Many moons ago, I went to the BALPA employment conference at Heathrow (2004? 2005?) and the recruitment chappy from Virgin said that they were looking at cadet entry, even back then.
Not sure I'd be happy going straight on to long haul and three landings a month. Took me a good few 4 sector days, 6 days a week to master the still sometimes illusive art of a decent landing.