1. Love monk, keeps me on my feet literally and deals tons of damage if play right. Hates bard, my least favorite jobs in game, no rotations whatsoever, just hitting 1 or 2 buttons, hope for procs.
2. You can just level them through dungeons and roulette. That's how I got all 50s.
3. I would go with BRD. Undeniably best utility and very straight-forward/boring play.
4. Between Bard and Monk, Bard will always be needed/sought after. Good Monks are fought over because of insane DPS.