They're always hiring stockbrokers :)
They are. In fact they'll hire anybody who can fog a mirror. Staying a stockbroker is a much more difficult thing.
Like these guys have mentioned. If you're planning on staying in NE Ohio, you must get to know everybody that you can possibly know. One thing I do know is that big finanacial firms like mine or like Key Bank/McDonald & Co, National City Bank, Charter One etc have huge IT depts. You may want to look directly on the companies' websites to see if they have any openings- and even if they don't you may want to call them. Just by calling and making contact with companies you're networking. If I'm hiring someone I like to know they're persisitent. That means they'll actually follow through on things. Just some ideas. I'm very familiar with financial firms and all their tentacles. I work for AG Edwards & Sons and we have a huge IT dept back in St Louis. We're always rolling out new stuff for the brokers to make our lives easier (if you're a young broker who understands technology that is) and updating our client interfaces. The financial and healthcare industries are still spending billions and billions on IT even though companies are still trying to cut down on expenses.
Good luck, I'm sure you'll keep after it.