True, and also it's inflated role expectations: I doubt junior candidate civil engineers straight out of college are expected to have multiple finished bridge projects in some kind of portfolio. Entry level jobs are supposed to be entry level: You filter for education fundamentals, hire for aptitude and potential, and then they learn the industry tools and jargon on the job.
The problem is rather the expectation of the employers: No civil engineer is expected to build huge bridges in his free time.