no one hires degree qualified newbies apart from BA, Virgin, KLM, various other maintenance companies such as Storm, Flybe.............................................
If you can get an apprenticeship, then good on you. If you go the academy route, make sure they offer all B1.1 modules. I don't think you can get other packages except B1.1 at the moment, but many do additional modules which will allow you to pick and choose which licence you wish to aim for. Experience is everything when job hunting. My advice is to stay in education until the long-awaited recovery, as no-one is recruiting in any quantity at the moment.... then again, i work for an academy, so I would say that......
Good luck in whichever path comes your way.