I have mil buddies in purple and they noted that recs dont work like they used to.... that they get ONE rec to give instead of doing several for everybody they know.
That makes getting a rec pretty hard.
Of one just hired who did some time in a 121 carrier, he noted that HR mentioned they knew he was interested and called him because his app had been on file since 2010, and only recently was being re updated every week, that tips the computer off that you are still actively dreaming about a job there, whereas if you've fallen off the updating wagon, they assume you must have been picked up by another big fish.