It depends where you go and what "consultant" the hiring customer listens to. In some paces in Canada, you need 2500 hours to move passengers all of twenty minutes from a compressor station to a fully serviced airfield - 300 hours of that "must be in the province"! Can't think why, as tundra is tundra wherever you go.
More seriously, your biggest hurdle is not getting the licence but hours building afterwards.
I would think twice about instructing unless you really want to be an instructor (nothing wrong with that - the world needs good ones). It is poorly paid and is often not the best way of spendng your money - plus you will still be flying single-engined helicopters. For example, a twin rating might be more appropriate. It depends on how much cash you have and what your future career path might be.
Having said that, in the early stages, for singles at least, 50 hours in the 22 are better than 10 hours in the 206.
I wouldn't worry about a job at this stage - things are brightening up nicely on the North Sea and by the time you finish that may well have filtered down to the lower end. Besides, there are many uni grads without jobs with more debt than that.
Last edited by paco; 1st May 2013 at 05:20.