Recent grad here (almost 2 years ago now) with a chemical engineering degree from a respected college. I’m in the US. And for the purposes of this post, I’d like to make it clear that when I talk about “employers” I’m taking more about those hiring for more technical positions that require 4+year degrees – not so much restaurant, retail, etc types of roles.
Being in school for 4 years with intensive school work was tough enough. I hardly had any free time, let alone time for internships or co ops. There were resources to find those opportunities, but very few of them were even paid. And those that were paid were gone in seconds, as there were thousands of students applying to the 10 open positions. The other few dozens positions offered to us were filled so quickly as well. So believe it or not, no, I don’t have any internship or other industry experience to put on my resume.
And yet every position I see offered requires 3+ years of experience. Literally every single one. Including the “entry level” positions.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand WHY employers want to hire people with experience. No one wants to willingly hire someone with no experience over someone with it. But cmon. If nobody wants to hire inexperienced people, then how will they GET experience?? A few years down the line these same employers will be complaining that no one is applying to their positions they require years of experience for because no one wanted to let these people get their foot in the door.
I’m tired. I’m so tired. Applying and applying and applying for nothing. Hours, days, weeks spent on indeed, ziprecruiter, LinkedIn, everything. And still nothing. I’ve updated my resume so many times it’s infuriating. I’ve even exaggerated a couple things to make me sound like a better candidate. But they just don’t care because I have no experience, just because I couldn’t land an unpaid internship position while in school. The whole system is fucked.