Certinaly many airlines hire from within. Keep in mind that some of the best companies to work for (IMO), place more importance on the type of person that you are and not so much on whether you have X amount of actual IFR or some crap. An employee number with their company (or any company) tells them you have a clean disciplinary record. You show up, you do what you are supposed to do, and you do it well. At the end of the day, they can teach a monkey to program an FMS and fly an ILS profile. What the airlines need more than anything else from employees is the ability to think outside the proverbial box. A job on the ramp would certainly help you with that.
Good luck!