First, let me address the question of "What is hot on the market?" given the context of the rest of your post(getting a position of some sort that will allow you to grow as a perl programmer). The biggest single industry which has a use for perl programmers is biotech, specifically bioinformatics. I may be biased because that is the field in which I work. Of course, many industries have a need for perl programmers, some of which may not even know until you show them!! >:)
My advice to you is to get any job that you are reasonably satisfied with so that you can at least ay the bills and get the real world experience necessary to move your career forward.
Oh, and although many others in this thread have mentioned open source development I think your original post dealt specifically with paying gigs, right? In that regard I have never *ever* had an interview where the person interviewing me asked or cared about experience gained outside of paid employment(i.e. school and open source projects). Just my mileage, others may vary.

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