Employee travels 1700 miles for new job, is laid off after 1 month for not having enough experience in an entry-level position: 'How are young people supposed to make it in this world?'

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JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Nov 10, 2026 3:15 PM EST

Do you need any experience to start at an entry-level position?

When you're just starting out, there is so much to learn. This can feel obvious, but some jobs treat you like you are already supposed to know everything. That's just not the way it works. You need to be trained for every job. Even if you're coming in with some experience, every role is different, and every team has expectations. There's always going to be an adjustment period, and that should be expected. If you're never properly trained, then how can you know what to do? You weren't born knowing everything. But it seems today that companies expect workers who are just starting out to already have it all figured out. This not only keeps potentially good employees away, but it puts the ones you hire at risk as well. That's what the employee in this story was dealing with when he moved across the country to start a new job. And his experience is not uncommon. The World Economic Forum reports that "Entry-level job postings have fallen by 29 percentage points since January 2024." There are fewer entry-level jobs than there have been before, which doesn't make much sense given all the advancements in technology and all the space for change that those companies pretend to offer. But if there are no entry-level jobs, then how are you supposed to start in the first place? And if you need experience even for that entry-level job, then how are you supposed to launch a career?

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  • A man carrying his office supplies out of the building after being laid off
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    Individual pictured is a model used for illustrative purposes.


    A man carrying his office supplies out of the building after being laid off

  • Laid off for "not having enough experience" in entry-level role.

    Traveled 1700 miles for this job. Moved halfway across the country. Finally got a job with decent pay and benefits. The work is out in a rural area. The moment I got there, I saw my co-workers. All older men, mostly boomers and a few Gen X. Bad
    via u/Thepopethroway
  • sign. On the job I find nobody wants to train me -- they expect me to know full well what we're doing despite it being an entry- level position. I do my best to learn through osmosis. Clearly my lack of omniscience bothers them.
    via u/Thepopethroway
  • They go out to the bar after work and invite me to come. I don't drink (alcoholism problems) After this, most of them still put up a facade of being sociable, but the mood has changed. I
    via u/Thepopethroway
  • come to hear they've been s talking me to the boss behind my back. Saying that I'm "not learning fast enough" despite literally ALL of them refusing to train me on any aspect of the job. On Tuesday, an older gentlemen shows up on the job. Apparently has 20 years of experience. Suddenly nobody will talk to me. On Friday I'm laid off, after little over a month of working for them.
    via u/Thepopethroway
  • Now I'm stuck halfway across the country. Left all my friends, family, and life behind. Only a few thousand in savings. Stuck with a lease and a car payment in the middle of nowhere. Tossed aside like trash, all so a boomer can get his.
    via u/Thepopethroway
  • How are young people supposed to make it in this world? Every thing seems geared to keep us down and out. We're never given a chance. I don't know whether to feel depr sed or rage. It all seems so utterly futile and hopeless.
    via u/Thepopethroway

  • It feels like it's harder than ever to join the workforce in earnest. A college degree doesn't mean as much as it used to, and Gen Z are scrambling to get footholds in industries that are mostly contracting. But this happens in small ways too, like what happened to this young worker. They put all their eggs in the basket of a new job, but when they got there, things were a little different than they had imagined. They were expecting that someone was going to train them and take them under their wing, given that it was an entry-level job. It turned out, though, that they expected them to already know how to do their job. As an entry-level worker, this is extremely frustrating. If nobody is going to train you, then how can you ever progress? Keep scrolling to read what happened here and let us know what you think.

  • A man carries his belongings out of his office after being let go
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    Image depicted solely for explanatory purposes.


    A man carries his belongings out of his office after being let go

  • Commenters gave their sympathy and advice.

    midnghtsnac Welcome to the st millennials have been dealing with. Entry level job but requires 5 years experience It's only gotten worse over the years and it'll continue to get worse as long as boomers and Gen X are allowed to keep pulling the rug out from under society.
    via u/Thepopethroway
  • jcoddinc How are going people supposed to make it in this world? You aren't. The system has been redesigned so that only the wealthy people will be prosperous. They don't want people to have a comfortable life because it isn't going to provide the oligarchs with more money.
    via u/Thepopethroway
  • _borT I think skipping out on social hour is what cost you. Once you did that, I'm sure they all decided that you thought you were better than them.
    via u/Thepopethroway
  • I had a manager like that - | was very transparent that I'd be looking for a job that utilizes my degree and would leave if I found one (grocery store job just to make money). He would always drop passive aggressive comments on how maybe I'll at least hire him on as the janitor when I make it big.
    via u/Thepopethroway
  • He tried to add me on LinkedIn a few times and kept creeping once I left lol. That generation gets very bu hurt by people with boundaries.
    via u/Thepopethroway
  • MatrixLLC as a boomer i'm ashamed this is how you were treated; in my entire life i've never dared do anything like this to someone new on the job
    via u/Thepopethroway
  • others have suggested you may have legal recourse - try to determine if this is true, if only it means you can force them to pay for all your costs to move there - they refused training when it was part of the job i'm hoping compensation is possible. you can also try to find out if you can force them to pay for your return back home - costs to break your lease, car costs, etc
    via u/Thepopethroway
  • anything at all i'm very sorry this has happened to you if after discussions with a lawyer there's nothing legally you can do then write a clear brief summary of what they did to you,
    via u/Thepopethroway
  • including your costs, and post it on glassdoor, their google reviews, linkedin, anywhere and everywhere, so ppl will see what they did
    via u/Thepopethroway
  • Hexent_Armana I've always hated boomers in the workplace. Everyone younger than them is lazy and entitled whether any of us like it or not. You could literally be doing 90% of the work, keep up unrealistic and unnecessary social expectations, and be the perfect employee but they'll
    via u/Thepopethroway
  • still have their circle jerks with the manager about how useless and entitled you are. Which is ironic because most of them are far past their prime and couldn't work as hard as the younger generations even if they tried. The hardest you're likely to see a boomer work is when they try to do the required mental gymnastic
    via u/Thepopethroway
  • to maintain their belife that they're not little more leeches holding society back and need to retire or become Walmart Greeters.
    via u/Thepopethroway
  • Not_Neville In the 90s I had a Baskin Robins job. I kept asking to be put on register so I could learn register - they kept saying later - about two weeks later they put on register and fire me that day hecause I'd been there two weeks and still hadn't learned register.
    via u/Thepopethroway

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boss antiwork workplace-stories toxic-workplace job bosses work coworkers working toxic-boss workplace bad bosses toxic-work-environment
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