To quote midnight cruiser: "Obviously, as there are no passengers are on board, much lower standards are required - you might even be overqualified. Most guys cant get into AA, BA and the like, and are working towards getting a real airline pilot job. As you say, you will have to do lots of manual flying, as only airline cadets with special training are capable of managing the modern flightdecks and automatics."
OK -- I'll bite: You sir/ma'am have NO clue what you're talking about. Maybe you said this to see who would answer. Well, you can now borrow my screenname.
At my current employer we have NUMEROUS furloughed Major Airline pilots flying; American, US Air, even some old Pan AM guys that haven't reached 65. And yes, it's freight in a 747-400.
I'm hoping everyone laughed liked I did at your post . . . but don't think there aren't qualified people flying boxes.
Oh yeah, and it's not to say that just because I/we came from a major doesn't make us ANY better. We all put our pants on the same way . . . one leg at a time.