@John Alcock
Thank you for voicing the feelings of, I'm sure, many low hours pilots.
Unfortunately I did not progress past the initial selection stage for Jet2 after applying through the available channels... but these things happen ...
Also being low hours I quite agree with much of what you have said and I admit to also suffering from the fear of turning stale; those newly acquired skills, which is what I believe they are no matter how well tests have gone and how glowing a flying reference might be, certainly feel as if they are fast fading despite my best efforts.
As I see things however there is a flaw in the potential offer with Jet2 (and I expressed this opinion in a previous post, prior to receiving the bad news) and that is that 5 months off over winter after only one season of flying is most lilely not the best way to consolidate the learning process. I am sure that many will agree that a busy summer flying season while very intensive does not suddenly convert us from low-hours, inexperienced pilots to experienced FOs with the knack to pick up where we left off, and back comes the issue of skills fade...
If someone with experience of training low-hours pilots in an airline environment wishes to correct me and tell me that I am selling myself short then please feel free but I try to be aware of my own limitations and I reckon I would be pretty rusty after 5 months off (even if I were "flying" a single about, which I still love to do...)