From what I have seen, the amount of flight time is really a non-player as long as you meet the minimums. Honestly, I could take a 1000 hour guy with some decent multi (300 hours or so) and he could be a PIC in 6 months. The flying is the EASIEST flying I have EVER done.

If I were hiring for any of these companies, if the guy with 25K hours is an a-hole, I would not hire him. No one wants to be stuck with a guy for 60 days in a not so great environment. I would hire the above guy if he was a solid dude and felt as though he would be cool to be around.

I will be honest, younger people have an easier go at the deployed type living too.