Why inexperienced workers can’t get entry-level jobs
By Kate Morgan20th September 2021. “Entry-level” jobs used to be the way for new graduates to enter the workforce. But many are now requiring prior experience.
As anyone who’s graduated from university or applied for their first job in recent years can attest to, something
new – and alarming – has happened to entry-level jobs: they’ve disappeared.
A recent analysis of close to 4 million jobs posted on LinkedIn since late 2017 showed that 35% of postings for
“entry-level” positions asked for years of prior relevant work experience. That requirement was even more common in
[5] certain industries. More than 60% of listings for entry-level software and IT Services jobs, for instance, required three
or more years of experience. In short, it seems entry-level jobs aren’t for people just entering the workforce at all.
And while that first job is harder than ever to get, it’s also more important than ever, says Alan Seals, an associate
professor of economics at Auburn University, US. It may be the bottom-most rung on the employment ladder, but a
worker’s first position sets the tone for their career.
[10] “The most important time in your career is the first three years,” he says. “The quality of your first employer really
matters. So, how do you get that first job?”
The simple answer is workers need something more than motivation or a college degree to enter the workforce
now, whether it’s lots of internships, or the connections to get around a complex application process without an
algorithm weeding them out. But not everybody has access to those advantages, and the result is that workers are
[15] being left behind.
The rise of the internship
An ever-growing internship market means more young people are fleshing out their resumes before they even
leave university, says Seals, who notes many students are now getting their first internship after first year.
“Internships are now the entry level,” he says. “Most of the students in college are doing or trying to do internships,
[20] and now it’s increasingly common to do more than one.”
Seales says this fact impacts the entry-level job market on multiple fronts. First, companies can save money by
using interns to do that work without having to pay junior employees; the more interns a company has, the fewer
entry-level jobs it’s likely to open.
Second, because applicants with one or more internships on their resume aren’t tough to come by, those who
[25] don’t have internship experience are left out in the cold. That can happen to students who can’t afford an unpaid or
low-paid internship, or those who have trouble securing one.
“In some cases, you need to have had an internship to get an internship. It’s also tough if you’re an ethnic
minority,” says Seals. A February 2020 study he co-authored showed that employers are “less likely to respond to
[intern] applicants with Black-sounding names” and much more likely to hire those who’ve had internships before.
[30] Add to that the fact that the vast majority of internship opportunities are geographically located near major cities,
meaning those who don’t already live there or can’t relocate are out of luck. [...]
Source: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210916-why-inexperienced-workers-cant-get-entry-level-jobs. Accessed on: October 10, 2021. Adapted.
In the excerpt “‘Internships are now the entry level,’ he says. ‘Most of the students in college are doing or trying to do internships, and now it’s increasingly common to do more than one.’” (lines 19-20), we can find the following verb tenses: