[cmarshall]

Getting your first job in a field can be a pain, if I had a dollar for every time I saw an ad for a graduate position that wanted experience that you could only get by already having a similar job, I'd have been able to retire early...

Companies look for experience since it demonstrates your ability, do you have a design portfolio, even if it's just mock up sites you've done in your own time to learn?

I've done a fair bit of hiring for the company I work at (unfortunately we're not hiring at the moment) and if a candidate with little experience can show us the kind of things they can build we regard it more highly than someone who has had a job for a year but hasn't shown much initiative beyond being given a task list and doing it.