<p>I'm having a hard time right now with my job search and internship hunt. I have been looking for internships in human resources since December but most of them are 45 minutes to an hour away and unpaid. Being that I support myself, I can't afford to work 40 hours for free even if it does look better on my resume.</p>
<p>I have had jobs in retail and serving but I know that is not going to get me hired. My question is, on most employer's websites or applications they require 3 to 5 years experience. I have had an internship doing research in the I/O psychology lab, but that's about it. Its more like 9 months of experience, not even close to 3 years. How do I land an entry level job without experience? I am willing to work my way up but there seems to be no place to start :/</p>
<p>Remember that job postings are for the ideal candidate. Often, if you’ve got all of the requirements for a posted job you can find a better one.</p>
<p>Jobs that require 3 to 5 years experience are, in general, not for new graduates. The majority of companies recruit new college graduates through on-campus recruitment. That is why your school’s career center is the best place for you to find an internship and your first job out of college. Do not give up hope for summer internships yet. You just have to keep on trying.</p>
<p>There are no recruitment representatives hiring for HR positions though, that’s why I am struggling. There are no internships or entry level positions listed at my schools career center related to HR. The people that recruit on campus are mostly for business, accounting, computer science and engineering majors. I keep striking out when I look for anything related to psychology.</p>
<p>On job boards all these positions are listed under entry level but when I click on the opportunity it states 3 to 5 years of experience. :/</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but you picked a major that’s not marketable at all, especially in this economy. Psychology is probably one of the most popular majors in US schools at this moment.</p>
<p>I can’t offer any advice other than “you should have majored in something involving more math”.</p>
<p>I don’t think it is only the psychology major. In this economy, you need, in no particular order:
Top name-brand school
High GPA - 3.5 or higher (both overall and major)
At least two field-relevant internships, and at least one of those with a name-brand firm
At least one high score on a widely reputable test (SAT, ACT, GRE, or GMAT)
Accounting, Finance, Computer Science, or Engineering major
Multiple strong leadership roles in multiple extracurricular and volunteer activities.
If CS or Engineering, at least one successful class capstone or extracurricular project.</p>
<p>If you do not have ALL of those, the job you get is owed to VERY hard work AND some luck. The more of those you don’t have, the luckier you are to get a job whenever you do.</p>
<p>^^ You’re being way too pessimistic. Even if you just had a gpa above the 3.0 mark, decent test score, 1 internship, and one of the majors you listed in 5 (you forgot math and physics btw), you will be fine. </p>
<p>Also, with a psychology degree you could become a psychologist or work for human resources. You also have the option of working as a counselor.</p>