Naive. As a potential wannabe (although unlikely as my eyes are not class 1) the attitude of some of the forum members is amazing.
As a senior business manager (read hirer) for a non aviation firm I set the rules on who I hire and what sort of back ground they have and what sort of skills I need them to have achieved. I have the overall good of the company (and the clients we service) to consider. Providing I do not discriminate on no-gos (age / sex / religion / disability) I can call it as I want. Just as the selectors for the airlines can.
If an airline decides that 2,000 hours total, comprising of 100 GA hours, 900 twin and 1,000 turbo prop is what they want, and you must have been trained by Mrs Smith at Bristol - then they set the rules. Although the catchment in this case might be quite small
The trick is to read these rules and events and to try and anticipate them - and that is where this forum really works. In simple terms if the predicted trend looks to be that RHS are only going to go to degree educated pilots then you must get a degree or work yourself into the trend somehow. As Scroggs has said - when you get over 5,000 hours the route in doesn't matter (getting there does) but from this side of the fence the route is everything. It's no good complaining that your skills and training are wrong or that their recruitment process is stone headed. Work with them not against them otherwise you will be sitting on the bench for a long time.
Always think of the feeder routes - learn from successfull wannabes - how, what, where , courses etc...