—Michael Lyles, B1Daily

There may be no greater corporate contradiction than the “entry-level position requiring experience.”

Entry-level is supposed to mean the entrance.

Yet scroll through job listings and you’ll inevitably encounter employers seeking applicants with two, three or even five years of experience for positions marketed as entry-level.

At some point, lawmakers should ask an uncomfortable question:

Should employers even be allowed to call those jobs entry-level?

You Can’t Get Experience Without Being Allowed to Start

The problem is wonderfully absurd.

Employer: You need experience.

Applicant: How do I get experience?

Employer: Get a job.

Applicant: Can I have this job?

Employer: No. You don’t have experience.

Congratulations. Corporate America has invented the employment hamster wheel.

The people most disadvantaged are precisely those entry-level employment is theoretically supposed to serve: recent graduates, young adults, career changers and workers trying to reenter the workforce.

Requiring substantial prior experience doesn’t necessarily mean the requirement should literally become illegal. Employers have legitimate reasons to establish qualifications, and some supposedly junior positions genuinely require prior technical knowledge.

But governments could establish truth-in-advertising rules for job postings.

If an employer requires three years of professional experience, fine.

Just don’t call the position entry-level.

Create a Legal Definition of “Entry-Level”

A more practical reform would be defining what employers can advertise as an entry-level position.

Jobs carrying that label could be prohibited from requiring previous employment in the same occupation, while employers could still require degrees, certifications or demonstrable technical skills when genuinely necessary.

Companies wanting experienced workers could simply advertise positions as experienced, intermediate or mid-level.

No hiring mandate.

No requirement that companies employ unqualified applicants.

Just linguistic honesty.

Because “entry-level, three years experience required” belongs in the same linguistic dumpster as “unpaid opportunity” and “competitive salary: $14 an hour.”

America constantly tells young people to work.

Perhaps employers should occasionally provide somewhere for them to start.

—Michael Lyles, B1Daily