In a boom market when there are more jobs that qualified applicants, industry finds it needs to do more to retain skilled staff (or should do, but often don't) and need also to take on applicants with less experience and bring them on.
In a depressed market engineers with lots of relevant experience are chasing fewer jobs and can be had at fire sale prices - but note that employers are often wary of applicants with too much experience as they doubt they will do more than come in out of the rain and then move on the moment times are better, though this may suit them too.
So though it is definitely the case that HR often prove to be morons, in this case it is irrelevant to the real world market conditions.
So, what to do:
First rule: You don't ask, you don't get.
Think about it, the published job spec is a wish list.
It often defines the ideal (and non-existent) candidate and as often as not describes the guy that just left, and not the candidates they will actually see. The qualifications and the job will often turn out to be quite different to that which was advertised.
So there will be some element of trade off between what they want and what they can get.
There is nothing to prevent you applying for these jobs even where you don't present an exact match. You may lack the necessary experience, some one else may be too old, too stupid, too set in his ways, too expensive etc, etc.
You will need to have some attention getter that will interest them enough to give you a first interview, even if it is just for the heck of it, and then its up to you.
"I don't have the experience you are looking for but this is the area that interested me most and where I was especially successful in my studies and I studied at XYZ with Prof M which I think is especially relevant."
To get experience you may have to reduce your expectations for that first job, something I know most graduates are very reluctant to do, but welcome to the real world.
Chances are that if you see a job spec that exactly describes you, the person they hire will not be you but someone more qualified who will do it for the same money or someone less qualified who will work for less.
You need to chose the jobs that interest you and apply anyway.
Rule two: You have nothing to lose by aiming high.
JMW
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lease see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.