Would an Advanced Training put me ahead of other EMT-b Candidates?

I'm completing my EMT-b class coursework and will take the nremt exam in December when I'm eligible. My end goal is to be a paramedic. I'm in Northern California so EMTs are a dime a dozen and there's hundreds of candidates for any open EMT position. Would getting the AEMT certificate set me ahead of other EMT-B candidates? If not, the AEMT coursework provides 9 months of the 1 year required field experience that I would need to apply for my local $2000 paramedic program anyways. The paramedic program that requires no experience is $26,000. My current (wonderful) instructor is also the instructor for one of the AEMT courses and 2 of the paramedic courses all at the community college.

I'm going to start applying for EMT positions and ER tech roles as soon as I'm eligible but, I'm very doubtful of actually being hired on as someone with no experience other than the single course. There are no AEMT roles near me but if I was certified and applied for an EMT-b position, would that set me ahead of other candidates? AMR and NorCal ambulances are the main two companies I was planning on applying for.