Back in 2007 we had recommend a friend as an official leg up to join easyjet. I had mates in all sorts of airlines in the UK with their eyes wide shut, I was shouting "GET IN HERE NOW" you know how things change in Aviation. Some were clever enough to overcome the mighty fall to low cost and some were determined to keep their 30 hours a month golden days off and in some cases Pilots hat.
I wish we were taking on DE FOs with good and relevant experience but the sad reality of the situation is, If you have more than 1 hours flight time in your log book you are over qualified for almost every Jet Job going in the UK.