When you have no work experience, what are people hiring in that specific area actually looking for?

I am a college student who is about to graduate with an engineering degree. I have no specific work experience. I have spent the last 6 months working super hard on a research project, which helped me gain experience with a specific software important in my field. I have also spent the last year teaching a programming language, which has helped me gain experience in that language, but that is about it. Pretty much everything else I know has applied in the classroom. <br><br>A lot of the job postings in my field require 3+ years of experience in the specific field, which makes sense given the fact that the job is usually doing a very specific task. I am also getting a lot of interview requests from recruiters and HR dept, but I find that when I get to the final interview stage, I am the only candidate who is still in school. I end up getting turned down, as they preferred to hire someone with more experience.<br><br>I know that I have to start somewhere, but it seems like a catch 22. I would be grateful for any feedback on this issue.