I’ve been following this thread, because in short it really hits home with me. From a U.S. viewpoint however, as overseas you appear to actually HAVE some entry-level stuff open! So here in short is my view and what I’ve gone through.
Pre-recession:
I can certainly relate. I started looking for internships and any experience when I changed fields in grad school during the recession. The recession hit as I was in the middle of school and being within the midwest, entry level/Junior positions being wiped was certainly true. ALL positions and full studios were closing. I can remember the same studio openings prior to this crash, and yes, there was entry-level, junior and related openings. Afterwards, if you were not already solidly in, the door entry was certainly tightened up. Logic would state this was due to what happened. Fear of a similar crash resulted in a want for secure, trained and ready senior people. Weathered. Some likely already did this, but there were a few gems that didn’t.
Post-recession:
Now fast forward to today: It appears a transition has occurred. Not only within our field, but it does effect us more. On-the-job training within and out of this field has appeared to have been scrapped (Again, also outside of this field). A few surveys of recruiters have generally come to the conclusion most have Sales, Marketing, and Psychology backgrounds, which in the computer graphics and computer science industry, the consensus appears that it does not quite bode well for evaluating potential hires. At the moment with a surplus of applicants, this works more as crowd control then recruitment. I typically think of someone holding their foot at the base of a door to a building with a checklist of who may enter.
-One suggestion I’ve always thought, open a position up with a visible limit of what you can knowingly work through. Assess that list of applicants on a given timeline, and if none are found, re-open the list. But make it visibly known, transparent. Just a thought.-
Currently: Today I’ve been trying to continue contracting, typically outside of this field in web and related areas simply do to the unavailability of related work. I’ve also had to put my boots back on and head back to helping with construction. I don’t mind that work, but I went to school to avoid making it a career. I’ve also gone back, taken additional courses and training from places like RiggingDojo etc to keep up and add skills. In the end what I can say is, this really is out of the applicants hands. We can certainly continue to train, as we should, but if any changes are to happen with hiring junior or lower level applicants to train and retain, it is not in our current abilities to set such precedent.
Anyway, you are not alone. Just keep your head up and continue learning what you can. Bypass HR whenever possible, but be polite about it. Joining this is a great start, as is attending IGDA related events (If into gaming). One step I’ve taken more than once is to relocate to regions that support my field. I know I would not have worked at Bioware if I had not done this. Not sure if that is within your abilities, but something to think about.
Take care, and hope my story helped some -Trey