I have been very slow with flying during the last 1 1/2 years due to family and personal reasons so I was wondering if anyone could help me get back on track with help on a few questions?

For all of you who have or are right now, Im just wondering how you went about getting ready to......

1. Choose the regional you want to fly for. What did you base it on? Pay, base, your hours, equipment type. Would you pick a regional because you could drive to base and not have to fly?

2. Prepare and send out you resume. Did you use any guides, websites, companies ect... to help.

3. Get ready for the interview (Ive been reading aviationinterviews.com) and prepare for each part of
-The HR part
-The Tech part (jepps, systems ect...) best way to study jepps?
-The Sim part (get flying and do procedures or flightsim....)

4. Get ready for ground school. What to expect and how to get ready. Go in with a clear mind or read up some before hand? What did you guys do? If you studied before hand what did you study and where did you get it?

5. What was IOE, and reserve like?

Thanks for any information. If you can only answer a few thats fine!