KAG, i understand your point of a view, and i do agree with you that the career choice is not a particulaly 'wise' but for me, it is still viable.
Colourful posters and clever advertising DO hold back the cold reality we experiece in the aviation world today, having said that their information MUST be backed up from somewhere, otherwise im sure
ASA - Advertising Standards Authority would have got involved.
I like many others see no significant sign of this 'pilot shortage' people speak of and obviously these predictions have to be taken with a pinch of salt so to speak. However with the stagnation of the industry, movement between airlines and retirement has slowed signifcantly. This therefore leaves us with an aging work force and one that is looking for progession in their role.
Much like the transpiration stream in a plant (sorry only thing i can think of) as the Senior Captains of airlines start to retire these places will need to be filled, likely by the experienced first officers of these airlines. These places then need to be filled, i think you get it. This process ( should) continue down to the turbo prop operators, (e.g flybe) and airlines similar to EZY & RYR, who are more likely to hire low hour pilots.
I'm not saying this is going to salvage the industry and airline
s will start to offer full sponsorship for the fATPL and job at the end, because they wont. However it has to be said that the jobs will start to trickle through for those who have performed v.well during training and show that they are a real asset to an airline.
The industry will NEVER be the same again as you have stated, but there's still life in her yet!