What is Entry Level Anyway?

The economy is very slowly creeping back, we’re making progress, but what does the economy mean for students?  What are they doing to cope with coming out of school in many cases with high debt and low job prospects?  Also, how are their coping mechanisms going to effect the future of the workforce and something as simple as the word entry level?  These are all questions that I have found myself pondering as of late and although I don’t have all the answers I do have some statistics to consider:

• Public four-year colleges have an average yearly tuition of $7,605 with fees for in-state students. The average tuition for full-time out-of-state students at public universities is $11,990.(College Board)
• Private four-year colleges have an average tuition of $27,293 per year with fees. (College Board)
•  Candidates who graduated in 2009 carried an average of debt of $24,000 in student loan, up 6% from the previous year. (Project Student Debt)
• Unemployment for recent college graduates climbed from 5.8% in 2008 to 8.7% in 2009 – the highest annual rate on record for college graduates aged 20 to 24. (Project Student Debt)

I know what you’re wondering, how on earth does this affect me as an employer?  I have a job and I’ve already gone through that period of my life.  Well, I’m not exactly sure how it will affect you yet, however I do know that it will.

When you posted the words “entry level” in front of a job title requiring an education you would receive bright eyed and bushy tailed green graduates.  They would have just received their undergraduate degree and maybe if you got lucky had some relevant work experience.  But they would be undergraduates.  That’s changing. 

More and more we’re seeing people with advanced degrees applying for entry level jobs.  More interestingly they are happy to take entry level salaries as well.  Why?  Well they need a job to pay off those loans and frankly they may have run out of schooling.  What does this make them?  Bargain hires or overlooked for being over qualified?  What would your company do? Are these the candidates you want me to send to your openings, because trust me I have plenty of them to send.  Master’s degree and no work experience, but eager to do anything.

Don’t believe me that staying in school is the trend?  Here are the numbers:

• According to a study released in 2010 by the Council of Graduate Schools, applications for admission to American graduate schools increased by 8.3 percent between fall 2008 and fall 2009. This is a marked rise from the previous five years in which the average annual increase had been less than 1 percent.
• The most popular fields were business, engineering and social and behavioral sciences. The fastest growth occurred in health sciences, where applications were up 14.6 percent (Council of Graduate Schools)
• Graduate school, however, is where they really start larding on debt, taking an average of $12,746 a year in federal loans (Forbes)

So I will conclude with once again begging the question, what is entry level? What is it becoming?