To answer the OP, I got my job about a month after finishing school. That said, I got a lucky break...
I stayed for the workshops @ Sheffield after class ended. We had a G7 DXer for the workshops. I chatted him up and asked him point blank if they'd be hiring in the near future; the answer was yes. He told me G7 was losing two DXers to the majors, so they were going to be hiring soon. The G7 DXer brought some of the recruiter's business cards with him, and he gave me one. I called the recruiter, told him how I'd gotten his number, and told him that I'd be interested in working for G7. He told me he'd find out, so I called him back after a visit to the FL Keys. He told me that they'd be hiring and to get my stuff in, which I did; in fact, I got it in BEFORE the job was posted! Anyway, I finished the workshops at the end of May of this year. I interviewed in June. On the way back from the Dayton air show, he called me with the good news! All in all, it took me about a month to get hired.