In response, one was completely ab-initio, the other had fATPL with ~200hrs. The latter had floated around in the general aviation world doing what he could to get by for the past 2yrs.
PJN reported earlier this year that they were in need of 200+ pilots; The 2 guys mentioned above had offers made in the past week.
When applying for any schemes like this, you really are just playing the odds I guess. For every 1 that hears something back, there will be several hundred who dont. But hey, if you don't apply you stand less chance of hearing a thing in the first place.
I had another friend who got onto the scheme roughly 2 yrs ago too - he followed up his application with a courtesy phone call which was received nicely. I cannot speak for the 2 guys this week, but it won't necessarily go against you.
Besides this, I'd keep a close eye on the MCP schemes. FR are apparently extremely short on guys for the coming summer, and Ezy have (or so rumour has it) been trying to poach guys using recruitment stands outside of certain said airline crew rooms. Don't shoot the messenger - just passing on the very same rumours I had received from friends within those companies.
There are definately places out there for low hour guys; but paying for the type rating is pretty much a guarantee it seems. Just something else to factor into the costs.