[bowlofpetunias]

I get offered and x-number of juniors per month. I don't need to advertise for inexperienced juniors. And most of them come via internships anyway. As a consequence, I don't spend money or effort advertising junior positions.

Average Joe needs to be more pro-active in selling himself to companies he wants to work for. Job postings in general are more a description of an ideal than a list of cold hard requirements. What he has to do is decide if the future version of him wants to match that description and sell the shit out of that.

From what I gather, Joe has been applying to exactly the wrong job postings, those that look for people fresh out of school and select on grades.

Also, you know all that experience and those technologies listed in those job postings? We know you don't learn that shit in class. We certainly didn't. So if you read between the lines, you'll see the real #1 criteria: be pro-active and never stop learning.

Despite all the HR horror stories, expect most hiring managers to be able to tell the difference between "I've had two years experience with X because my last boss made us do it" and "I've spend the last two months teaching myself X because it is awesome". Guess which most of us prefer.

Average Joe needs to grow some balls to break into the industry. Most professions have it way worse. Try talking to an actor.