By mr1234 - 05/03/2014 21:37 - United States - North Weymouth

Today, every "entry level" job in my field is now requiring 2-5 years experience. I don't think they understand what "entry level" actually means. FML
I agree, your life sucks 44 833
You deserved it 3 374

mr1234 tells us more.

Thanks for the support and encouragement everyone, it's nice to know that I wasn't totally degraded for something that's been extremely frustrating. I'm very lucky the currently have a full time job (A supervisory position, at 24, as a woman!). And for those wondering, my field is business administration. i have a Bachelor's degree and plenty of legitimate work experience, just not experience that is directly related to what they want. so *whoosh* in the trash goes my resume!

Top comments

samimarie199 22

Jobs these days expect more than they say they do so... Like the saying goes "no job no experience, no experience no job". Good luck op

Comments

davidisbeast 12

Time to go work at McDonald's!

Would you like fries with that, sir?

tpm45 25

Yup, they caught up to southern Europe finally.

The southern tip of the dark continent does this as well. You need a four year BSc degree with 2-5 years experience, or a Masters degree with no experience. Explain the sense in that...

They expect you to have experience at an internship.

samimarie199 22

Jobs these days expect more than they say they do so... Like the saying goes "no job no experience, no experience no job". Good luck op

Yeah .. It's like did the egg come first or the hen??

In order to get a job you need experience but to get experience you need a job... Sadly very few employers are willing to give new workers a chance now days.

Where I live, you're more likely to get a job if your family has connections with the employer.

badluckalex 23

@ #5. the T-rex came first :)

JMichael 25

@11 a hen is a female chicken.

#44- true, but the original saying says chicken, not hen.

incorrect, it was the egg. offspring changes, over time. the non-chickens reproduced and the slight change in DNA made it a chicken

Talk to the manager or someone that can potentially hire you in a company you're interested in. Explain the situation and show them what you got. Who knows? You might be what they're looking for.

StalkerChick 13

Try an internship. You probably won't get paid, but it's worth!

sohigh10 34

an internship is 21st century slavery. Who decided it's a privilege to WORK for a corporation.. for free.. while making them money

I did an internship class in high school. Got to intern at H&R Block. 5 years later, still no job.

Comment moderated for rule-breaking.

Show it anyway

But you do get otj experience, and contacts and connections. OP should have been doing an internship while going to school so that when he/she finished, there'd be job opportunities

HeadlessSparrow 20

Many internships are paid. I'm looking for an internship and I've saw many paid ones. But the paid internships are usually big name companies. The smaller companies or the local companies are usually the unpaid internships.

Dordanni 10

I was going to say internship, it's where you get your 2-5 years experience. Most people will have their internships done while in school still so its easier for them when they have their degree and looking for work. A company will look for entry level positions, and only want to hire those who did the time with interning. Hence the experience required.

I don't understand why #31 was thumbed down. Most internships these days ARE paid. In fact, my school encourages students not to take the internship if it's not. And not only are they paid, many are paid well, like $20 an hour.

It really depends what field you're in. In publishing, I only found one paid internship while I was in school, in NYC, for $7.25 and hour. Everything else was unpaid. Since I got no familial support, my options were to put myself even further into debt so I could give an internship 2-3 eight hour days a week (no weekends!), or not do an internship and work 20 hours a week to pay for school and my apartment. Sometimes doing an internship just isn't a possibility, which is why it's really frustrating when there doesn't seem to be a way into your field outside of an internship.

ive seen internships that paid between like $12-20. Not exactly slave wages. Granted, this is in the petroleum engineering field.

Axel5238 29

Best thing to do, most places require some experience like an internship beforehand. This is required for a lot of places now, they want someone that isn't fresh and just getting used to working for a corporation. I had this problem when I used to do work in web design and animation. Some work experience is a must.

Yeah, because an unpaid (or underpaid) internship will really pay the bills. Douche.

Jesus. That's ridiculous. Just start your own business and show em'.

davidisbeast 12

Oh yes, because staring one's own business is so easy.

That episode of 'That 70s Show' where Midge is talking about being a boss because she doesn't want to work? Anyone at all?

No, you do not understand OP. The meaning of "entry level" has changed. It means "we pay you peanuts because you got no choice" nowadays.

TheDrifter 23

Exactly. It means "there are tens of thousands of people unemployed with your skill set" Why scrape the bottom of the trainee barrel when you can get a good, experienced, desperate worker for the same pay rate?

My company's job site does this all the time. It says in the job description "This is an entry level position," and then in the job requirements it'll say "Atleast 1 year experience." Makes no sense.

When I was at university and looking for jobs in the field I was studying the situation was such: companies wouldn't hire you because you are a student, these same companies also wouldn't hire you for jobs they list as "perfect for graduated" or even as "seeking recent graduate for <role>" because you lacked commercial experience when you finally graduate. Many of them had requirements like 2-3 years commercial experience or certifications suited for a senior position (10+ years experience). There was no winning. 10 years later and I still see the same rubbish; no one wants to train people anymore - this forces people to either lie or bend the truth to get a job.

The term entry level is suited more to the likes of your position in the company(which you just entered), not the job.

TheDrifter 23

Graduating without any experience in your field is the same as nothing at all these days. Loyalty pays more than schooling and companies would rather promote and train from within than take a chance on a grad who had never worked a day in their life. For example, my payroll manager was my janitor ten years ago. Paid for her night classes and got a loyal employee in senior management.

Jobs at the bottom of the ladder shouldn't be expecting people to have years of experience already, it goes against the concept of entry, if they want people with years of experience it would be better practice to advertise as a junior role.

Not only in US,but also in other countries have this problem..Good luck

Same problem here in the UK! It sucks. Good luck on your job hunt.