Eh? When you can't put in an application to an airline because low hours jobs are not even advertised, you kind of don't need to be told by a recruiter "We don't hire modular types!" - It's blindingly obvious.
In that case what they were not accepting is low houred pilots, integrated or modular.
Let's look deeper: EasyJet only hires low houred pilots through CTC. BA and BA Citiflyer only from Oxford, CTC and possibly FTE. FlyBe (mostly speaking) also from the big schools and the top 3 providers of low hours pilots into Ryanair are the standard big integrated schools too. Go into Europe, and it's the same situation across France and Germany. Spain, I'm not sure?
I'm from Spain. 50% of the people I've known in aviation fly now for Ryanair or Vueling. Some of them did their training in
flight schools around the world or in Europe, integrated or modular, late starters or in diapers. Most of them worked as flight instructors for 2 or 3 years. None of them needed an OXFORD or FTE tattoo to be considered for a job. Yes, they did pay for the TR, but aftwerards, they got paid for their services as should be.
But they're not the only airlines in Europe you say? True. But for those there is competition, fierce competition especially if you have zero commercial experience or no type rating. And skill has very little to do with it. More so than skill, luck and being at the right time/place is what brings successes. You are competing with thousands just to get a phone call or invite.
See, that's the problem. Today's kids are vocational towards uniforms and terminal building posing. The ones who have been dreaming about this job since they can remember, understand that the correct progression towards an airline job might contain a long stage flying SEPs, teaching monkeys how to fly in order to fill log book. The problem comes when a uniform fetishist decides he needs to skip the struggle, and pay their way up instantly. The demand didn't exist any less than the demand of 100% salary-free pilots has existed since the begining. It's those who were accepting to be sodomized that made this thing become a thing.
I don't need to feel better. It was and remains an accepted bitter choice. I'm not unique in this department. I've come across many who feel the same. For me, it was this way or the highway. In life, we need to do what works for us, given our own personal situation. Your reality is not the only one a pilot can experience.
In a free economy there's always a demand for unfair labor. It's the
accepting the
who makes it become a thing that, apparently, everyone else has to accept.