The past few years in the UK, virtually all F/O recruitment has been cadets. Hundreds of cadets have gone into Ryanair and Easy Jet. Have a look at job stats from Oxford and CTC - there's been a boom in hiring inexperienced people willing to pay inflated prices. Oxford charge £36K for their grads to go into Eazy Jet for a 6 month contract.
F/Os made redundant from XL and Globespan, and a few others, have found it very difficult to find work. In the UK it was virtually impossible for experienced F/Os. An F/O stuck in a TP operator has had the career progression taken away. 5 years ago much of Easy Jets and RYR recruitment was from regional operators. I sadly know a few guys with 2000+ hrs of 737NG time who gave the career up after looking for 1-2 years with no sniff of a job here in the UK.
Times are changing. Today's Flight was full of jobs. Even Cathay are giving recognition again to those with some experience - I've not seen that for a few years!
Heard the same stories at Jet2, with some resigning in their first weeks in the company.