What about internships? Are those people at good universities not doing internships, or do internships not count as experience? Don't companies hire interns?
Sample of 1... we hire interns across our organization every summer. HR, marketing, engineering, etc. And across our locations (US, India, Mexico). We make full-time offers to a decent number of them (not a majority, but more than a few).
And as a manager, I'd absolutely lean towards a recent graduate with some experience over no experience. My "success rate" for grads who have co-op experience (full-time job, often delays graduation by a semester or year) is the highest. Next would be those that had long-term part-time employment (university IT office, etc). Then basic internships. And last, no experience at all - and the "success rate" on them has been low enough I probably wouldn't chance hiring another one.
