April Newsletter: Entry Level Isn’t at Entry Level Anymore
Why young people need to build skills and relationships earlier than the market admits.
One of the biggest shifts in the modern job market is the timeline. The work of becoming employable no longer begins at graduation. It begins much earlier, often without students realizing it.
The companies that once trained beginners have quietly stepped back from that responsibility, and the result is a market where students benefit from shaping their skills and relationships long before they reach employment age.
This isn’t about pressure. It’s about alignment.
When young people understand what employers look for, they can make better decisions about how to spend their time, whether they’re still in school or already a year or two out.
Identifying the Skills That Matter
The first step is identifying the skills that matter for the work they want to do. Not the broad, generic skills that show up in course catalogs, but the specific tools, tasks, and competencies that define real jobs. Students don’t need a perfect career plan to do this. They need a direction, something concrete enough to guide choices.
A student who thinks they might want to work in marketing can look at job postings and see patterns:
analytics tools
content platforms
campaign workflows
A student interested in environmental science will see a different set of patterns:
GIS tools
field methods
data analysis
Once they see the recurring skills, they can choose classes, projects, and part-time roles that build those competencies.
Why So Many Young People Miss These Opportunities
This early clarity changes everything. It turns a random part-time job into a strategic one. It turns a class project into a portfolio piece. It turns an internship into something more than a summer placeholder.
But many young people unintentionally hold themselves back because they don’t recognize the opportunities right in front of them. They move through internships, school projects, community work, or part-time jobs without realizing these experiences could be used to practice the exact skills employers value.
They don’t think to:
ask for responsibilities that align with their direction
turn a project into an artifact
use a campus club or volunteer role to build real, marketable competencies
The opportunities are there; they just aren’t framed that way.
Last Year’s Grads Can Still Do This
The same approach works for recent graduates. The timeline may have shifted, but the mechanics haven’t. A graduate who left school last year can still look at job postings, identify the recurring skills, and build them through short courses, small projects, or contract work.
They can still:
create portfolio pieces
build missing technical skills
assemble evidence of competence
The only difference is that they’re doing it outside the structure of school, not inside it. The path is the same; the setting is different.
Building Relationships Earlier
The second piece is relationships. Not networking in the superficial sense, but the kind of early, steady connections that create momentum later. Students often assume relationships begin when they need a job. In reality, the most valuable relationships begin years earlier, when there is no ask attached.
A professor who sees a student’s curiosity becomes a reference.
An internship supervisor who remembers a student’s initiative becomes a connector.
A classmate who lands a job becomes a peer who can open a door.
These relationships grow slowly, but they compound.
Where Young People Miss Relationship Opportunities
Many young people don’t think about the types of people they could be building relationships with while they’re still in the room with them. They don’t recognize that:
a professor’s office hours are a networking opportunity
an internship supervisor is a future reference
a community project puts them in front of people who influence hiring
They treat these interactions as temporary, not as the early stages of a professional network. By the time they need help, the moment to build the relationship has passed, not because the door is closed, but because they didn’t know it was open.
Recent Grads Can Reopen These Doors
A graduate who finished school last year can still reconnect with professors, supervisors, and peers. Time doesn’t erase goodwill. People remember effort, curiosity, and reliability
A simple message: “I’m refining the direction I want to move in and would value your perspective” is often enough to reopen a relationship.
These connections matter because they do the work that junior roles used to do: they provide guidance, context, and introductions. They help beginners bypass hiring systems that filter them out by default.
The Market Rewards Intention, Not Perfection
None of this requires a young person to have everything figured out early. It requires them to pay attention earlier. To look at the work they think they might want to do and ask:
What skills show up again and again
Who is already doing this work, and how can I learn from them
Students who do this during school gain a head start. Recent grads who do it now gain traction. The market rewards intention, not perfection.
The job market hasn’t closed its doors to young people. It has shifted the preparation window. Those who understand this, whether they’re still in school or already a year into the real world, can use their time more intentionally. They can build the skills employers look for and the relationships that help them get seen. And when opportunity comes, they aren’t starting from zero. They’re stepping into the market with momentum.
Job Guy Tip of the Month: Ask Two Questions Everywhere You Go
If you want to build skills and relationships earlier, you don’t need a long-term plan. You need a habit. In every class, internship, part-time job, volunteer role, or campus activity, ask yourself two questions:
1. What can I practice here that will matter later?
Every environment gives you access to something employers value: tools, workflows, communication, analysis, planning, coordination. Most young people miss these chances because they’re focused on completing the task, not building the skill behind it. When you start looking for practice opportunities, you begin turning ordinary experiences into marketable evidence.
2. Who will I meet here that will matter later
Every environment also puts you in front of people who can influence your future: professors, supervisors, community leaders, alumni, peers who are already interning in your field.
Most young people don’t recognize these people as part of their future network until much later. When you start noticing who’s in the room, you begin building relationships before you need them.
These two questions turn passive participation into intentional development. They help you spot opportunities that were already there, hiding in plain sight. And they build the momentum that used to come from entry-level jobs, back when entry level was still entry level.
To learn more about why employers have evolved away from entry level jobs, check out my blog post Why Junior Roles Are Collapsing, and How Companies Created the Mess from earlier this month.
A Favorite LinkedIn Testimonial
This testimonial is not from a client. It was written by Deb, a former colleague from my recruiter days who had landed a new job at a major university helping graduate students get a jump start on their careers while still in college.
Together, Deb and I developed a framework to help groups of international students to develop their personal brand, identify and gain marketable skills, and build professional networks to facilitate their upcoming entry in the US workforce.
“John and I had worked together several years ago and he was very receptive when I contacted him to be a guest speaker for the Entrepreneurship Club at Northeastern University.
He did a great presentation on how to develop and market your personal brand.
John was so well received that I invited John back again to address a group of upperclassman students on the same topic.
It was a pleasure to have John on campus and the students felt very comfortable to approach him with individual questions afterwards.
I would highly recommend John as speaker and as a coach.”
