I remember
Bealzebub,
VAC only needed 300 hours on type for quite a while. Alot of Turbo prop contract gigs only used to require 300 or less. I remember Biz jet jobs only needing 100 hours on type but they don't figure in P2F usually.
What your saying about quality of previous employers and general background I agree with totally. If you believe what jetjockey says in the Lion Air thread there are around 300 expat FO's at Lion right now. I would bet 90% are pay to fly. Once these people start sending off Resume's to every half decent carrier that are left in the world they will quickly lift the minimum just to stop getting swamped by these people. 500 hours is just a filter and when the filter isn't effective they change it to suit the needs of the airline. If I was getting swamped by P2F resume's I would up it to 750 hours on type. Yes, having 500 hours just gets your Resume into the pile. It doesn't get you a guarantee of an interview. Try explaining that to the latest P2f grad.
If we are to believe what the good old economists are saying right now there will be much more pain before gain so even fewer jobs around for experienced guys and virtually none for the newbee.