It's been a very long time since I've applied for entry level jobs but it seems like nowadays there is a ridiculous amount of employers exerting downward pressure on wages by offering low paying "entry" level jobs that require a ridiculous amount of experience. Anyone a new grad facing this nonsense?

Yep. Senior management's new motto is to squeeze as much as possible out of people for as little input as necessary. Temporary contractors are also the new norm.

The only answer is to not accept these jobs but not everyone can afford too. Im seeing how unions are useful.

Welcome to the left brother

Companies will test the waters and try to get the most qualified person in at the lowest cost. If nobody bites they'll be forced to alter the job requirements to fill the position, incurring more selection costs in the process, as well as the opportunity cost of productivity gains from having a filled job position. It's a free market.

I was making in the $40k's after graduating with a masters just a few years ago. A lot of social workers start off working for less and I was lucky to get a hospital job. You have to aggressively pursue promotions. The last promotion I got was when I seen a new unit opening and learned a skill I knew they would need prior to them needing it, which is utilization review. By the time they needed one I had the one I knew from another unit train me and had been the one filling in for her when she went on PTO etc. But as a macro social worker I can assess an agency's needs and predict where things are going pretty well. Systems theory has its uses.



Amen.

Stop complaining you lazy liberal.

I was recently, but I'm in STEM so I didn't have a problem getting a decent job.

Although I took a different path than most

Undergrad + Low Wage Jobs -> 3 yr Grad School + Hospital Lab Work -> 1 yr Medical School -> 6 mo Shitty $15/hour QC chemist at a supplements company -> Working at a different medical school research lab -> Lab manager

So my hospital work, time in medical school, and graduate work made it pretty easy to find a healthcare oriented research role that I could advance from.



Something that people aren't telling these new graduates that I wish I knew is that you need to cultivate very specific skill sets while you're in school. So instead of getting "B.S. in Chemistry" on your resume, you need to focus on getting "2 years experience optimizing HPLC procedures on samples from various sources" on your resume. (My PI said troubleshoot HPLC on these samples, and I did it) Nobody gives a damn about your degree anymore, but having a degree and having experience on a specific instrument that an employer wants will get you a job immediately. I got my 6 month shitty supplements job because I had experience as an undergrad running enzyme assays and that's all I did at that job. Took me about 2 weeks to get that job, and then about 2 weeks to get the job at my current lab because I had a specific skill set that they wanted.

This post was edited by Thor123422 on Oct 10 2020 11:49am

Pretty good montage.

I'm in the process of looking for my first post MBA job. So far i'm still like 8 months out and can afford to be selective but yeah it's pretty crazy the level of experience employers expect.

I have an interview next week. I know the offer is probably going to be like high 40s maybe low 50s and i'm going to be like it's a no for me dawg.

Am I having a fever dream?

G'luck with your interview!