An entry-level job is supposed to be an early stepping stone on your career path. However, while some positions may seem like a good idea on paper, people who've actually held them would say otherwise.
Recently, I asked the BuzzFeed Community which entry-level jobs they'd advise other people against pursuing.
1. "It might sound odd, but I would say working in a library! I worked in libraries from 16–22, and I lost count of the amount of times I was cornered by older men in dark corners where there was no one else around and no cameras."
"I once had a man harass me to model photos for him when I was 17, and he came way into my personal space. At the time, it was just me and this 20-year-old guy working. I literally ran away from the creep to find my male colleague, as I was so scared. My colleague went absolutely ballistic at this guy to get out and not come back. I hate to think what would have happened if my colleague hadn't been there."
2. "Any kind of care work. Long, unsociable hours, very little pay, and constant physical/verbal abuse from the people in your care make for a horrible job that leaves you a shell if you do it when you're really young."
"I went into a care position wanting to help people and give them a new lease on life, but I left after a year wanting to burn down the building with everyone inside. You're basically cannon fodder until someone more qualified like a therapist or doctor gets there, which can take months."
3. "I subbed for years at schools while I was studying to get an education degree. The pay does suck. It sucks so bad."
"I did the math, and I could've worked part-time somewhere else and made more money."
4. "Working in a bank is glorified customer service, and the interest upper management has to promote is minimal. Unless there are branches nearby that you can transfer to or you are able to move to another location AND those locations are actually hiring and not in the process of saying they're overstaffed and aren't replacing the people leaving, maybe you might get to make a lateral move."
"Being a teller, in most instances, is the same as being a banker, who are also typically loan officers. Maybe some banks have a hierarchy in that way."
5. "Business development representative. Worst four months of my life, cold calling people and getting constantly rejected and yelled at for doing my job."
"Add on unrealistic goals and low pay. I am now phone shy and would rather send 10 emails than make one phone call."
6. "I worked as a city carrier assistant for USPS. Most toxic work environment I've ever been in. The job itself wasn't bad, but it was management that made things so horrible."
"My station manager was the worst boss I've ever had. I worked 11 days in a row when I started. Everyone was constantly screamed at, cussed at, and belittled."
7. "I'd advise against going specifically into a payroll position. If it doesn't get outsourced, it's among the first jobs to go when things get bad for a company or industry, along with HR and recruiting."
"If there are widespread layoffs (as is happening now in many industries), they won't need as many people for payroll, and they'll cut costs as much as possible."
8. "Hotel front desk. I did this job in college and went from associate to assistant manager, and the pay was absolute garbage for what you have to deal with (I was also one of the lower paid manager positions in the hotel). I had some amazing guests but also some really terrible ones...pageant parents and travel hockey/soccer team parents are officially the worst."
"I was glad to have the job at the time, and it's certainly not the worst thing you can do, but it's not the most lucrative career unless you're at a large hotel in a large city."
9. "I did AmeriCorps twice. Can't un-recommend it enough. They pay far below minimum wage, so you have to come in to it already wealthy or with a lot of savings. Almost nobody gets hired into a real job at the end."
"You also sometimes have to do dangerous work, and if you get hurt, they don't compensate with worker's comp like almost all other US companies have. The program should be massively overhauled, and if they won't do that soon, then politicians should abolish it."
10. "A chain drugstore. A perfect combination of boredom, drudgery, petty situations, repetition, back pain, lack of progression, memorization of reams of information utterly useless outside of the building, and total lack of meaning."
11. "I'd actually advise against getting a call center job unless you're certain you'll be able to leave it quickly. Once you're in, it's very hard to be seen as valuable for anything else."
"I had a call center job and wasn't even a phone agent for the majority of my time (we had internal workers there to do processing), and when I'd interview for other office jobs at other companies, a few times they declined me for the job I wanted, but offered me an interview for the phone customer service job."
12. "I absolutely do not recommend Amazon delivery driver to anyone. My boyfriend was a delivery driver for almost two years, and it is criminal how they treat their drivers. He was making $17 an hour, worked 12-hour days, 6 days a week, and was discouraged from taking breaks, not to mention the weather conditions he had to work in, and they were constantly understaffed due to poor working conditions and asinine expectations."
"It is not worth it. Don't do it."
13. And finally: "Sales. It's very difficult, and you won't make money for a while, especially when you consider that a lot of companies try to hide the fact that the listing is a sales position, which usually means they know people don't actually want it."
"The hours are usually long, too."
What entry-level job have you had that you would advise others not to apply for? Why? Share your answers in the comments!
Some entries have been edited for length/clarity.