I don’t know if you’ll ever read this, but since nobody replied, I will. I can’t speak from a hiring manager point of view, but from a designer/employee perspective, my advice is to get out of POP sooner than later. It’s a very pigeonhole-y sector of design, and unless you really get a kick out of it, or work at a place where they do some neat stuff it can get dismal.
What you present in your portfolio will depend quite a bit on the company/ID job you’re applying for (I’d imagine, my portfolio is nothing to email to your friends). My friends tell me that after 5yrs experience (where I’m at), you can apply to Sr Designer roles. That seems a little ridiculous to me, but supposedly it’s a thing. I rarely put in for “Sr” positions since I don’t feel like I have enough “real” design experience (POP). That being said I see no reason not to apply to “Mid Level” positions. I do use personal projects in my portfolio since it’s about all I’ve got other than student work. I use one or two POP designs occasionally depending on where I’m applying, but mostly steer clear of it since A) most of it’s boring and B) well, it’s POP.
Also, I’m about as opposite from NYC as it gets, so my anecdotes are likely only minimally applicable to your predicament.