Realistically where does all of this leave ambitious hopefuls like me?
I would say for about the last year, up to this moment in time (and hopefully for a good year or so to come), if you had/have an EASA CPL/MEIR with ATPL theory passes, and a CRM course done... in a very good position!
I know of loads of people moving up the ladder from instructing backgrounds, and it really seems like everyone is getting airline/freight jobs at the moment. Here in the Yorkshire area I've seen people get taken on by Jet2, Ryanair, FlyBe, DHL and Eastern Airways in recent months. I know of others who thought they were stuck at West Atlantic and Eastern for life, jumping ship to Monarch and Jet2, so plenty of movement. No sign of things letting up yet either.
A rather nice overview there from Alex too. Would be nice if some of the larger training establishments also gave numbers of their former alumni who haven't yet found a job... I know of at least 3 former Oxford bod's coming crying to local ATOs wanting an SEP rating so they can at least try and spend some more money (after the 80 odd thousand pounds they already had to get their guaranteed airline job but never got a sniff of a placement or holding pool) adding an FI rating to try and earn a living in aviation!