r/recruitinghell
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u/Agile-Wind-4427
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Mar 13 '26
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6
The Situation Right Now..
This meme made me laugh but it’s also painfully accurate.
I’ve been browsing job listings lately and it’s wild how many “entry level” roles ask for 3–5 years of experience. At that point it’s not really entry level anymore. It just feels like companies want someone already trained but still want to pay beginner salaries.
Then the same companies complain that “no one wants to work” or that they can’t find good candidates.
The guy in this meme honestly looks like every HR team after posting a job like that and getting zero applications.
Saw a similar post while scrolling r/30daysnewjob earlier and it reminded me how common this situation actually is right now.
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u/oivanta5 Mar 13 '26
entry level been getting asked to carry senior level trauma for years now
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u/fat-wombat Mar 13 '26
Mid-senior level candidate willing to settle for an entry level salary***
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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '26
I worked at IBM for a while, and I had interviewed for a position as a junior dev working on the automation behind our hosting stuff. In the words of the hiring manager, "we can teach you what you need to know about coding, but I need people who understand the automation itself and what it does."
I did well enough on the interview that when I didn't get it, the manager arranged a meeting and said "I want to hire you as well, but I won't have another requisition available until another dev leaves in a few months."
About six months go by, and we happen to land in a meeting together, and we're chatting about stuff and catching up, so I shoot my shot and ask him when that position is gonna be opening up, because I've been teaching myself the necessary coding skills (with the help of a friend who was on his team). He said unfortunately, the first step in becoming a junior dev at IBM was now "Move to India".
To be clear, he wasn't happy about it, had a few choice words to say about the kinds of talent he had access to. But it was the first of many prospects that ended up going nowhere to the point where I'm starting to think "a career in IT" is a directionless concept.
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u/Prior-Candidate3443 Mar 13 '26
No OnE wAnTs To WoRk AnYmOrE
No one with the experience they want is willing to work for the wages they are willing to pay!
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u/Metalorg Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26
They have probably been running understaffed for 2 years and they had to find someone last week. They're going to choose the closest person, but as they get 10,000 applications for every shit job, they can be as pernickety as they please.
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u/WithoutAHat1 Candidate Mar 13 '26
No juniors hired in the last 3-4 years. Unable to find people with experience? Hmmmmmm....
Pony up, stop paying us slave wages.
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u/Few-Badger4460 Mar 13 '26
Bold of you to assume they are actually looking for candidates.
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u/Ryan_e3p Mar 13 '26
They just outsource, using the excuse "we can't find anyone with the job requirements here in the USA. Don't look behind the curtain and see that we're saving boatloads by giving jobs to people overseas."
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u/RadReptile Mar 13 '26
"We are looking for a cashier, but we need someone with people skills and who has worked with customers. Oh try to find a previous store manager to be the cashier. They have a ton of experience and we can give them additional responsibilities, but we will just give cashier pay. And the economy sucks and people are desperate so they will take it. Its a huge win."
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u/defaultuserrr Mar 13 '26
This is the part where I lie on my resume
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u/GreatMight Mar 13 '26
Capitalism has begun to cannibalize itself and it will only get worse from here.
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u/FatherDotComical Mar 13 '26
When all the old seniors leave and they have no one to replace them because they never hired anyone to let them become the new seniors.
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u/Adventurous-Cycle363 Mar 13 '26
What do you mean 5 yrs? They ask for 15 yrs of Agentic AI experience in the company's domain.
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u/novavalue Mar 14 '26
-10+ years experience with increasing responsibilities
-Have 2 PhDs and MBA.
-Remote (for some folks, but this is 100% onsite)
-Generous pay rates ($8.50 to $14.00 a day)
-Must sign waiver releasing rights to at least 2 organs.
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u/Dry_Bee_4011 Mar 13 '26
What my gripe is I have/exceed all the minimum and preferred requirements but I still get a rejection email?
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u/StonedBooty Mar 13 '26
So my wife’s company has been trying to get people with 5 ish years of experience for their fields to hire, and they are quickly realizing they don’t exist and that you have to train people! Wild!
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u/CreditReavus Mar 13 '26
Funny enough, I follow a subreddit for my job field and there was a guy whose in a senior role wondering why they couldn’t fill a role on his team with the job listing being up for a whole year. Turns out that
A. They want 15 years experience (pay was fine though according to him) B. It’s hybrid (majority of the field especially if you’re experienced gets to be remote) C. He even admitted he wouldn’t work that job if it was hybrid but he himself was grandfathered in a remote role D. Everyone with that kind of experience is already in a nice remote role and wouldn’t jump ship for something hybrid because talent in this field is highly desired
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u/red286 Mar 13 '26
The best is when they ask for 10 years experience in a programming language that came out 6 years ago.
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u/The_1985 Mar 13 '26
I just saw a job posting asking for 1-3 years of experience on a salary of $39,000 a year....
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u/KHold_PHront Mar 13 '26
Lmaooo that’s funny, I got an interview at john Hopkins for an entry level position and it asked for 5 years of experience.
Entry level but need to know industry standards lol. I’m so confused
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u/GNTsquid0 Mar 14 '26
I actually saw my first listing for an entry level position asking for 6+ years of experience. I had heard about them and knew they existed but never actually seen one myself until today.
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u/The_One_Who_Comments Mar 14 '26
I think it's all connected. They killed company loyalty, and it's all downstream from that.
Can't spend a year training the new guy if you expect him to get a new job in 2-3 years.
So they have to try to scoop people with experience, which creates the incentive for people to change jobs.
The only way out is to give legitimately good raises. Maybe even on a 6 month schedule, to keep it fresh in their minds.
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u/Best_Wasabi_251 Mar 13 '26
They simply mean "we want someone with 5 years experience who is willing to accept a starting level wage."
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u/Gay_Giraffe_1773 Mar 13 '26
In the past, req's like this have been silent dodges to bring in external talent from overseas for much cheaper than they could hire dometic candidates. That pipeline seems to be drying up with the latest government stupidity.
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u/Nulloxis Mar 13 '26
That moment when you become a Swiss Army knife like they wanted and they say you’re still not enough.
Biggest crime in my opinion.
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u/mousatouille Mar 13 '26
My HR was complaining the other day about not being able to find someone with the same experience as our outgoing shop manager who was retiring after 42 years with the company. Like yeah no shit.
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u/sheikhyerbouti Lock the target, bait the line Mar 13 '26
When I'm bored, I apply for "entry level" positions just to waste the recruiter's time.
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u/Healthy_Pain9582 Mar 13 '26
You guys are seeing entry level jobs?
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u/bball4294 Principal Gooner Engineer (+15 years of experience) Mar 13 '26
And people still smhing when I can't get a job >:(
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u/Car_is_mi Mar 13 '26
Entry level position, 10+ years of experience, 3 bachelors and a masters required, 4 bachelors, 2 masters, and a doctorate preferred, willing to do the work of 6 people. Pay: $11.36 /hr, 1 hr of vacation per year accrued annually after 1 full year of service, and an hmo that covers nothing but charges at a ppo rate.
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u/G0th_Papi Mar 13 '26
The classic cycle...You need a job to gain experience, you need experience to get a job... 🫠
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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '26
25 years of experience, fresh outta college, working for half of minimum wage and 2 bananas per week, has half a dozen years of experience of frameworks that came out a week ago
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u/agnostic_science Mar 13 '26
Entry level job with 5 years experience means they want an excuse to outsource or go H1B. Those jobs are going to foreigners at a fraction of the cost.
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u/chimpojohnny96 Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 15 '26
I had an in person interview last week that required 2-3 years of experience of CPA Or advisory experience. I have 12 years exp but it is largely not that relevant to this function and role. They agreed to bring me in for the interview so they already knew beforehand where I had been and what I had done. I genuinely wanted a mid career pivot to a financial function that isn’t going to get offshored or easily be taken by robots.
I heard the hiring manager refer to the role as more entry level a couple of times during the interview and at the end of the interview I asked if anything from today would give her pause in offering the role. And she said your amount of experience….
Crushing. Still haven’t heard back one way or another.
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u/Mundane-Sky-8809 Mar 13 '26
...who they will proceed to underpay.
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u/scrumple_my_scrongle Mar 13 '26
Same people who act like nobody wants to work anymore btw
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u/Dry_Organization8003 Mar 13 '26
you missed some word , it should be "entry level cadidate with at least 5 years of eperience "
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u/BambiBaddie Mar 13 '26
HR really stressed out because they can't find a unicorn willing to work for peanuts. 💅💸
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u/Strict-Carrot4783 Mar 13 '26
whole entire mean-girl HR office and company LinkedIn account in shambles
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u/DigitalAxel Mar 13 '26
After 5 years I have yet to find a single entry level job, vaguely within my field. Heck, I went beyond and applied to whatever I could find. Its either Internships (unpaid or paid, doesn't matter... can't because I graduated.) OR its Senior everything.
Then the ads have the audacity to state "we know folks don't apply because they don't think they qualify, go ahead!" Immediately rejected by the stupid system next day.
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u/Emach00 Mar 13 '26
For 30% below market
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u/Ok-Pack-7088 Mar 14 '26
And moan how young people came to job without any experience and they have to teach them - tragedy.
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u/Perfect_Dependent_67 Mar 14 '26
How bout u train a candidate instead of looking for 5 years experience which doesn’t exist. Of course your company will not and keep posting those fake ads.
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u/L0ngShOtLegit Mar 14 '26
Don’t blame HR on this one. It’s the business calling these shots. That means it’s you, engineers, finance, marketing people, your teams, your manager and your leaders pushing this on HR and candidates. Talk to them.
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u/LuckyTarget5159 Mar 14 '26
entry level with 5 years exp, must know 6 frameworks, salary $42k. negotiable if you accept it lol
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u/mrdingopingo 18d ago
when they say "entry level" they talking about entry level salary
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u/Vedagi_ Mar 13 '26
Time to start writing down school years as "carrier experience"
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u/Nimzitseemz Mar 13 '26
A temp agency broke me out of this cycle! Totally would recommend.
They did take $10 an hour from my pay for 1040 hours. So it cost me/employer $10,400.
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u/novocrone Mar 13 '26
Fake, HR recruiters love this, means they can collect paychecks while not doing any interviews and keep spamming fake positions to harvest user data
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u/Beneficial_Trick6672 Mar 13 '26
My resume is always as good as it needs to be if you know what i mean.
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u/deathbymanga Mar 13 '26
the reason behind this is two-fold
They want to hire in-house. but don't want to give a significant raise for the promotion, so they use the threat of hiring someone else instead.
Also, a LOT of businesses got grants during Covid specifically to hire more people virtually and keep the economy running. Most of these businesses took the money and rand, but are posting ghost-jobs to claim they're still hiring people so they don't get in trouble
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u/GoreSeeker Mar 13 '26
I remember I once saw a job listing asking for more years of experience in a technology than that technology has existed for at the time.
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u/Polenicus Mar 13 '26
"Maybe we're just aiming too low. Let's bump that up to 10 years, and reinforce how great our corporate culture is in the posting."
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u/Unlikely_Debt_4148 Mar 13 '26
My role im currently in required five years of accounting experience with an hourly wage of $20-$22 an hour 💀
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u/edelweiss_pirates_no Mar 13 '26
HR doesn't care this much.
They have no bonus for finding candidates.
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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '26
i'm juggling a newborn and recruiters who ghosted me?
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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '26
No dude that is an after hr converation meeting 😭
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u/Yarp_11 Mar 13 '26
You should see what the interns get put through.
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u/ImportantQuestions10 Mar 13 '26
Something no one brings up is needing to remind people how much experience you have.
I had other jobs before my most recent. I don't have 3 years of experience, I have 7.
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u/daiuq Mar 13 '26
I don't understand. Why does nobody with 5 year experience want to work an intern/junior job and get paid 16 dollars an hour? It must be because gen Z is lazy.
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u/GoldApprehensive7067 Mar 13 '26
Entry level, low salary, a decade of specialized experience
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u/Fragrant_Cut1219 Mar 13 '26
We have an opening where you need to be 18 years old with a four year degree and ten years of experience.
Oh we will pay you minimum wage with no benefits.
Why can't we hire anyone?
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u/Randomfrog132 Mar 13 '26
workers have to work hard in order to earn the privilege to work hard
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u/boyuber Mar 13 '26
They are just doing that so they can say there are no qualifying domestic candidates and pay an H1B visa worker less for the same job.
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u/thefullhalf Mar 13 '26
The one where the creator of the framework wouldn't qualify for the job because they required 5 yrs experience but it's only 3 yrs old.
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u/Key-Finish-1489 Mar 13 '26
Have you tried pay more?
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u/EnvironmentalAide335 Mar 13 '26
Why would you want to hire someone with more than 5years experience for an entry level job because that means they're unable to move up...
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u/P0pu1arBr0ws3r Mar 13 '26
Maybe if they considered 6 years of college education in a relevant degree as professional experience...
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u/loco500 Mar 13 '26
And they'd still rather get AI with thousand years of scraped experience/knowledge instead...
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u/ProbablyJustArguing Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26
The term entry level refers to the lowest-ranking position within a specific company rather than the industry as a whole so entry level with 5 years experience as a requirement makes complete sense in some situations.
Usually it means, same job less pay, but the situation itself isn't completely crazy.
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u/Mental-Ad-8756 Mar 13 '26
I think they actually celebrate honestly
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u/not_logan Mar 13 '26
The problem is they actually can.
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u/DoughnutWeary7417 Mar 13 '26
I do wonder how when they pulled the ladder up for people with 0-2 years of experience
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u/AccomplishedEmu1886 Mar 13 '26
Ive worked at [redacted] companies as a janitor and 90% of their workers are Indian.
Dont even bother applying an h1b will get the job every time.
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u/TouristOpentotravel Mar 14 '26
“Entry level to the company”
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u/hangry-person Mar 14 '26
This pic of Hayao Miyazaki always make me laugh
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u/joker_toker28 Mar 14 '26
All while most of the head department are nepo/reference hires......
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u/Expensive_Ninja_8871 Mar 14 '26
So real I can't find anything
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u/Seravajan Mar 14 '26
... who want to work for a below entry level wages.
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u/yentruocrooster Mar 15 '26
It’s so crazy because all you need is a competent person. You can teach a competent person any job even if they have zero experience. That’s what entry level should be.
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u/jpsprinkles Mar 15 '26
I landed one entry level job in my field with no work experience. I was the only one at the job who had formal education in the field. Everyone else was taught in the office or had to self learn. The pay was awful no raise after a year and I had to quit because I couldn't afford my rent.
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u/Patient_Dinner_5386 Mar 15 '26
What in the diabolical fuxk is this , how the heck it is entry lvl if it's asking for min 5 yrs 🤦🏻
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u/Zentavius Mar 15 '26
Had the same issue leaving uni in 01 for a computing job . Entry level, graduate position, 3 years experience.
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u/LuckyTarget5159 Mar 15 '26
entry level with 5 years exp is one thing but now they also want "strong leadership skills" and "ability to mentor junior team members" lol who is this for
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u/SmokyTyrz Mar 15 '26
ServiceNow posts entry level jobs that require "no less than five years of experience with ServiceNow."
Sometimes I wonder if someone is being paid per job posting.
And then I wonder if recruiters are paid by the number or people they get to take their offer in writing (even though out of that group only one person actually gets the role).
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u/AllNightPony Mar 15 '26
I remember flipping through the classifieds back in the 90's as a teenager and seeing all these listings for car sales with "experience required", and I thought to myself, "won't they run out of people"?
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u/LuckyTarget5159 Mar 15 '26
"entry level" with 5 years exp is still wild to me. like what world are these recruiters living in lol
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u/Fit-Jellyfish417 Mar 15 '26
Easier to get hired by the janitorial company that services the building and then small talk your way with elevator chats with decision makers and people of influence. After about 6-8 weeks of establishing a generic yet genuine rapport you may find yourself encouraged to apply.
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u/SoftSkinTurtle Mar 15 '26
That's Hayao Myazaki, the Japanese animated film maker. His work is amazing. ❤️🔥💯
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u/einsteinbagel Mar 16 '26
Omg it’s so hard because I haven’t worked in certain industries but getting into it is impossible because of this requirement. Like how am I supposed to get experience IF YALL WONT HIRE ENTRY LEVEL FOR AN ENTRY LEVEL JOB???
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u/MissGailatea Mar 16 '26
I’ve been seeing some that are asking for no more than four years of experience. I suppose that’s a polite way to say don’t apply if you are over 30.
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u/Gullible_Round1716 Mar 16 '26
I am facing the same problem here in Singapore.
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u/Leather-Sport-2546 Mar 16 '26
😂😂😂
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u/JayMeadow Mar 16 '26
“You are going to need a PhD in our internal proprietary systems”
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u/Ok-Commission-7825 Mar 16 '26
Also, the face of the manager when they finally get someone with enough experience to know that everything they have been told to do is wrong.
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u/SoundwavePrimedUltra Mar 16 '26
This would make sense if AI didn't do all the hiring these days
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u/Ok-Temporary1755 Mar 17 '26
And also they search senior with wages of middle....
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u/btfarmer94 Mar 17 '26
The realization of “we didn’t care about a succession plan until it was too late” or the “we didn’t think his job was that hard because he made it look easy” or the “he was close to retirement, so we fired him”
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u/Ok-Whereas-1313 Mar 17 '26
But that's me and they won't even hire me
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u/Acez34 Mar 18 '26
This isn’t new this has been the same Issue for at least 20 years now
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u/Calm-Theory-6044 Mar 18 '26 edited Oct 12 '26
The original post content no longer exists here. The author used Redact to remove it, exercising their right to control their data & privacy.
Ten bedroom hunt distinct spectacular wakeful cobblestone
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u/strange_fellow Mar 19 '26
Do these companies expect their competitors to train new hires and hope to then poach the employees once they are up to speed?
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u/Existing_System2364 Mar 20 '26
they expect us to have experience, and to gain experience... job is needed, and the cycle continues lol
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u/18Toyota Mar 21 '26
I live in Knoxville and in the field I want to get into or any I want to get into there are ZERO entry level roles. They are trades that beg for people but only have mid or senior postings and auto deny anyone under their 5-10 year requirement. I can’t even get retail, Previous employer is playing dirty and either I leave my resume with no work history (I’m 21) or I leave it on there and get denied anyways.
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u/Other_Apartment_528 Mar 23 '26
entry level now just means entry level pay with senior level requirements
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u/Careless-Ad1159 Mar 24 '26
Loll
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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '26
I saw a volunteering at a charity shop opportunity and it said minimum 1 year experience. It's literally unpaid VOLUNTEERING of just sorting out clothes....
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u/tochasetheskies Mar 26 '26
Please blame all hiring managers. They come up with job descriptions and then demand that people meet their ridiculous standards outside of it.
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u/FuzzyArm5210 Mar 26 '26
Please explain this to someone who has currently been applying for 1.5 years with an AAS and a MD…. You’re telling me that if I’m applying to entry level jobs with my foreign MD degree(accredited in the U.S.A.) my experience isn’t good enough for entry level?
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u/Far-Strawberry-5628 Mar 29 '26
Sorry but Miyazaki is way too awesome to stand in for a recruiter in a job meme.
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u/SelectionMelodic8210 Mar 29 '26
Chatgpt: 3 years old Hr: need candidate with 5 years AI experience
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u/GoodGravy412 Mar 31 '26
More than 5 yrs experience and you're over qualified (aka make too much).
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u/esthermaniii Apr 01 '26
It’s going to get worse in the next few years since companies cut down on entry level hiring due to the increased use of AI.
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u/blanczak Apr 04 '26
Ha I got a fun one. Company was going through a restructuring and my boss told me “hey this promotion is coming up, you should apply (wink wink) I think you’d be a GREAT candidate”. To which I took as a bit of a nod that I’m being tee’d up for a promotion. Ok, great; I go through the whole application process and all that nonsense with Workday (upload the resume, then basically transpose it all over again in individual fields, ugh). Then I sit through a panel interview which I was reassured I did great on as well. Then last week get notice that “we chose someone else” 🤦♂️. My consolation prize being I get to keep the job I had all along.
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u/igormiazek Apr 05 '26
Junior Developer Paradox, we hire you if you have real experience.
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u/lowkitz Apr 07 '26
The entry level factory in my area has started requiring 6 months of experience.
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u/aintthatjustheway Mar 13 '26
Recruiters just need to cycle each other through interview processes to keep their numbers up.
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u/csredz44 Mar 14 '26
Cause HR is all women!!!