In the part of the world where I live, airlines have buried expansion plans somewhere deep inside their PC's hard drive, waiting to see what's going to happen next in the Middle East.
The only pilot selection I've heard of, was not to hire pilots, but just to have a few competent folks ready once the thick dark clouds will slowly go away.
Reminds me what somebody said in the 20's: "In order to save money, the light at the end of the tunnel has been switched off".