain when times are tough. But hey, that's a totally different discussion.
Again, good luck with your training, and try to get out there and meet as many people as you can.
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