I would suggest that it still is - even if you apply for a big grad program having someone who works there and can recommend you during the process substantially increases your chances in most, but not all, situations. The other thing is just getting experience, it makes you much more attractive especially to smaller places. People just get too caught up in wanting to land glamour jobs straight out of uni and they won't even put themselves out there for some of the smaller stuff.That's more for internal offers and experienced workers - it's probably not as high for graduates.
Isildur is right on the resume part also, heaps of my mates write up their resume at the end of uni and sure they might have a D average but that's literally the be all and end all of what they have to put on there.