Emoloyers should stick by their own guidelines too. Don't tell everybody you need 2000 hours then go hire your mate/someelses mate/some chick you pulled last week with 500 hours. Nothing used to annoy me more than being told I wasnt experienced enough then 6 months later meeting some muppet who got a job there with less than 'minimums'.
All that does is drive the whole problem you are on here complaining about. Where people just ignore you and apply anyway