Since I’m graduating in the spring, I’ve been looking for jobs online. It’s an intimidating process and, coupled with the general anxiety I have about going out into the “real world,” it becomes all the more frustrating when I’m greeted by a misnomer.

“Candidates need 2-3 years experience in_____ field.” I would expect to see this in the description of a job I would seek after a few years of employment, after I’ve gained the experience. But instead, this qualifier is listed under an entry-level position.

Not only is this phenomenon annoying; it makes me really nervous. And I don’t think I’m the only one. A joke I’ve heard a bit too often recently is: “Find a job in your field of study and you’ll never work a day in your life…because no one is hiring.”

This can be great kick in the pants to us as students, however. We’re always told to get a foot in the door, and this push could force us to get out of our comfort zones and try to get as much experience as possible. Want a chance to get in at the lowest rung of the company? Start putting in the effort now. Entering the job market with volunteer work, internships and work-related experience can be a powerful tool. But how much is enough?

This summer, one of my good friends had four jobs. FOUR. He had his own reasons for holding all of those positions, and he is clearly an outlier, but when I spoke with him I didn’t even have to ask him how it went before he told me:

“There were some weeks that were awful, in terms of burnout.”

And I don’t know anyone else who has four jobs, but as college students we do have classes, homework, group projects, sports practices, sports games, eating, sleeping, papers to write, tests to study for, family obligations, club meetings, adviser meetings and more.

And after wading through responsibilities small and large, we are told that in order to gain entry into the lowest position at a company, that employers expect a great deal more.

Last year, in the article Where Did All the Entry-Level Jobs Go? the Wall Street Journal stated that, “in an effort to cut costs, some companies also have cut entry level jobs that serve as a crucial first step on the path to professional career.”

As a result, “the number of recruiters requesting two or more years of work experience for some middle-skill occupations rose as much as 30% from 2007 to 2010.”

This results in a recruiter looking for “young blood” to inject new life into the company, with the stipulation that new employees are actually moderately experienced and that the new life is already assimilated into the body that it will rejuvenate, despite being a new hire.

In a climate where the challenge of finding a job is already difficult enough, this serves as an additional hoop to jump through. This one, though, is floating above our heads.

Jeffrey Langan can be reached at lang5466@stthomas.edu.