Just as you said yourself, there has been no hiring for a long time and I suspect at least 200-300 new pilots come out every year to join the already large pool of unemployed Pilots.
Many of these Pilots on pool are flight instructors on their early 20's (youth is highly appreciated by TAP for selection, actually the most important factor) with +1000h.
There are people here doing TR's and still can't get 'round the difficulty of finding a job.
EVEN if you're an experienced F/O or Captain there's no direct entry on TAP.