Anyone who has searched for jobs has dealt with the frustration of reading through a job listing and thinking to themselves that they fit the qualifications and would like to do this kind of work until they read the requirements which state that you need to have several years of experience. And this is especially upsetting when the job is an entry-level one with a salary that doesn’t promise a luxurious lifestyle, even if you do have the experience.

A Reddit user pointed out this issue and believes that it should be illegal for companies to require experience for entry-level jobs. Other Reddit users were not completely sure that this statement is true and a discussion ensued explaining why they would agree or disagree.

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Someone on Reddit made a suggestion that companies requiring experience for entry-level jobs should be illegal

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The original statement was posted in the subreddit r/unpopularopinion in which, as the name suggests, people share what they think not a lot of people agree on. Sometimes it happens that a person just says what everyone is already thinking about and finds out that their opinion is actually quite popular, like this one, as it was upvoted almost 75k times.

The Reddit user who has deleted their account since posting their opinion believes that people who just got their education are struggling to find jobs as it is, often resorting to taking offers of jobs that have nothing to do with their fields because many entry-level jobs require them to already have work experience.

They think that entry-level jobs are for those recently graduated to join the work force but they can’t because they don’t have experience

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The OP thinks that companies require experience because they are too lazy to train new employees or don’t want to waste the funds when they can just hire a person who already knows what they are doing.

They also touch on the fact that when companies require 3-5 years of experience, the salary doesn’t represent that. They believe that a person with such a background should be paid considerably higher.

What is more, the people who come with experience are not paid like they have it

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People under the post started a discussion about the topic

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In the title of the post, the redditor states in frustration that companies don’t have the right to require experience for an entry-level position because by definition it is a position that considers people with no practical knowledge.

If you want to be technical about it, we already checked what the dictionary says. The Oxford dictionary defines entry-level to be “at the lowest level in a company” when talking about jobs. The Merriam Webster dictionary says practically the same thing: “of or being at the lowest level of a hierarchy.”

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People said that it’s still worth applying for the job because experience is not the main factor when looking for an employee

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So they don’t mention lack of experience directly, but it definitely implies it, because if it is the lowest part of the hierarchy chain, why would it be fair to require experience?

The reason behind this most probably is the 2008 recession. At that time, many people, including experienced specialists, lost their jobs. And there were so few open positions that they had to apply to entry-level jobs to earn their bread. In that way, they raised the standards for entry-level positions. Companies got used to not having to train their new employees and when the economy started to get back on track, employers started to demand it.

Some people thought that it may be put in to attract only serious applicants

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Another reason for companies demanding experience that people pointed out was that it is cheaper than investing in training

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Now entry-level jobs have the same titles and the lowest salaries in a company for specialists, but because of the raised standard, they require more knowledge and assign more responsibility too. Entry-level jobs used to involve basic functions such as report preparation, but now employers demand problem-solving and abstract thinking skills from their young professionals.

So now recent graduates have difficulty finding jobs and experienced specialists are forced to content themselves with entry-level salaries but have the practical knowledge before coming to work. It has created a vicious circle and companies don’t want to stop it as it is beneficial to them.

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There were people who had a different conception of what entry-level is and argued that companies set the rules themselves

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But what did the other redditors have to say about the topic? Well, some of them were saying that it doesn’t matter how much experience a company wants: if you have other qualities and knowledge they require, apply anyway, because the requirements are just guidelines and just a part of the template of the job listing.

Others were speculating that companies put the requirement of experience to discourage people who are not that serious about that job from applying or for the company to see who is willing to take a risk to apply. Of course, there were people who simply thought it was just cheaper to hire people who don’t need training.

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An interesting point that was made about experience is that the time spent studying for the degree might be considered as such

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There were people who were arguing that an entry-level job is the level the company itself sets. So they defined entry-level as not the lowest part of the hierarchy, but literally a position at which you enter the company that isn’t necessarily a job that doesn’t require experience and for which only basic skills would suffice.

Another interesting point a redditor made was that you can consider your studies to be experience, as to get that degree they needed to take out a loan, dedicate several years to it and were taught the things they need to know for the job.

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What is your opinion about entry-level jobs requiring experience? Have you felt the shift in the responsibilities an entry-level worker is expected to deal with? Do you feel people who recently graduated now have a harder time finding a job? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!