BOOFHEAD
When I am talking to a wannabee I want to know what drives him/her. If it is money, or an easy life, or time off, or vacations, the door is right there. If it is an opportunity to learn real flying, get personal satisfaction for a job well done, provide the community with the benefits of their experience and skill, is not afraid to fly at night or in cloud, and looks forward to learning more about an industry they are passionate about, we can talk more. The first guy will let the company, the customers and himself down. The second might not be all that the company wants, might disappoint in some areas, but is by far the preferred candidate.
You do seem to be avoiding the fact that your location inevitably has an impact resulting in a relatively small pool of pilots willing to apply. Having worked occasionally in Alaska it became obvious to me fairly quickly that most of those pilots who were content to live and work there indefinitely had been born and bred there. It's an extremely uncomfortable environment, difficult, expensive and a very long and expensive way from the lower 48 where family and friends are located. Taking all this into account you can hardly be surprised that pilots with many options are not beating a path to your door. Inevitably you're going to have to attract local pilots and that means competing with other operators when it comes to employment packages and ticketing prices. I think this has very little to do with the 1500 hr rule and a lot to do with what people in the outlying communities are prepared to pay for an air service, maybe they should be encouraged to campaign for more government subsidies.