Well I did some dispatch and I must say it definitely opened up avenues. Its all what you make of it. Dispatchers vary and as has been said earlier, if you work on a smaller base, you get known for the reliability of your work. You can't help how crap the company is, but the crews are aware of that...what you can do is build up trust in your own personal approach to the job. This means you may well find some Captain's giving you useful bits of information - contacts, numbers, gen, or even taking your cv and putting it on the inside track. A lot of it I suppose depends on personality. Once you get up and running and capable of a decent dispatch, you'll find the key points. I even used to stroll over to crew doing walkarounds beside 'my' aircraft and quiz the crewmember....it all helps, and if there is one great thing about this industry, its that so many of them know from experience what you are going through and trying to achieve, and the general drive is to 'help out'.
I'm not denigrating the FI route at all; I think that can also be a very useful source of contacts as well as being helpful in a general sense. However, anything you do that is involved with commercial aviation has to show commitment - so I would say, yes, get in there, gain some experience at it, but be aware of the limitations. Your working life will turn to ****, it truly is one of the worst jobs I have ever experienced, but there is good cameraderie - you learn about the whole operation, and as someone else has said - you can forever more look at things with an informed perspective.
If you are resourceful you will quickly get an 'in' with dispatch....the companies can't find quality candidates for the **** pay and conditions. Sing out the answers they wan't. You'll probably find like myself that those interviewing you will be your workmates telling you ****e the company is, and that in itself is a learning point for you!
I fly now, but always remember when talking with dispatchers how it was when I was there. With your first job,the previous experience will definitely help with situational awareness.
Good luck with it. If you do want to proceed with it, forget arsing about on PPRUNE and call someone you know who's done it, ask around at clubs for someone who knows someone who works at Aviance, Servisair etc...get on the phone. If you do that, you'll have an interview within days.
Also, if you do go for FI rating, why not marry up the two - makes you look a bit more hardworking come interview time, and two distinct commercial related exposure-type experiences to talk about.
Good luck.
FP