All of the FO's at my regional (SkyWest) didn't seem to have anything other than job fairs or meet a chief pilot once or twice. Many of our recently (within the last year or year and a half) upgrades have been taken by UAL as well. Most of these guys that I know have less than 1,000 jet PIC and only attended a job fair or two.
Me...not a Checkairman, app has been in for years but it seems that it's (as of lately) cheaper to make recently upgraded captains Checkairman rather than someone with 10+ years and 7K PIC in the RJ.
I have a completely clean flying record, never a problem child at the airline, and (so I'm told) I'm fun to fly with and make the job fun. I once thought networking and building a good resume of experience was what it takes to get an interview invite, but watching, hearing, and learning about the pilots that UAL is taking from SkyWest makes me wonder if all that work means nothing.
Sorry, it's just kinda dejecting to have gone through 9/11, then age 65, all the while keeping the end goal in mind, only to get this far and watch coworkers that didn't know anyone and have zero turbine PIC get called and offered the job.