A few weeks ago I sat down to count the open jobs across the startups in our corner of Arkansas, and I started to lose track.

That is worth holding next to the story everyone is telling about young people and work right now, which is a grim one. Postings for entry-level jobs are down by more than a third in three years, and the big companies have cut their hiring of new graduates roughly in half. The roles that used to be the first rung, the junior analyst, the assistant, the person doing the work nobody senior wanted, are the ones the newest tools do first.

That is true, and it is worth taking seriously by anyone giving advice right now. But it is only part of the story, and while those first rungs disappear, something else is being built in their place.

This week I made the case for it: why the best entry-level job right now might be at a startup, and why that is increasingly true far from the coasts.

Read the full piece here →