This.

“Entry-level” is employerese for, “a professional position for which we don’t want to pay a professional rate”.

Guessing from your username you’ve encountered plenty of hiring managers looking for someone with multiple years experience in their specific niche field on exactly the software they use…for their entry level position that they want to pay less than 2x minimum wage.

The last time I was job hunting, I thought there had to be a typo so I actually responded to an ad for a CAD drafter to fill an “entry level” position that they wanted ten years of experience to fill.

I had the experience, so I figured I’d see what was going on. Surely someone along the hiring pipeline had screwed something up

Nope!

They really wanted a CAD drafter with a decade of experience for their entry level position to work for like $14/hr.

When I told them how unrealistic that was, the response was something to the effect of “When we say entry level, we mean it as entry into our company. The pay may seem low but this will give you the opportunity to quickly earn raises as you take advantage of your employment in our great organization!”