“Entry-level”: A delineation.

Perhaps we would be best served to establish just what it means for a position to be “Entry-level”. If there is one thing that I utterly mastered in four years of college (OK, five), it’s how to utilize Wikipedia, which describes an “Entry-level job” as follows:

“An entry-level job is a job that is normally designed or designated for recent graduates of a given discipline, and doesn't ask for prior experience in the field or profession.”

Seems reasonable enough. I don’t know that there are many better ways to describe those idyllic shores across from the river of uncertainty that is graduation. This is where we all hope to arrive; it is the destination we have earned, right? And no, your two month servitude of getting coffee and making copies, politely disguised as an “internship”, isn’t going to entitle you to much more*. One does not become Operations Analyst 3 at Miscellaneous Bank Corp. fresh out of school with a B.S. in finance. I’m sorry, but that fairy tale is just patently false.

Let’s make an effort to avoid the negativity though, shall we? The overall economic outlook, coupled with your 986th application rejection email, are already providing plenty of that. “Entry-level” is really more than a category of employment; it’s a state of mind. You’ve busted your ass in school for four years (or five, let‘s be honest). You’ve amassed enough knowledge of a field that you’re (hopefully) passionate about to get a degree in it. The world is yours. Go seize your dream job, and take no prisoners in the process!

Well, that’s how we’re supposed to feel. That’s how college graduates probably felt four years ago. We, unfortunately, represent a much more jaded and discouraged generation. We’re willing to take jobs we know we’ll grow to abhor just because all that money we borrowed eventually needs to be paid back. It’s a forced, bleak sense of practicality, and not the beaming, world-is-my-oyster optimism we initially bought in to.

Say it ain’t so? Prove me wrong. We want both stories of success and despair, for we aim to be purveyors of hope and empathy, in equal measure.

As always, send your stories to entrylevelsiberia@gmail.com.




*Not that I mean to rag on internships, because I don’t. Not doing an internship is easily my biggest undergraduate regret that doesn’t involve alcohol. The connections and experience gained can be invaluable to landing an entry-level job that you may actually--gasp--enjoy. In fact, if any undergraduates find this before it’s too late, this message should be paramount: DO AN INTERNSHIP.