desert185, I sympathize with you. My friends in the 70's were trying to get an airline job but couldn't because the military pilots we were instructing through Cessna Citation 500 type/atp courses were getting them all with us nursing them through the check ride. We finally all got those jobs too and are now retired. Persistence pays off. It is frustrating for a while.
We are now at the Reno Air Races and seeing the finest fly because they are great pilots, not because they fit a mold as before.