That depends on the time you finish your course and the supply and demand curves at that point. Many airlines will programme their entrant training courses in the Winter/Spring, before the busiest periods of the year. This means that they will want names on paperwork in the Autumn/Winter. If that is when you graduate, and their is sufficient demand, you might get a very quick or seamless placement. I saw quite a few people do this during December/January 2011/12.
Placements require demand from airline companies, and that is difficult to predict. I am seeing people coming through to placement airlines who have been waiting 9-12 Months. In the past, the waiting times have been longer than this in some cases.
The terms for the type rating depend on the placement airline. Some require that you pay for this, and some don't require any payment at all. In the case of the latter, you would be "bonded" for a sum on a depreciating scale should you leave the company within a short time scale. If the placement didn't result in a subsequent offer of employment, then the rating costs may be written off. However that very much depends on the individual airline and is certainly not the case with all of them.