About 475 of the 500 RJ captains you refer to have this white knuckle, single pilot experience. I fly with a lot of folks who have interesting backgrounds, and now they also have thousands of hours of jet time in the 121 environment too.

As to what stands out to the majors? Military time and people who have strong internal connections are the primary ones who have gotten jobs at the legacy carriers since I have worked in the US. Very, very few people are just getting calls without some kind of connection. Thousands of hours of PIC are no longer enough. But that'll change.