Experience required...

[Golf4food]

Why do employers all think that experience, unlike money, grows on trees? Because they all expect you to have it, yet none are willing to provide it! That is the most assanine job requirement in the universe.

This isn't about myself, but rather someone else I know who has been searching for a job for two months after graduating from college cum laude with a good degree and after multiple interviews with different companies being offered nothing due to lack of experience...

I know my own company is full of people who aren't nearly as smart, but they all got their jobs somehow...

 

[LBAK]

I always wondered that myself. Gotta start somewhere. Hope the person you know catches a break and someone hires them. There are lots of good people willing to learn.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

No kidding. It KILLS me that I don't have the required experience for anything for which I apply! Come on, now...I have TWO bachelor's degrees and I graduated valedictorian! Yet because I had no experience, I got stuck doing data entry. And since that was the only experience I had after that, I got stuck doing...data entry. And for the job after that...yep, data entry again. I want OUT.

Gee, never mind that I'm self-taught in MANY other areas. Just because I haven't worked in them...because NOBODY will give me a chance to prove that I know my stuff...

Nah, I'm not bitter at all.

 

[twinklebug]

Why do employers all think that experience, unlike money, grows on trees? Because they all expect you to have it, yet none are willing to provide it! That is the most assanine job requirement in the universe.

This isn't about myself, but rather someone else I know who has been searching for a job for two months after graduating from college cum laude with a good degree and after multiple interviews with different companies being offered nothing due to lack of experience...

I know my own company is full of people who aren't nearly as smart, but they all got their jobs somehow...

Many of those ads exist just to fulfill the federal requirements of sponsoring a green card employee. By law an employer must attempt to fill a position with a US citizen and only after proving that they couldn't find anyone as suitable as the green-card employee they have in mind.

Such employers are also known to say things such as "must be experienced in Kafliber-Flam-Fogie" In other words, the requirement is to know an in-house developed software that only the person they have in mind knows.

 

[PrincessPatty]

I am having this issue right now! It is so absolutely frustrating! Where in the world do they expect the experience to come from? I personally think it would be better for the companies to hire us new and learn their way, than try to hire someone who is already set in their ways

 

[Tazicket]

In other words, the requirement is to know an in-house developed software that only the person they have in mind knows.

I've seen a lot of that on job postings...doesn't seem right.

 

[DISUNC]

NOTHING DRIVES ME CRAZIER THAN READING A CLASSIFIED WITH THESE WORDS "...MUST HAVE EXPERIENCE, $6.50 TO START!"

I feel bad for many of the younger people today, it's crazy out there!

Good Luck!

 

[noodleknitter]

Businesses don't want to take the time, energy and money to train people extensively. You can't blame them for that.

I wouldn't hire someone just out of school, because more likely than not, they have an education, but not actual knowledge about the workplace. These kids graduate with all of the college propaganda re. their degrees, etc., and think they are going to trot right into that v.p. position.

I believe in companies hiring from within, and giving knowledge/experience precedence over a degree. And, no one in the workworld cares that you were valedictorian.

 

[jen0610]

And I have the opposite, no degree, but years of experience. It comes down to me with 10+ years of actual work experiense and some one with a degree and little to no experience, guess who gets the job.

I even had the supervisor who wanted to hire me very, very badly, tell me, that the manager is big on degrees, and that is the only reason the other person got hired. Saw them advertising the exact same position 6 months later. She called me to see if it was ok for her to put my resume in front of the manager again. Told her ok, but I still didn't have a degree. Same result, hired someone with a degree, little/no experience...left after 7 months. 2nd time she asked about putting the resume in front of him, I told her only if he seriously wants to get the position filled with someone who's not trying to pad their resume experience. When she asked him about filling it with someone who didn't have a degree, he told her that they wouldn't stay long enough to justify the training. Hello, like either of the other two stayed any length of time worth the training.

 

[rayelias]

Apparently (and many for good reason), those fancy college degrees don't mean squat once you get out in the "real world.


"Can you really explain to a fish what it’s like to walk on land? One day on land is worth a thousand years of talking about it, and one day running a business has exactly the same kind of value."
- Warren Buffet

 

[Arielle22]

I am an HR Mgr for an auto dealership. In 1 shop I have 15 tech positions. If I already have 5 trainee techs but my master tech quits then I need a master tech not a trainee. Likewise I am currently hiring an office position with experience. My 2 other office people had no experience on hire so we need someone who knows what they are doing.

So while you might think that you can learn the position, the company needs someone who knows what they are doing NOW.

I would suggest getting an entry level, no experience position. Then work your way up in the company. I just promoted 2 employees from part time night to full time days because when they were hired they let me know they would be interested in full time.

This is also the way I obtained my current position. I started in A/P, then got promoted into payroll before my last promotion to HR.

 

[Tazicket]

I wouldn't hire someone just out of school, because more likely than not, they have an education, but not actual knowledge about the workplace. These kids graduate with all of the college propaganda re. their degrees, etc., and think they are going to trot right into that v.p. position.

That's not a very fair generalization. I know plenty of people who have just graduated from college and are not expecting to "trot right into that v.p. position." They know that they are going to have to work their way up, but how can they work their way up if they can't even get a starting point?

 

[laurajetter]

Oh my gosh, this is soo true! It was extremely hard for me being a graphic designer trying to get a job out of college; they all wanted 'real' portfolio pieces, you know, ads from real magazines, logos for real customers; they didn't seem to care about any of my design samples that show I knew good design. Once they found out it wasn't for a 'real' client they seemed to just dismiss the thought of hiring me.

It is soooo stupid!! How in the world am I EVER supposed to get 'real' experience if no one will give me a chance? The boss at my second job was so cool about it, he actually said he didn't care whether we had real samples to show (even wrote that in the newpaper ad), what he cared about was whether we could design, and he could judge that from our college work. That is what saved my butt and gave me chance!

 

[noodleknitter]

OK...so I will say that in the many years I have worked off and on in our small but relatively prestigious liberal arts college, this has been the view point of the majority of students. They are sold a commodity with promises that aren't honest nor accurate.

Most are unwilling to get a job they see as being beneath them. They would rather move back in with mommy and daddy while they whine and complain (and write letters to said college) about how it isn't fair. Most have yet to learn that life is hard. They've been living it easy for 23 years. They don't want to get their fingers dirty, and start midway, let alone at the bottom and work their way up the ladder.

My experience, rather than a generalization.

 

[kidzmom3]

This is why an internship can be so valuable. Also, you can work for free/volunteer your services. For example: if you want to be a professional photographer, you could offer to photograph a wedding for the cost of film only, then you would have a real client you could show.

 

[BeNJeNWaFFLe]

Isn't that just annoying? I know when I was doing the job search thing last year it drove me up a wall. Every place that was looking for entry level positions wanted minimum 2 years experience. That's nice. But where am I getting this experience from? It just makes no sense. They want you to have experience but nowhere is willing to hire you to give you that experience.

You just have to hope to get lucky. I went to a few interviews. One place was willing to hire me right out of college. But to be honost I was overqualified and it was a crappy job paying very little. Then I interviewed some more, no luck because of the experience factor. I just got lucky and found a job that is willing to spend the money and train me.

 

[Chicago526]

I would suggest getting an entry level, no experience position. Then work your way up in the company.

I think the complaint is that there AREN'T any "entry level jobs" anymore. 99.9% of employers want people with experiance. You can't get experiance if no one will hire you, and you can't get hired with no experiance, and round and round it goes until you are stuck doing general office work just to get a paycheck and you are STILL getting no experiance, so you don't even qualify for any positions in your company that may open up. My own company did that to my former coworker, which is why she is now my FORMER co-worker. They lost a valuable resourse and a proven reliable employee because she didn't have the "right type of experiance to change fields". The only reason she got the new job at the new company was because she was the only person to apply and they needed someone to start right away! In short, she got lucky!

 

[noodleknitter]

So, a question. Why on earth should a company hire someone without any real work experience when there are people out there who know how to do the job? It sounds to me like a risk, and a poor choice financially, also.

 

[twinklebug]

There are entry level jobs, you just have to know where to find them,

I "lucked out" and was taken from a pile of hundreds of kid's applications for a summer internship with the DOT. From this job I got a position with one of the contractors working for the division I had interned with. Unfortunatly it all channeled me into a job roll I hated since that was the only experience I had.

The best advice is I have for current students is to go co-op in college. Take on several varying positions so you have a broader scope of what the workplace is like. And major in a subject you LOVE and would be willing to do for pennies per hour if need be just to gain experience.

 

[twinklebug]

So, a question. Why on earth should a company hire someone without any real work experience when there are people out there who know how to do the job? It sounds to me like a risk, and a poor choice financially, also.

Ever heard the term "Diamond in the rough"? If a companies lucks out and finds one they're happy. They only have to pay the price of coal but wind up with someone far more valuable & whom they can groom to the needs of the company.