Ultimately, what I would like to see are all aircraft flown under one contract and a single pilot group for a particular brand. The new hire position becomes the smallest jet on property and if a new candidate thinks a CRJ-700 is "beneath" him, well, there are other career options one can choose. That should end the "whipsaw", but management does not want to loose the ability to subcontract flying and have capacity providers compete to provide the cheapest lift.
Sadly, I heavily doubt if this is the end. For better or for worse, depending on further relaxation of scope to replace the loss of 50-seat airframes with larger, more economic jets is wishful thinking.
I'd heavily suggest preparing yourself to be eligible for moving up the food chain when appropriate and even though new student starts are down and the pool of labor that find conditions to work at the airlines acceptable has massively shrunk, it's going to be a hyper-competitive market so make sure you're competitive and prepared for the opportunities as they arise.
And they're out there. The market is bad, but good people with strong qualifications that are well-networked will be just fine. There are a more than a few CMR guys
here whose karma bank has more than
overflowed during the years who will be just fine if they keep their head up. They know who they are!
As we've always said before, keep yourself well-networked, make more friends than enemies, keep your head up, your ears open and prepare yourself for success.
Highly recommend attending! Great time w/ a bunch of great people.