Chermaine,
Hope you're enjoying your training thus far, it's a rewarding but challenging career and in the grand scheme of things I am still very inexperienced.
What you stated about the 500 hour TT requirement is indeed correct for AE. I when I initially was contacted a couple of months back they said I HAD to get to 500 hours prior to my interview as this is now the requirement.
I assume this is too weed out the guys who just blob through training and "hope" to get a dream job with a great company like Cathay. Pilot numbers exponentially drop off with experience, so getting the first 250 hours after your training (ie to make it to around 500 hours TT) is the most crucial and also possibly the hardest.
I'd simply suggest to persevere and apply to as many jobs as possible
Good luck
