DS does not want to work after college graduation. WWYD?

[Anonymous]

I'd work for a year or two, save money and take a career break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd work for a year or two, save money and take a career break.

Will have a huge gap in resumé

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t feel comfortable with my child doing this. He’d have a gap on his resume for no legitimate reason (sorry, traveling the world doesn’t quantify). As an employer, I’d have reservations about hiring a recent grad who wanted to delay working for a year so that he could travel. I’d assume he wasn’t serious about employment. Savings of $25 isn’t much when you consider down payments, retirement and rainy day funds.

That said, maybe he can delay the start date a month and use that time to travel. That’s much more reasonable IMO.

How many college students do you know have 25K, of their own money, in the bank at the time of graduation? We're not not talking about trust fund students or students with rich parents here.

OP said her son has a full scholarship with a stipend. Add in internships & that amount of savings makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pack light and have fun

+1.

Agree this makes him a more intriguing candidate to the right employer.

Not only that, but the personal growth from charting his own path will pay dividends for his confidence and autonomy.

Very curious what employers value “tourist” over currently employed? It’s not like he’s joining the peace corp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. In many fields, and many graduate programs, he would have a competitive edge over other candidates with one year of work experience or directly out of school. Perhaps not if you were on his interview panel, but every panel I’ve been on, especially recently, has valued diversity of experience. The life experience and independence he will gain from traveling alone in foreign countries cannot be matched by anything he would accomplish in the office. He graduated from college in 3 years with merit aid. He has demonstrated he has the aptitude and ability to do the work and achieve excellent results. The kind of travel he’s talking about will only enhance his already stellar resume.

OP here.  Funny that my DS said almost the same thing you said above.  He always reminds potential employers that he graduated in three years on a 100% scholarship, room, board, and stipend.  He also reminds them he did two internships in his freshman and sophomore years, the first one with a startup and the 2nd one with Qualcom, and 25K in savings from those two internships.  He told me and my DW not to worry but as parents, I am always worried given the current economic situation.  

OP, your DS sounds like a highly motivated, self driven man. A compromise might be to try having a 3 month vacation, and if he still thinks he wants to do 1 yr, then so be it. He has his whole life to work, and he sounds burnt out, worst thing he could do is to jump in on a job that he does not want to do right after school, he'll end up just cruising along because he does not have that fire in his belly and this will most likely make him feel like a failure and break his self esteem.

[Anonymous]

Why exactly did he look, apply and interview for employment he was not interested in? I am all in for a year of service (Peace Core, etc), but a year of vacation? Obviously, it is his choice. Ask him where he plans to store his belongings after graduation.

[Anonymous]

Stay an extra year at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:but many HR systems screen automatically for currently employed. He has got the chance to sell himself to employers now because he’s part of the college hiring apparatus — when he is cold applying to jobs how will he spin his tale of wow? Cover letter ;P

I work in the Financial service sector, data science and software development division. There are 30 engineers in the group and 16 of them graduated college early. Half of those that graduated from college early took a gap year to travel around the world before jumping into a meat grinder known as professional jobs. They are 25 years old or younger. Apparently that didn't hurt them with their professional careers. They are very sharp and productive. I asked them how they were able to get hired at this great company and there is a common theme among all of them. They got hired through referrals by people they met on software forums, software meetup groups, and technology conferences. None of them had ever submitted resumes through HR. Sending resumes to HR is a foreign concept to them.

OP's kid seems to fit that mold so he will have no problem getting a job after taking the gap year to travel and refuel himself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:but many HR systems screen automatically for currently employed. He has got the chance to sell himself to employers now because he’s part of the college hiring apparatus — when he is cold applying to jobs how will he spin his tale of wow? Cover letter ;P

I work in the Financial service sector, data science and software development division. There are 30 engineers in the group and 16 of them graduated college early. Half of those that graduated from college early took a gap year to travel around the world before jumping into a meat grinder known as professional jobs. They are 25 years old or younger. Apparently that didn't hurt them with their professional careers. They are very sharp and productive. I asked them how they were able to get hired at this great company and there is a common theme among all of them. They got hired through referrals by people they met on software forums, software meetup groups, and technology conferences. None of them had ever submitted resumes through HR. Sending resumes to HR is a foreign concept to them.

OP's kid seems to fit that mold so he will have no problem getting a job after taking the gap year to travel and refuel himself.

That job market is over have you not been paying attention to tech?

Yes I’m sure OP done is familiar with Blind and Hacker News

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:but many HR systems screen automatically for currently employed. He has got the chance to sell himself to employers now because he’s part of the college hiring apparatus — when he is cold applying to jobs how will he spin his tale of wow? Cover letter ;P

I work in the Financial service sector, data science and software development division. There are 30 engineers in the group and 16 of them graduated college early. Half of those that graduated from college early took a gap year to travel around the world before jumping into a meat grinder known as professional jobs. They are 25 years old or younger. Apparently that didn't hurt them with their professional careers. They are very sharp and productive. I asked them how they were able to get hired at this great company and there is a common theme among all of them. They got hired through referrals by people they met on software forums, software meetup groups, and technology conferences. None of them had ever submitted resumes through HR. Sending resumes to HR is a foreign concept to them.

OP's kid seems to fit that mold so he will have no problem getting a job after taking the gap year to travel and refuel himself.

That job market is over have you not been paying attention to tech?

Yes I’m sure OP done is familiar with Blind and Hacker News

You're such a fear monger. I work in the tech sector and I think I know this space. The tech sector is not as bad as you think it is. In other words, recent grads are not going to get 150K salary with 50K signing bonus but there are plenty of 100K - 110K salary jobs. In the cyber security tech sector, we're still hiring and still in very high demand. In the DMV, there are plenty of tech job openings, especially in the gov. contractors space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:but many HR systems screen automatically for currently employed. He has got the chance to sell himself to employers now because he’s part of the college hiring apparatus — when he is cold applying to jobs how will he spin his tale of wow? Cover letter ;P

I work in the Financial service sector, data science and software development division. There are 30 engineers in the group and 16 of them graduated college early. Half of those that graduated from college early took a gap year to travel around the world before jumping into a meat grinder known as professional jobs. They are 25 years old or younger. Apparently that didn't hurt them with their professional careers. They are very sharp and productive. I asked them how they were able to get hired at this great company and there is a common theme among all of them. They got hired through referrals by people they met on software forums, software meetup groups, and technology conferences. None of them had ever submitted resumes through HR. Sending resumes to HR is a foreign concept to them.

OP's kid seems to fit that mold so he will have no problem getting a job after taking the gap year to travel and refuel himself.

That job market is over have you not been paying attention to tech?

Yes I’m sure OP done is familiar with Blind and Hacker News

You're such a fear monger. I work in the tech sector and I think I know this space. The tech sector is not as bad as you think it is. In other words, recent grads are not going to get 150K salary with 50K signing bonus but there are plenty of 100K - 110K salary jobs. In the cyber security tech sector, we're still hiring and still in very high demand. In the DMV, there are plenty of tech job openings, especially in the gov. contractors space.

I'm a fear monger because I'm like OP -- I came from a lower middle class family that couldn't pay my rent or connect me with a job during a recession, so i've always stayed employed.

The tech slow down is JUST beginning. Are you paying attention to rates, VC funding, and zombie startups? They are all burning runway, that's why SVB got into trouble (not just because of the HTM treasury bonds drop in value -- they only needed to redeem them because startups are burning cash b/c less VC funding and so few are actually profitable).

A year from now, we'll likely see commercial real estate knee cap the economy and maybe a bunch of banks. Sure you can never predict the future, but this kid is basically counting on a blistering hot job market to give him a pass for his unemployed year with zero safety net.

Again, if he was that good a candidate, he could negotiate a late start -- sorry for rock stars companies will wait.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a fear monger because I'm like OP -- I came from a lower middle class family that couldn't pay my rent or connect me with a job during a recession, so i've always stayed employed.

The tech slow down is JUST beginning. Are you paying attention to rates, VC funding, and zombie startups? They are all burning runway, that's why SVB got into trouble (not just because of the HTM treasury bonds drop in value -- they only needed to redeem them because startups are burning cash b/c less VC funding and so few are actually profitable).

A year from now, we'll likely see commercial real estate knee cap the economy and maybe a bunch of banks. Sure you can never predict the future, but this kid is basically counting on a blistering hot job market to give him a pass for his unemployed year with zero safety net.

Again, if he was that good a candidate, he could negotiate a late start -- sorry for rock stars companies will wait.

How do you explain the cyber security sector is still in such high demand? This sector was also in extremely high demand during the 2008 great recession. I remembered changing jobs in Jun 2008 from one company to another for a 25K raise. How do you explain that? If you're smart, capable and have the demanding skill set, you will have no problem getting a job. Your thinking is so outdated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a fear monger because I'm like OP -- I came from a lower middle class family that couldn't pay my rent or connect me with a job during a recession, so i've always stayed employed.

The tech slow down is JUST beginning. Are you paying attention to rates, VC funding, and zombie startups? They are all burning runway, that's why SVB got into trouble (not just because of the HTM treasury bonds drop in value -- they only needed to redeem them because startups are burning cash b/c less VC funding and so few are actually profitable).

A year from now, we'll likely see commercial real estate knee cap the economy and maybe a bunch of banks. Sure you can never predict the future, but this kid is basically counting on a blistering hot job market to give him a pass for his unemployed year with zero safety net.

Again, if he was that good a candidate, he could negotiate a late start -- sorry for rock stars companies will wait.

How do you explain the cyber security sector is still in such high demand? This sector was also in extremely high demand during the 2008 great recession. I remembered changing jobs in Jun 2008 from one company to another for a 25K raise. How do you explain that? If you're smart, capable and have the demanding skill set, you will have no problem getting a job. Your thinking is so outdated.

Haha, I was actually going to address that cybersecurity is more in demand, largely because a huge market from government and similar entities. Recent breaches help bolster the demand.

So if OPs son is specifically in cybersecurity he could be okay. But sure, keep narrowing the parameters for his unicorn job.

We don't even know what role this kid has at the startups, he could be social media specialist for all we know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a fear monger because I'm like OP -- I came from a lower middle class family that couldn't pay my rent or connect me with a job during a recession, so i've always stayed employed.

The tech slow down is JUST beginning. Are you paying attention to rates, VC funding, and zombie startups? They are all burning runway, that's why SVB got into trouble (not just because of the HTM treasury bonds drop in value -- they only needed to redeem them because startups are burning cash b/c less VC funding and so few are actually profitable).

A year from now, we'll likely see commercial real estate knee cap the economy and maybe a bunch of banks. Sure you can never predict the future, but this kid is basically counting on a blistering hot job market to give him a pass for his unemployed year with zero safety net.

Again, if he was that good a candidate, he could negotiate a late start -- sorry for rock stars companies will wait.

How do you explain the cyber security sector is still in such high demand? This sector was also in extremely high demand during the 2008 great recession. I remembered changing jobs in Jun 2008 from one company to another for a 25K raise. How do you explain that? If you're smart, capable and have the demanding skill set, you will have no problem getting a job. Your thinking is so outdated.

????? Hackers are getting more & more sophisticated, and we’ve apparently decided to do just about everything digitally.

[Anonymous]

OPs son should see the world, this will be a chance to see a once in a lifetime global recession up close and in person!

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/11/imf-world-economic-outlook-april-2023-weak-growth-forecasts-inflation-high-until-2025.html