Graduating, leaving school, or switching careers and entering a new job market can be challenging. This is made all the more tough by the fact that misleadingly, many ‘entry-level’ jobs actually require lots of work experience. With almost 10 million Brits job hunting at any moment, those with access to well-placed connections or the funds to work unpaid internships have the edge.
To find out how common it is for entry-level jobs to ask for professional experience, we analysed 49,082 job adverts for 43 popular entry-level jobs, using LinkedIn’s job board ‘entry-level’ filtering, across various industries to find out which jobs are the hardest to break into – and where to look to get your foot on the ladder.
Contents
Key findings:
- On average, 51.3% of ‘entry-level jobs’ required prior working experience.
- When stated, the average number of years of experience requested for an entry-level role was 2.7.
- The careers where prior experience was mentioned the most in entry-level listings were social workers (63.6%), paralegals (61.6%), and junior web developers (61.5%).
- The entry-level jobs most likely to not ask for prior experience were construction workers (29.8%), biomedical engineers (36.7%) and event planners (39.9%).
- Swansea was the worst city in the UK for entry-level jobs requesting years of experience (59.8%) whilst Belfast had the lowest portion of mislabeled entry-level job adverts (37.9%).
Which careers expect the most prior experience?
Compiling a list of the UK’s 43 most popular and best-paid entry-level job types, we found that overall 51.3% of entry-level job listings asked for prior experience. This means that for those looking for an entry-level job, over half of them will be demanding work experience.
Not every entry-level position asking for experience stated exactly how many years would be ideal. However, when they did, the average number of years of experience requested was 2.7 years, or over 32 months of work experience just to get your foot on the first rung of the career ladder. We think most would consider this a steep price of entry and is suggestive that ‘entry-level’ isn’t actually entry-level in the UK.
With that in mind, we wanted to know which jobs were most likely to ask for prior working experience.
The entry-level jobs most likely to require experience
Below are the top 10 jobs our data analysis found were most likely to ask for prior experience while being labelled as an ‘entry-level’ job.
| Rank | Job | How many entry-level job adverts asked for experience? | Average advertised salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Social worker | 63.6% | £35,299 |
| 2 | Paralegal | 61.6% | £26,717 |
| 3 | Junior web developer | 61.5% | £44,945 |
| 4 | Associate product manager | 59.2% | £50,757 |
| 5 | IT technician | 58.0% | £34,503 |
| 6 | Teaching assistant | 55.1% | £27,354 |
| 7 | Nurse | 55.0% | £30,565 |
| 8 | Junior software engineer | 54.1% | £48,302 |
| 9 | Computer programmer | 53.8% | £45,806 |
| 10 | Civil engineer | 52.8% | £39,813 |
One trend we can see here is that the average salaries in a number of these jobs are quite high for an entry-level role. That’s one indicator that the company is incorrectly labelling these jobs as ‘entry-level’, however, minimum salaries given to new employees will often be much lower anyway.
1. Social worker
Although a role with high job satisfaction, the job most likely to ask for prior job experience was social worker (63.6%). On average, entry-level job adverts for social workers asked for 2.6 years of previous experience.
The NHS states that training courses for social workers will all include some ‘practical work with clients and placements in social work settings’. This will help toward the 2.6 years of desired experience, but social workers in training are unlikely to have that much experience when applying for their first role. This high experience barrier to entry is unlikely to help the UK’s 2023 vacancy rate of 9.9% for social workers.
2. Paralegal
People looking for their first paralegal job in the UK should be aware that 61.6% of jobs they will see are demanding prior experience, averaging 2.2 years. That’s over 26 months of work experience the average entry-level paralegal job advert is requesting. For those looking to get that first step, the University of Law offers a range of ideas for getting legal experience including shadowing or voluntary work at Legal Advice Clinics among many others.
3. Junior web developer
Entry-level job listings for junior web developers were almost as misleading as paralegals, with 61.5% of job adverts for beginner developers demanding prior work experience. However, the number of years these job ads requested was 4.1 – the second highest in the research.
Asking someone to have 4 years of experience for an ‘entry-level’ role doesn’t seem too fair to us, but higher average salaries may mean these job ads are being missold as entry-level when actually they want someone established in their career. All this means for a web developer fresh to the career is that 6 in 10 adverts aren’t going to be relevant to their experience despite saying they are.
Entry-level jobs that ask for the greatest number of years experience
The table below reveals the jobs that were listed as entry-level on LinkedIn jobs and how many years of experience on average they requested. The data was filtered for only entry-level job positions, which is something a candidate would do when looking for a job to apply to.
“Entry-level no longer means the job is an entrance to that profession.”
| Rank | Job | Average years of experience | Average salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Associate product manager | 5 | £50,757 |
| 2 | Junior web developer | 4.11 | £44,945 |
| 3 | Biomedical engineer | 4.09 | £37,814 |
| 4 | Computer programmer | 3.52 | £45,806 |
| 5 | Event planner | 3.5 | £28,247 |
| 6 | Junior software engineer | 3.42 | £48,302 |
| 7 | Civil engineer | 3.24 | £39,813 |
| 8 | IT technician | 3.18 | £34,503 |
| 9 | Estate agent | 3.05 | £24,392 |
| 10 | Nurse | 2.71 | £30,565 |
The data here reveals there is a clear problem with UK job listings. Entry-level no longer means the job is an entrance to that profession. Asking a job applicant to have five years of experience to get into product management is not achievable and clearly, the job advert is for someone with mid-level experience, also reflected with the high average salary.
This just becomes another obstacle to someone trying to find their first job and establish themselves in their career.
The entry-level job market in different UK cities
To take this study further, the data reviewed the 49,000+ entry-level job listings in the biggest cities in the UK. This revealed that of the largest cities, Belfast had the lowest entry-level jobs demanding experience (37.9%) whereas Swansea had the highest with almost six in ten (59.8%) entry-level jobs requiring years of experience to get the job.
The worst cities for entry-level job applicants
Wales’ second biggest city, Swansea, had the highest percentage of entry-level jobs on offer that demanded previous work experience (59.8%), closely followed by Nottingham (55.7%), and Glasgow (54.3%).
In Swansea, customer service representative jobs were the worst culprits, with a huge 84% of job adverts claiming to be entry-level, while nursing jobs had more honesty, with a lower 45.6% requesting previous work experience.
The top five worst cities for mislabeling entry-level jobs were:
- Swansea (59.8%)
- Nottingham (55.7%)
- Glasgow (54.3%)
- Derby (54.2%)
- Birmingham (54.0%)
The best cities for entry-level job applicants
For those looking for genuine entry-level positions that don’t require experience and offer a fair entrance to a career, people should look to Belfast, which had only 37.9% of job listings requesting prior work experience.
The best job in Belfast for advertising actually entry-level positions was an event planner with just 13.6% of listings requesting prior experience, whereas 47% of customer service representative jobs in the city asked for experience, averaging 2.7 years.
Away from Northern Ireland, Bradford had the second lowest rate of false entry-level jobs (48.4%) but was still significantly higher than Belfast, indicating a wider problem in the UK and how companies handle entry-level job adverts.
In Bradford, sales representative jobs were the least likely to request prior work experience (37.3% of jobs), while paralegals in the city had a rate of 72.9% of entry-level jobs asking for work experience, averaging 2 years.
The five cities with the lowest rates of entry-level jobs requesting prior experience were:
- Belfast (37.9%)
- Bradford (48.4%)
- Manchester (48.4%)
- Leeds (48.6%)
- London (49.9%)
Which entry-level jobs were truly ‘entry-level’?
To find out which careers are the most accessible, and are least likely to look for prior experience in entry-level job listings, we also highlighted the roles which were least likely to ask for previous work experience.
Jobs that were least likely to ask for experience in entry-level job adverts
Most jobs requested experience in the study, so there were far fewer jobs that were least likely to ask for experience. Construction worker job adverts requested prior work experience 29.8% of the time, biomedical engineers 36.7% of the time, and event planners 39.9% of the time.
Considering these are the entry-level jobs least likely to ask for experience, it’s clear there’s a systemic problem with how jobs are advertised based on how high the percentages are in the table below.
| Rank | Job | How many entry-level job adverts asked for experience? | Minimum advertised salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Construction worker | 29.8% | £25,568 |
| 2 | Biomedical engineer | 36.7% | £37,814 |
| 3 | Event planner | 39.9% | £28,247 |
| 4 | Public relations (PR) assistant | 42.5% | £24,999 |
| 5 | Copywriter* | 42.6% | £50,432 |
*As a broader job title, this may include UX writers, marketing copywriters, technical copywriters, which all have differing average salaries. The jobs differ daily based on hiring trends.
Entry-level jobs requesting the fewest number of years of experience
When it came to jobs that requested the fewest years of experience, excluding those that asked for none, sales representatives had the lowest (1.31 years), followed by baristas (1.82 years), and customer service representatives (1.95 years).
| Rank | Job | Average years of experience | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sales representative | 1.31 | £28,187 |
| 2 | Barista | 1.82 | £20,654 |
| 3 | Customer service representative | 1.95 | £28,125 |
| 4 | Copywriter | 2 | £50,432 |
| 5 | Construction worker | 2 | £25,568 |
Tips for having the edge in the entry-level job market:
UK graduates today face an unemployment rate of 12%, just one reason making it hard to keep motivated and hopeful when job hunting – especially in more competitive industries. But there are options to gain an edge in the entry-level job market.
Here are a few of our top tips for landing that first entry-level job:
- Create a tailored CV: Study the jobs you are applying for, determine the most important requirements, and ensure your CV is reflecting them as much as possible ; selling yourself in the best way possible.
- Review career paths: You might find from your research of other people’s career paths that you don’t need to have a linear path to your dream role. Consider playing the long game and choosing a job in a related field with easier entry requirements. A five-year plan can help with motivation and understanding what you need to get out of each job before you move on.
- Get experience: As we can see, most entry-level jobs require experience, so you need to get experience through internships, volunteer work, or by doing it yourself. This could be writing a blog or taking an online course designed to build a portfolio in your field.
- Don’t burn yourself out: It’s tempting to try and apply to as many jobs as soon as possible but not only will this compromise the quality of your applications, but it could be detrimental to your mental health. Set yourself an achievable goal, like two well-researched and crafted applications a day or four hours of focused job hunting and consider appointing a friend or family member to keep you accountable to this goal.
Methodology
Note: This this study initially analysed job postings from December 2023, then was updated for March 2024 analysing jobs live at the end of February in more cities to get a larger dataset.
A total of 49,082 entry-level job adverts were scraped from Linkedin jobs and analysed 23/02/24 across the United Kingdom. Using LinkedIn’s ‘entry-level’ filter we searched for a range of job titles and filtered out all other job listings other than those labelled ‘entry-level’.
Using AI, we then analysed these job listings to see how many requested prior experience and, where relevant, how many years of experience they requested. Our bespoke tool used natural language processing to remove false positives such as “this job requires no experience” or “this is a job where you can gain lots of experience”. The data was then manually reviewed where required.
The 43 popular entry-level jobs were selected by using UK Indeed reports on the most common jobs, best-paid graduate jobs, and high-paying entry-level jobs. In addition to that, we also reviewed other sector reports on popular entry-level jobs.
The jobs analysed were: licensed practical nurse, public relations assistant, sales representative, administrator, event planner, junior software engineer, lab technician, data analyst, trainee solicitor, consultant, customer service representative, investment consultant, delivery driver, graphic designer, barista, it technician, dental nurse, marketing assistant, copywriter, nurse, analyst, junior web developer, civil engineer, petroleum engineer, business analyst, accountant, biomedical engineer, teacher, account manager, executive assistant, trainee recruiter, project manager, associate product manager, administrative assistant, waiter/waitress, teaching assistant, social worker, real estate agent, paralegal, editorial assistant, construction worker, mechanical engineer, computer programmer, graduate sales engineer.
Further reading: Apprenticeship statistics UK
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