every decade this is a problem.

edit: let me add what the solution we found out last time this happened.

get an entry level job that requires no experience and apply your degree in creative ways to set yourself apart.

only those who are extremely talented or lucky get a job doing exactly what they received their degree in, directly out of college.

move around often, and after a year or two, apply to your "dream job".

nobody in corporate wants to deal with your misguided bullshit of reaching six figure salaries three months into your career. the "experience" they're looking for is to show that you're mature enough of an employee to play ball. and if that upsets you, then you're not mature enough.

5 years of experience for an "entry level" position is bullshit these assholes have been doing for decades: Sometimes it's literally just bald faced H1B visa fraud and nobody seems to be doing anything about it.

Entry level jobs aren't going to exist in the very near future.

It's coming around for those new grads. with 15 years of experience and multiple degrees, my position was recently eliminated and replaced with multiple lower wage, casual positions.

Just use the experience you got in your unpaid internship your parents arranged for you at birth. Oh, you didn't get that? You had to work a real job to pay rent or tuition or?

It's not much better later in career; companies have no idea how to hire for skills and grow people so they hire for exact specs; you could be a nobel prize winning architect but they'd shoot you down for only having built buildings in NA vs. EU, or you've only used 5/6 popular software solutions and they use the 6th and of course there is no way they're going to let you have a 3 month onramp to get proficient in it because "this quarter only" mindset, or maybe you say you won't work 70 hours a week because you have a family and would like to have a life. Or, or, or.

My advice to those starting out is to find a job that pays the best compared to the time it takes, even if it's painful, then use that extra free time to volunteer, get another side job that will grow your skills, or go through a certificate program. Degrees are mostly dead, a relevant cert is worth more than multiple degrees because it's specific.

This is why internships and coop jobs are so important. Also using networking to come in the side door. I also think that entry level jobs say 5 years experience often.