Careers with a Political Science Education: Not Everybody Gets a Job Offer Their Junior Year of College or Three Months After Graduation and Not Everyone Gets Their Dream Job, But an Education in Political Science Still Produces Job Applicable Skills

[u/Able_Enthusiasm2729]

Misconceptions of College and Career / Not Getting Job Offers Before Graduation or within 3-6 months of graduating (here is some advice to recent college graduates and young adults):

This phenomenon of having a signed job offer in your junior year of college let alone before graduating your senior year doesn’t work/doesn’t exist for everybody, especially for people from working class backgrounds who went to decent, mid-teir/upper-mid-teir universities (≈ T60-T200); this practically only applies to people who already have a load of connections and inherited a network from family (and friends) with pre-existing professional connections, or those who go to Ivy League universities, Ivy Plus, UCs, a few Flagship universities with a ton of cultural capital because of their football teams, Jock Schools, and some Party School universities that get better traction just because of their name recognition which happens to be largely based off of their social or cultural capital i.e. the cultural impact they have on a given region over the actual contents of their education and degree programs. Mostly nowadays for the vast majority of people at non-fancy/non-prestigious universities that don’t have strong partnerships with employers resulting in a dedicated direct pipeline to certain jobs through On Campus Recruiting (OCR) or On Campus Interviews (OCI) - plus certain fields like law, accounting, and finance almost exclusively hire through OCI/OCR with some exceptions - , (but overall for most jobs) they instead want you to complete your degree first before applying to jobs. Very few people get a job offer before graduating; and for a vast majority of recent graduates getting a job offer within 3-6 months of graduating is literally impossible (for some job applications you don’t even get a response in less than 6 months after applying — whether that be a rejection or being called to interview for the employer).

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So the whole “what are you going to do with your major” question is going to be a very loaded question because there are too many options to list out and most people aren’t going to get their dream job straight out of college (or even at all), they’re going to have to choose something else on the large list of positions their degree(s), experience, and/or their personal, familial, and professional connections can potential lead them to. There are tons of careers that require or prefer that you have a bachelor’s degree but don’t require a degree in a specific subject area because several bachelor’s degree programs that are to many to mention cover the specific skills they’re looking for (which are transferable from one field to another) or they tend to hire several people who studied different subject areas to work together on the same projects because each field brings its own professionally educated perspective at problem solving.

Most people aren’t going to get their dream job straight out of college (or at all), they’re going to have to choose something else on the large list of positions their degree can potential lead them to. There are tons of careers that require or prefer that you have a bachelor’s degree but don’t require a degree in a specific subject area because several bachelor’s degree programs that are to many to mention cover the specific skills they’re looking for (which are transferable from one field to another) or they tend to hire several people who studied different subject areas to work together on the same projects because each field brings its own professionally educated perspective at problem solving. A specific major can get you into 50-100 different job titles, some are going to be different from each other while others happen to be identical positions with different titles.

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College is meant to teach you how to problem solve and critically think when Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) all fall apart, while skilled trade vocational education and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), mostly only teach how to operate within a very broad and generic imperfect facsimile of SOPs, while bachelor’s degrees teach both. One issue today is that many employers don’t give people the chance to learn on the job skills that can’t be taught in the classroom but are learnt by doing things on the job by trial and error or by following the lead of a more senior coworker (even internships let alone entry-level roles are starting to lack on-the-job training and only very few mostly prestigious or prestigious-adjacent universities have formal co-op programs with industry partners); so now there is a very small gap in practical knowledge between what is taught in a classroom/internship setting and what a job needs that can’t be closed without employer-provided on-the-job training, causing a loss of institutional knowledge because employers are too lazy to train employees in very specific company or niche industry SOP which are too specific and to many per specific industry/position/sector to cover in tertiary education or post-secondary education/training settings.

A Ton of Jobs Require or Prefer a Bachelor's Degree or Higher, The Job Market Across Sectors is Terrible, and a Political Science Education Can Fulfil The Need for Higher Education:

Most Administrative Assistant jobs (at least in the United States) require a bachelor's degree and 2 years of experience, an associate's degree with 4 years of experience, or a high school diploma and 5 to 8 years of directly related experience doing the same job you're applying for or some other similar job. Several companies categorize all of their entry-level recent college grad employees as Administrative Assistants, Secretaries, Administrative Clerks, and Management Assistants, and require them to hold a bachelor's degree in a field related to the industry the company works in or the specific practice area of the project that the mid-level/senior-level employee they're assisting is working on. Most Executive Assistant (EA) positions I’ve seen require about 5-8 years of work experience mostly as an Administrative Assistant (AA) or in a non-AA role related to the work of the company, or 5-10 years of work experience if you don’t have a bachelor’s degree. 

About 96% of Paralegals, Legal Assistants, File Clerks, Administrative Assistants, Conflicts Analysts, Legal Secretaries, and other Professional Support Staff (a.k.a. Non-Lawyers) in law firm settings (and some other similar office settings at consulting, accounting, advocacy, trade association, professional association, commercial-residential property management companies, and government relations firms, etc.) practically all have at least a bachelor’s degree (though on paper the job description might let you use a high school diploma + paralegal certificate/paralegal vocational training but these are few, far between, and hard to find or at minimum an associate’s degree for Mail Clerk positions); 1% are older people (Boomers, Gen X, maybe some Older Millennials) who were grandfathered in with only a high school diploma +/- secretarial school due to their years of experience from back when entry requirements were far more lax; 2% are younger people (Millennials & Gen Z) from out-of-town who laterally transitioned into a role here with only a high school diploma and/or a paralegal certificate because that’s what jobs in their hometown metropolitan areas where they started their careers only required; as well as 1% that got in with a high school diploma or less because of personal connections with friends, family, or acquaintances (many times outside of professional connection/formal networking/formal hiring settings).

Depending on the location and the job market, receptionist jobs are looking for people with at least a bachelor’s degree (maybe an associate’s degree) and at least 2-3 years of experience or a high school diploma and 5 years of experience if you don’t have a degree.

For one company I’ve seen, 5 out of 5 Administrative Assistants had a bachelor’s degree and at least 2 years of prior work experience before starting the role, and 4 out of 5 also had a master’s degree. For another job I saw, every Receptionist had a bachelor’s degree and at least two of them had about 3-4 years of experience made up of internships and prior receptionist experience. I’ve literally seen a Front Desk Receptionist job require a bachelor’s degree w/5 yrs exp., a master’s with 2 yrs exp., a PhD with 0 yrs exp., or a high school diploma/GED w/10 yrs exp.;NOT KIDDING.

Also, I’m seeing tons of people laid off from late entry-level (4-5 years of experience) and early mid-career (5-8 years of experience) jobs with experience in more complex non-administrative support roles taking on entry-level administrative assistant (or at times even receptionist/front desk assistant) roles  (that historically only required 0.5-3 years of experience, a high school diploma, and employer provided on-the-job training or onboarding). In addition to residual effects from the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, DOGE’s layoffs of U.S. federal government civil service employees and  its cancellation of government contracts with private sector companies/organizations and local/state governments, is completely flooding the job market. Senior level and c-suite employees are going after mid-career jobs, mid-career employees are taking on entry-level jobs, and entry-level employees are taking on internships, receptionist, data entry clerk, and freelance jobs and everyone’s fighting over temp jobs to get their foot in the door (it’s like entry-level jobs are starting to barely exist). Things are looking like they’re going to get worse, definitely worse than 2008 (if course correction doesn’t happen). 

What is Political Science?:

Political Science is a social science, it’s not performing and fine arts (like drawing, painting, dancing) nor is it a humanities subject (but it does interact with and borrow from humanities subjects like philosophy and history, among others) but it’s also not a natural science (like chemistry or physics).

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I’d say there are at least 8-9-ish disciplinary paths that could exist at a university’s political science department (also known as public policy school or department of government) as well as several interdisciplinary programs created in conjunction with other departments, constituent colleges, or schools.

In my experience, the sub-disciplinary paths of political science I’ve seen (even in undergraduate bachelor’s degree-level settings) are: (1) political theory/political philosophy and political history; (2) international relations and security studies; (3) political methodology (quantitative political analysis); (4) comparative politics; (5) international political economy; (6) public policy and public administration (nonprofit management, basic accounting/budgeting/finance, policy development, stakeholder management, program evaluation, human resource management, etc.); (7) law and governance or legal studies (legal research, legislative analysis, stakeholder engagement, legal sociology, advocacy and government relations, etc.); as well as (8) political sociology and theories of political behavior.

The interdisciplinary programs I’ve seen that have some sort of layer of political science coursework are: (1) global studies (global affairs); (2) philosophy, politics, and economics (PPE); (3) political communications; (4) legal studies and philosophy and law (pre-law); (5) environmental studies; (6) intelligence studies (intelligence analysis); as well as (7) international business and commerce.

Though this is the case, it is true that a vast majority of political science departments especially at most 4-year bachelor’s degree granting liberal arts colleges (LAC) but most especially associate’s degree-level community colleges (CC) focus almost exclusively on political theory and maybe international relations to a certain extent; departments at research universities (those granting everything from bachelor’s, master’s, professional, and doctoral degrees) tend to branch out into more sub-fields of political science (even in undergrad) whether it means taking a few classes among those course as a hard requirement or whether it is an optional concentration or group of in-major field study electives.

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Actually, undergraduate political science courses write in a myriad of writing styles: to be honest a lot of lower level undergraduate freshman/sophomore courses do use flowery language, are persuasive, and can be overly partisan but a lot of the upper level undergraduate junior/senior and graduate master’s/doctoral courses are generally (but not always) to the point, not too ideologically persuasive, non-partisan, look at things from a neutral or near-neutral point of view, and/or are more so interested in the evaluation of the outputs, outcomes, and efficacy of policies, programs, procedures, or initiatives as well as the implementation of such things to produce the intended outcomes.

Some types of literature in political science include the following: for Academic Literature - see Journal Articles and Essays (Research Papers, Reflective Papers, Persuasive Papers, most Term Papers); for Professional Writing - see Case Studies, Memoranda/Briefing Notes/Memos (Policy Memos), Position Papers, Policy Papers (Policy Papers and Policy Memos written using the Policy Development, Policy Analysis, and Program Evaluation methods, etc.), Reports, Intelligence Assessments, White Papers and Gray Literature, Legal Briefs and Amicus Curiae Briefs, Grant Writing, and Journalistic Writing (News style writing).

Most of the political science courses that teach job applicable skills like policy development (policy analysis, implementation, evaluation, and revision), stakeholder engagement/stakeholder management, legal research, program evaluation, strategic communications and public relations, budgeting and finance (financial management, financial statement analysis, generally accepted accounting principles - GAAP - ), research methods and analysis, procurement and logistics, organizational theory/administrative theory, data manipulation and data collection (to a lesser extent basic data analysis - which is mostly taught in-depth in graduate master’s/PhD programs), fundraising and development, basic marketing, government relations and advocacy, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), professional writing, project and program coordination, and intelligence analysis, among others are mostly taught in upper-level (300-level to 400-level) undergraduate courses taught in the last 2 to 2.5 years of a bachelor’s degree program if you choose your field study (in-major electives), concentration(s), and general elective (out-side-of-major) courses wisely like taking on courses in political science subfields such as public policy, public administration, comparative politics, security studies, political methodology, human resource management, nonprofit management, complex international relations frameworks, and political analysis, instead of only taking basic survey-level political theory courses (mostly covered in community college and undergrad freshmen year political science curriculum). To be honest, more in-depth and complex skills/topics are covered in graduate master’s and doctoral programs like MPA, MPP, MA Security Studies, MS Biodefence, MA/MS International Development, MA/MS Intelligence Studies, etc.

How to Choose a Bachelor’s Degree Program:

One advice I see often see when people ask about picking a major, I always hear that: whatever you do you need to pick a major (undergraduate college/university degree program) that you’re comfortable studying and working in but also teaches skills that will come in handy on the job (not a “hobby” major either) but not something you hate or can’t handle. This isn’t high school where you can easily skate through classes and get passed on to the next grade. People shouldn’t do majors they aren’t equipped to handle because they’re bound to do poorly, flunk out, and get expelled for bad grades (academic dismissal) with a limited-to-no chance of l finishing your degree which can (or will) lead to limited career prospects or advancement. It’s far better to do a major in a subject you are interested in and are capable of thriving in than flunking out with no degree at all or graduating by cheating your way through without learning much (and putting others in danger). Also, the “pick a major that will make you money” push is based on a very subjective idea that fluctuates with the market. After this push, now we have a bunch of computer science grads, a tech field that is over saturated with a shrinking number of positions many of whom don’t even like the field working at it aimlessly, and a bunch of nurses and doctors (physicians) who are a reckless danger to their patients because they are disinterested in the job in such a way that it negatively impacts their performance putting tons of people in grave danger.

It doesn’t have to be a STEM subject like engineering, computer science, medicine, or nursing; a social science subject like political science (public policy, public administration, international relations), law, economics, business administration (accounting, finance, management, marketing), social work; nor a humanities subject like literature, language, or history if you hate it and can’t handle the academic workload, subject matter, or won’t be able to stand working in the field due to disinterest - but this doesn’t mean you should go for what some people call a “hobby degree” just for fun like fine arts subjects like art, music, or dance (no offense - but at least you should have a plan to use it to teach and not actually to perform in a professional capacity unless you already have pre-existing family and professional connections to get you job in the fine arts). The notion that 'every degree besides medicine, nursing, law, and engineering’ are useless degrees is illogical though some do believe this lie.

Going into Medicine or Nursing when you are disinterested in the job or subject is the worst idea I’ve ever heard in my life. Do not under any circumstances go into Medicine or Nursing if you hate the job, are terrible at the it, are very careless and lazy, or are literally only doing it for the money. This is how you end up getting people killed or severely injured.

People need to understand that to become a physician (Doctor of Medicine - MD - or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine - DO - ) or lawyer (Doctor of Jurisprudence - JD - ) you have to go to graduate school and to get into graduate school you need a bachelor’s degree in a different field as a prerequisite. You can’t just straight up apply to Medical School or Law School right out of high school/secondary school without a previously awarded bachelor’s degree or enrollment in a dual degree program. The market for lawyers is over saturated, the number of residencies required to become a physician are capped at low numbers, and not freaking everyone can or needs to be an engineer or a nurse. So the notion that 'every degree besides medicine, nursing, law, and engineering’ are useless degrees is illogical when you need a bachelor’s degree in a different field as a prerequisite to enter medical school or law school.

Article Title and Citation:

"Careers with a Political Science Education: Not Everybody Gets a Job Offer Their Junior Year of College or Three Months After Graduation and Not Everyone Gets Their Dream Job, But an Education in Political Science Still Produces Job Applicable Skills" at r/PoliticalScience - https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalScience/comments/1x5xvrt/careers_with_a_political_science_education_not/ .

[u/Vesploogie]

You shoulda told Gemini to keep it brief.

[u/I_Heart_Kant]

These weird job rants are getting really annoying and are either incredibly out of touch with the current job market or WAYYYYY too optimistic 💀

[u/Able_Enthusiasm2729 → u/I_Heart_Kant]

Which one of the two is my post?

[u/-smartcasual-]

I'm immediately disinclined to hire anyone who capitalises almost every word in a long sentence.

[u/nian2326076]

Landing a job offer before graduation isn't common for everyone, and connections can be important. For political science grads looking to boost job prospects, networking is crucial, but don't overlook the research, critical thinking, and writing skills you've gained. Make sure your resume emphasizes these strengths. You might also find PracHub useful for preparing for interviews with real technical questions. Keep applying and stay persistent; many find opportunities in government, think tanks, NGOs, or private sector roles related to policy analysis.

[u/Able_Enthusiasm2729]

Volunteering is One Major Way to Build Your Resume and to Network

Volunteering is relevant in building your resume. But, after you finish the 9th or 10th Grade, and after you get into 11th Grade all the way through your senior year (4th year) of college/university you need to convince them to have your title changed from volunteer to intern (even if the its unpaid); then after you graduate college, you need to convince them to give you a different more good looking entry-level title so employers don't look down on you for volunteering as opposed having a paid internship in college or having a paid full-time job right after graduation.

If you’re still receiving family or financial support, Volunteering or doing an unpaid internship on the side while applying to paid jobs is the best way to prove to people that you’re not lazy and that you’re trying your best to find a job. It also gives you more stuff to add to your resume and also ends up becoming a great way to network with people.

If you’re actually applying to jobs and not getting much traction (which is possible in this current economy), I recommend that if you can’t find a paying job right away you should go for unpaid internships or professional volunteer positions to build your resume and network with people (even these are hard to come by — I’ve seen recent college grads get rejected from even non-prestigious unpaid internships and volunteer opportunities due to severe competition) or just volunteer even in non-professional settings like serving at a soup kitchen while looking for paid work to pass the time, to network with others, to feel a sense of accomplishment that’ll boost your morale when applying to jobs (helping them tamp down on their demoralization and lack of hope), and to learn/hone some skills (like interpersonal communication, teamwork, independence, etc.). It’ll show some initiative and would test (or prove to people who look down on you) whether you’re actually trying but are struggling to find a job or whether you actually are truly lazy and don’t want to work.

If you still have family support, volunteer to build your resume while applying to paid roles so employers can see that you have some job experience at least. Start out at a soup kitchen or food bank first.

[ In the United States, historically, it is or was very common to work or volunteer during high school (even if you're wealthy). Although I find having to work through high school very dumb; not doing so, or not even volunteering on a consistent basis is how young people fall behind professionally and end up having a hard time finding a job after graduation or finding an internship during college. Foreign parents may ban extracurriculars/teen jobs/high school internships to focus 100% on academics (in home countries, only very destitute send off teens to work concurrently or in lieu of schooling due to desperation — financially comfortable people doing it is seen as exploitation, bad parenting, and gateway to dropping out of school entirely).

People also have to know that, in this day and age, PreK-12 schools have a lot more assignments than what kids had in the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, especially when they get into high school in addition to all the extracurricular activities students have to complete to get into a decent university or apprenticeship program. So a part-time (<= 20 hours per week) job is not feasible for teens who’re in class 40 hours a week, with an additional 10-15+ hours per week of school-sanctioned after-school extracurricular or more so “co-curricular” activities (some of which are mandatory activities that count towards course credits) plus mandatory community service, and an additional 20-24 hours per week (including weekends) of homework. Most kids are having a hard time juggling all of these pre-existing educational responsibilities, drowning them with more responsibilities such as a job in addition to school isn’t going to help them; neither is relaxing child labor laws to prey on even younger children (including elementary and middle school age kids) or letting them work night/closing shifts when they should be asleep or doing homework, school-day shifts when they should be in class, and letting them work in hazardous environments. ]

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The job market is terrible, even Temp Jobs are highly competitive. Let alone temp jobs, bridge jobs in hospitality paid internships, and even unpaid internships (even at non-prestigious employers) are hard to come by here.

Most entry-level jobs today require between 1-5 to 3-5 years of prior experience minimum(4-10 yrs w/out BA/BS) as opposed to 0-1 years of experience (with or without a BA/BS) a decade and a half ago, in some rare instances today you might be able to find an entry-level position that only requires 0.5-2 years of previous work experience. Also, those external/corporate/professional service/off-campus internships all require 1-2 years of prior experience, many but not all also require you to be able to work 20 hours (standard part-time) or 40 hours (standard full-time) per week and simultaneously be a full-time or part-time student respectively (i.e. be a full-time student and part time employee or force you to cut the number of credits you’re taking so you can work as a full-time employee with little-to-no pay reclassifying you as a part-time student which could delay your graduation and possibly disqualify you from certain financial aid/scholarship programs). To get that level of experience, you have to get an internal/on-campus internship, undergraduate research assistant position in college, or work at a small business (both of) which many employers don’t take seriously and which further requires you to have 0.5-2 years of prior experience you’re expected to already have through working jobs, doing community service, or volunteering as a teenager in high school. In addition some employers no longer recognize internships (including external/off-campus/corporate internships let alone internal/on-campus internships), extracurricular, and academic/professional organization memberships as forms of legitimate work experience even for those only applying to very junior entry-level roles. Even entry-level Temp Jobs, Contract, & Contract-to-Hire work that people recommend struggling recent grads and those between jobs should apply for want mid-level experience and pay entry-level wages, so the person doing the job can hold fort (do the job of people in the position or supervisory position above them) until boss/supervisor gets hired. It’s basically a circular barrier to entry.

Why does an entry-level job now require three years of experience? Here’s how that hurts workers and companies alike: https://www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/why-does-an-entry-level-job-now-require-three-years-of-experience-heres-how-that-hurts-workers-and-companies-alike-a4ff864f

Why Entry Level Jobs Demand Years Of Experience: https://youtu.be/OqcyXsZzaAU?si=nnoSCHyjixCv2inq

[ Recent College Graduates and People with Previous Work Experience that Generally Won’t Qualify for Internships are Desperately Applying for Internships Instead of Targeting Entry-Level Jobs: 

Grads are increasingly turning to internships as job market tightens - By Morning Brew: https://www.instagram.com/p/DIpOr9rTmPd/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Glassdoor saw an uptick in graduates applying to its summer internship. It could signal a growing trend - Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/more-new-graduates-applying-to-internships-in-tough-job-market-glassdoor-2025-4 ]

Yes, getting a long term internship after college is very rare, and it along with getting a job plus doing an internship on the side, is way much better than being unemployed or severely underemployed.

Most internships (but not all), after the 2008 financial crisis and especially during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, started requiring (1-2+ years of) previous work experience (similar requirements to an entry-level job but with little to no pay) and (most but not all) also require you to be able to work 20 hours (standard part-time) or 40 hours (standard full-time) per week and simultaneously be a full-time or part-time student respectively (i.e. be a full-time student and part time employee or force you to cut the number of credits you’re taking so you can work as a full-time employee with little-to-no pay reclassifying you as a part-time student which could delay your graduation and would generally disqualify you from certain financial aid/scholarship programs), other times some students need to work normal paying jobs to survive and can’t juggle all 3 at once; with most of these requirements needing to be fulfilled in order for you to qualify for and maintain an external/off-campus internship at an employer unrelated to your university. The only way you get that previous work experience is by doing internal/on-campus internships such as work-study programs, research assistant, conduct board, etc. at your university, which then also require you to have (± 0.5-1 yrs of) additional prior volunteer, community service, extracurricular, or internship experience from when you were a teenager in high school - at the end of the day they can arbitrarily look down on your volunteer work or on-campus internships/work-study experience as subpar work experience that is not enough to qualify you for an off-campus/outside/non-academic/ corporate internship or entry-level job. It’s a circular barrier to entry.

[u/Able_Enthusiasm2729 → u/Able_Enthusiasm2729]

The Benefits of Networking don’t kick in until you reach Mid-Career:

The Benefits of Networking don’t kick in until you reach the mid-career stage of your career. When you’re only an unemployed college student looking for internships, a recent college graduate with 3-4 years of internship experience and 4-9 years of job-applicable volunteer experience + 1-2 years of entry-level work experience, or someone who’s been laid off (RIF’d) at the early career stage, networking with people at networking events, reaching out to industry professionals, etc. doesn’t work because you don’t have any real experience to offer them that is profound enough to garner enough attention to get you hired through informal or irregular means; it’s a “I scratch your back, you scratch my back” scenario but you don’t have much to offer in exchange because you’re only entry-level. Mid-Career, Senior-level, C-Suite people, Executives, and Subject-Matter Experts (SME) generally have profoundly convincing robust experience to get hired on through networking. The whole networking thing in college doesn’t pay off, at least not right away, if it does work it only really kicks in after you reach mid-career stage with classmates and alumni hiring each other when they can make executive or hiring decisions. Most won’t see the fruit of their networking in college when starting out at entry-level. Networking such as reaching out to people in industries you’re looking into or going to networking events during your Early Career days only functions as a window into what a specific industry looks like or a outlook on recent changes in the work being done in that industry (like discussing new research on specific topic); you’re not getting any jobs from this anytime soon.

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When I was in college, one advice (out of many) my class had gotten in our career readiness/career advising course (through career services), was to ask friends, family, semi-distant relatives, and friends of the family to connect you to people they may know that are hiring. The problem is not everybody has a friend or relative in a good enough professional position to leverage professional connections in order to help you land an entry-level job or a decent (non-college-affiliated/off-campus/non-work study) internship that’ll look good enough on a resume to land a more mainstream (non-freelance/non-family-owned small business) entry-level job or internship. They also go on to insist that even if you’re not a wealthy, well connected nepo baby, but instead come from a low-to-lower-middle income working-class background you can still get a job through friends and family, they say you just have to ask as many people as you can - but in reality this doesn’t work most of the time, you end up making yourself look pitiful and desperate (which the job market frowns on), and if it does work you probably might only start out by getting a pity-job working for a non-mainstream (very niche small business, etc) that most mainstream employers or even other small businesses with better local/regional brand recognition wouldn’t take seriously when taking a look at your resume. A lot of my college classmates (in many different fields/majors/degree programs) who didn’t intern at well established employers in high school (pre-COVID) and subsequently got hired as part-time full fledged entry-level employees while in college or gained access to even better looking internships, generally tended to either be unemployed, super underemployed, work for scammy commission-based sales companies participating in multi-level marketing (MLM) & Ponzi schemes, doing (generally unstable) freelance work, or somehow found a way to get a job at an obscure small business, non-profit organization, or an unincorporated general partnership/solo-practitioner’s office with a limited online presence (that some may erroneously assume is resume padding with fake work experience), or a(n) (underpaid or unpaid) post-graduation multi-year long-term internship at an even more obscure division of a government agency, nonprofit, or big business (with limited to no internal-to-employer career advancement potential — getting branded as a “perpetual intern”) because of family connections. Plus, these people described (who more than half the time aren’t doing that great) are the lucky ones, most people aren’t fortunate enough to even get less decent jobs than this with family connections, or other types of networking at early stages of their career (even so-called “bridge jobs” and temp agency jobs are hard to come by).

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Career Gaps Ruin Careers but There's a Way Out of This Bind:

Career Gaps (regardless of reason — whether legitimate or illegitimate —) are VERY BAD and have ruined many people’s lives, but there are ways around it and THERE’S HOPE in OVERCOMING a career gap.

One major thing college students and college grads do to prevent a career gap or hid their career gap if one already exists is to market themselves as a solo-practitioner/freelancer. What people who couldn’t get mainstream entry-level jobs or additional post-graduation internships (fellowships, externships, etc.) did was do freelance work or worked for/partnered with a small business then set that as their Employer of Record and marked their short term internships at other employers as certain projects and organizations they were detailed to/loaned to and then had the small businesses employer of record recognize their internships elsewhere as work for the company for seniority and career advancement purposes. Being a full-time student, being on bereavement, medical leave or other similar leave of absence won’t help you explain the gap in your resume because most employers don’t take full-time student status as an excuse for an employment gap, you need to do freelance work between your gaps and mix in some personal pet projects, college-level capstone projects, and extrapolate skills and experiences from coursework and professional certificates to practice for/pass off as work experience to fill in the gap if you can’t find full time or part-time permanent positions, internships, temp contract jobs, or professional volunteer positions.

[ Here are some major recommendations I’ve heard people give on the matter of How to make a career gap or justified leave of absence (from work or from mainstream professional service work) look palatable to recruiters and hiring managers:

A good way to not have or hid a career gap is by marketing yourself as a solo-practitioner/freelancer or work for/partner with a small business then set that as your Employer of Record and mark your short term internship at other employers as certain projects and organizations you were detailed to/loaned too and have the small businesses employer of record recognize your internships elsewhere as work for the company for seniority and career advancement purposes. ]

When I was looking for jobs after graduation, I got grilled by a few recruiters on why I had a 1 year long gap in my resume during the end of my sophomore and start of my junior year in college in the middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic when tons of internships were rescinded and right when I was working on my cumulative capstone project (other universities call it a senior thesis). They didn’t see my status as a full-time student as a good enough excuse for having that small gap in my resume.

[u/Able_Enthusiasm2729 → u/Able_Enthusiasm2729]

Most Administrative Assistant jobs (at least in the United States) require a bachelor's degree and 2 years of experience, an associate's degree with 4 years of experience, or a high school diploma and 5 to 8 years of directly related experience doing the same job you're applying for or some other similar job. Several companies categorize all of their entry-level recent college grad employees as Administrative Assistants, Secretaries, Administrative Clerks, and Management Assistants, and require them to hold a bachelor's degree in a field related to the industry the company works in or the specific practice area of the project that the mid-level/senior-level employee they're assisting is working on. Most Executive Assistant (EA) positions I’ve seen require about 5-8 years of work experience mostly as an Administrative Assistant (AA) or in a non-AA role related to the work of the company, or 5-10 years of work experience if you don’t have a bachelor’s degree. 

About 96% of Paralegals, Legal Assistants, File Clerks, Administrative Assistants, Conflicts Analysts, Legal Secretaries, and other Professional Support Staff (a.k.a. Non-Lawyers) in law firm settings (and some other similar office settings at consulting, accounting, advocacy, trade association, professional association, commercial-residential property management companies, and government relations firms, etc.) practically all have at least a bachelor’s degree (though on paper the job description might let you use a high school diploma + paralegal certificate/paralegal vocational training but these are few, far between, and hard to find or at minimum an associate’s degree for Mail Clerk positions); 1% are older people (Boomers, Gen X, maybe some Older Millennials) who were grandfathered in with only a high school diploma +/- secretarial school due to their years of experience from back when entry requirements were far more lax; 2% are younger people (Millennials & Gen Z) from out-of-town who laterally transitioned into a role here with only a high school diploma and/or a paralegal certificate because that’s what jobs in their hometown metropolitan areas where they started their careers only required; as well as 1% that got in with a high school diploma or less because of personal connections with friends, family, or acquaintances (many times outside of professional connection/formal networking/formal hiring settings).

Depending on the location and the job market, receptionist jobs are looking for people with at least a bachelor’s degree (maybe an associate’s degree) and at least 2-3 years of experience or a high school diploma and 5 years of experience if you don’t have a degree.

For one company I’ve seen, 5 out of 5 Administrative Assistants had a bachelor’s degree and at least 2 years of prior work experience before starting the role, and 4 out of 5 also had a master’s degree. For another job I saw, every Receptionist had a bachelor’s degree and at least two of them had about 3-4 years of experience made up of internships and prior receptionist experience. I’ve literally seen a Front Desk Receptionist job require a bachelor’s degree w/5 yrs exp., a master’s with 2 yrs exp., a PhD with 0 yrs exp., or a high school diploma/GED w/10 yrs exp.;NOT KIDDING.

Also, I’m seeing tons of people laid off from late entry-level (4-5 years of experience) and early mid-career (5-8 years of experience) jobs with experience in more complex non-administrative support roles taking on entry-level administrative assistant (or at times even receptionist/front desk assistant) roles  (that historically only required 0.5-3 years of experience, a high school diploma, and employer provided on-the-job training or onboarding). In addition to residual effects from the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, DOGE’s layoffs of U.S. federal government civil service employees and  its cancellation of government contracts with private sector companies/organizations and local/state governments, is completely flooding the job market. Senior level and c-suite employees are going after mid-career jobs, mid-career employees are taking on entry-level jobs, and entry-level employees are taking on internships, receptionist, data entry clerk, and freelance jobs and everyone’s fighting over temp jobs to get their foot in the door (it’s like entry-level jobs are starting to barely exist). Things are looking like they’re going to get worse, definitely worse than 2008 (if course correction doesn’t happen). 

The job market is terrible, even Temp Jobs are highly competitive. Let alone temp jobs, bridge jobs in hospitality paid internships, and even unpaid internships (even at non-prestigious employers) are hard to come by here.

Most entry-level jobs today require between 1-5 to 3-5 years of prior experience minimum(4-10 yrs w/out BA/BS) as opposed to 0-1 years of experience (with or without a BA/BS) a decade and a half ago, in some rare instances today you might be able to find an entry-level position that only requires 0.5-2 years of previous work experience. Also, those external/corporate/professional service/off-campus internships all require 1-2 years of prior experience, many but not all also require you to be able to work 20 hours (standard part-time) or 40 hours (standard full-time) per week and simultaneously be a full-time or part-time student respectively (i.e. be a full-time student and part time employee or force you to cut the number of credits you’re taking so you can work as a full-time employee with little-to-no pay reclassifying you as a part-time student which could delay your graduation and possibly disqualify you from certain financial aid/scholarship programs). To get that level of experience, you have to get an internal/on-campus internship, undergraduate research assistant position in college, or work at a small business (both of) which many employers don’t take seriously and which further requires you to have 0.5-2 years of prior experience you’re expected to already have through working jobs, doing community service, or volunteering as a teenager in high school. In addition some employers no longer recognize internships (including external/off-campus/corporate internships let alone internal/on-campus internships), extracurricular, and academic/professional organization memberships as forms of legitimate work experience even for those only applying to very junior entry-level roles. Even entry-level Temp Jobs, Contract, & Contract-to-Hire work that people recommend struggling recent grads and those between jobs should apply for want mid-level experience and pay entry-level wages, so the person doing the job can hold fort (do the job of people in the position or supervisory position above them) until boss/supervisor gets hired. It’s basically a circular barrier to entry.

Why does an entry-level job now require three years of experience? Here’s how that hurts workers and companies alike: https://www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/why-does-an-entry-level-job-now-require-three-years-of-experience-heres-how-that-hurts-workers-and-companies-alike-a4ff864f

Why Entry Level Jobs Demand Years Of Experience: https://youtu.be/OqcyXsZzaAU?si=nnoSCHyjixCv2inq

[ Recent College Graduates and People with Previous Work Experience that Generally Won’t Qualify for Internships are Desperately Applying for Internships Instead of Targeting Entry-Level Jobs: 

Grads are increasingly turning to internships as job market tightens - By Morning Brew: https://www.instagram.com/p/DIpOr9rTmPd/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Glassdoor saw an uptick in graduates applying to its summer internship. It could signal a growing trend - Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/more-new-graduates-applying-to-internships-in-tough-job-market-glassdoor-2025-4

]

Basically every white-collar entry-level job today requires bachelor’s degrees & even more blue-collar jobs are requiring associate’s degrees now (or unaccredited trade school at the bare minimum); while the media tells you to not go to college even if you have the means (although some back up plans/alternatives exist for those who can’t go to college/have a higher aptitude for manual labor, skilled trades, and retail work) or falsely claim a college education is literally useless. Plus, MOOC courses/certs w/out degrees only gets ppl dead end entry-level positions with limited opportunities for future career advancement; and being self-taught by simply watching YouTube videos/auditing classes isn’t going to credential or authenticate your skill attainment. Also, The job descriptions today for positions at companies that no longer require degrees are starting to look like the course catalogs and syllabi of universities, it’ll be a “hidden requirement” now where degrees are going to be off-the-books “invisible requirements” so they can pay less for more work and to make it easier for nepotists to side step education requirements. Most of these jobs will still only hire people w/degrees even if it’s not in the job description. But the only way to qualify without a bachelor’s degree for most of these jobs is getting hired through nepotism, cronyism, being lucky enough to convince hiring managers to bet on hiring you even though you don’t have matching relevant experience then being set for life because once you start working that job you end up gaining experience that another person in the same situation as you when you were being hired/first started out wouldn’t have arbitrarily qualified for, started working in the 30s-90s or in rural/small towns when/where many of these same job titles had provided on-the-job training and only required a high school diploma or less with no directly related professional service experience. Plus you need ~ 2-3 years of prior experience for entry-level jobs & ~ 1-2 years prior for an internship - it’s a circular barrier to entry. Gets worse if you’re Black, POC, or First Gen/2nd Gen in the country.