Aw c'mon, they're only trying their best. I absolutely do not laugh or sneer at them for giving anything a go. OK, so putting on a pilot shirt complete with stripes maybe a bit gauche, but it's hardly a capital offence - and most decent pilot managers will see past that.
The sheer numbers of low-hour, inexperienced pilots who have mortgaged themselves to the eyeballs and can't get that break is almost heart-breaking. The problem for the airlines when recruiting 'cadets' ( I hate that term, but you know what I mean) is dilution of experience. There are so many more candidates than vacancies, and you absolutely can not have your airliners crewed predominantly by tyros. My post was intended to help folk like shockwave consider a different approach.. but to keep on trying.
Luck plays far too big a part in this, but to paraphrase the golfer Gary Player - "the more I try, the luckier I get"