Personally, My first 100 hours flying single pilot IFR over the Cascade mountains in a 135 cargo outfit taught me MUCH MUCH more than my 900+ hours of dual given ever did. CFIing is an invaluble expirience - I won't discount that, however I think people should be more open to doing other things too, getting some REAL PIC experience in nasty weather will teach you a lot about yourself, and your skills, and ensure that you're ready for the responsibility of 250+kts with 70 people in back. Truth is, when you're CFIing you still choose your days flying, and weather to fly in, which approaches you take, and the tempo of the flight to a much greater degree than when you're flying a scheduled operation especially as PIC. There are many more options out there to build time and expirience. In light of the current economy more people will probably need to take the long road and they should be prepared for that. Unfortunately most of the big schools are still blowing sunshine about how there will be a huge shortage soon, and their students will walk out like a rockstar with regionals competing for their skills they earned in so and so's wonderful 141 program and soon after be flying heavies. Reality is going to hit a few of these guys like a mac truck.