I graduated a few months ago and have been going through the terrible journey of job hunting. What I learned was: there are waves of hiring (so start early), people think it's okay to never contact you again even though you poured your soul into cover letters and interviews, and (what this blog post is about) you need 2-3years of experience for entry-level jobs.
Whenever I see unrealistic and insane requirements of x YEARS of experience for ENTRY-LEVEL jobs, my blood would boil. To be perfectly frank, I have been working since it was legal for me to do so. I have a lot of experiences in different kinds of work and I have strong connections with my previous supervisors and in the non-profit field. I was able to say I had the years of experience required for jobs I wanted because I had the privilege to take non- to low-paying internships for the sake of building my resume! I was luckily and privileged, and it still took me over 40 applications and too many interviews to get a job.
I know many friends who took low paying stipend jobs and joined Americorp even after college to build their resumes. They are over worked and underpaid just so they can qualify for jobs in the future relevant to their line of work. But not everyone can afford such luxury to get paid nothing for a full year or two for some leadership experience (although I think there is nothing luxurious at all about taking an under minimum wage job just for some "experience").
What about people who are not as privileged as my friends and I? People who need to support themselves and work full-time sales jobs to pay their rent? People who have children at home to take care of and can't afford to take non-paying internships? Isn't an entry-level job, just that? An entry level job? How is it that even after graduating college, after 4 years of hard work (usually with tears and sweat), we are still not qualified for entry-level positions? You're saying that I can't get this job because I don't have enough experience, the experience I'll get if I get this job.... WHAT????
I understand that companies don't want to train their employees from scratch every time they need to hire. If experience is required, then colleges, maybe instead of making us take 2 science classes with lab (if you're a humanities major, you should def take science classes with lab if you're a pre-med or something), schools can offer us internships and actually help us secure them!
Whenever I see unrealistic and insane requirements of x YEARS of experience for ENTRY-LEVEL jobs, my blood would boil. To be perfectly frank, I have been working since it was legal for me to do so. I have a lot of experiences in different kinds of work and I have strong connections with my previous supervisors and in the non-profit field. I was able to say I had the years of experience required for jobs I wanted because I had the privilege to take non- to low-paying internships for the sake of building my resume! I was luckily and privileged, and it still took me over 40 applications and too many interviews to get a job.
I know many friends who took low paying stipend jobs and joined Americorp even after college to build their resumes. They are over worked and underpaid just so they can qualify for jobs in the future relevant to their line of work. But not everyone can afford such luxury to get paid nothing for a full year or two for some leadership experience (although I think there is nothing luxurious at all about taking an under minimum wage job just for some "experience").
What about people who are not as privileged as my friends and I? People who need to support themselves and work full-time sales jobs to pay their rent? People who have children at home to take care of and can't afford to take non-paying internships? Isn't an entry-level job, just that? An entry level job? How is it that even after graduating college, after 4 years of hard work (usually with tears and sweat), we are still not qualified for entry-level positions? You're saying that I can't get this job because I don't have enough experience, the experience I'll get if I get this job.... WHAT????
I understand that companies don't want to train their employees from scratch every time they need to hire. If experience is required, then colleges, maybe instead of making us take 2 science classes with lab (if you're a humanities major, you should def take science classes with lab if you're a pre-med or something), schools can offer us internships and actually help us secure them!
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