but does having a bunch of furloughed 121 guys hurt a CFI's chances of getting hired with a regional? It seems like flight experience matters...but in most cases, it doesn't.
I'd say with the current environment "yes" it hurts your chances. The only reason being, why would a company hire a CFI who has no 121 experience including flying the line(in a turbine aircraft with pax), passing IOE and groundschool when there are plenty of guys/gals who have? It sucks, but it is probably going to be the trend for a bit until hiring starts up again which hopefully will be sooner than later.