Best time to jump ship

I've seen some threads on this but was hoping to hear from people who have done this or were involved in the process. Question with two parts: as a summer associate, if you do not like your group, what does the process look like to exit to another firm for FT? Say you are unable to go somewhere else FT and remain, what is the best way to exit once you are an associate?

From what I have heard it looks like: reach out to your network in July or so to see what they are looking like for FT. I am assuming that the process is informal and heavily driven by just that. In the circumstance that doesn't work, do you stay for 1 year before you look elsewhere? 

Feel free to expand beyond my questions. Would really like to hear from people who have been in this situation. I think that there are some dynamics specific to associates given the smaller class sizes as opposed to analysts. Many of the threads are geared toward SA.