My kid has a master's in public administration but is unemployed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:State or local government but he can't act like he's too good for that. We can smell that attitude from a mile away.

Govtjobs dot com or other source? He’s talked to his supervisor from his college internship at a city job.

Where does he want to be? Look up the hr websites for those jurisdictions. Find alumni in those places and reach out for informational interviews.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hmm. Many of these careers start out as internships or fellows in local government. I assume he has pursued that?

He can't afford an internship, and he's 24, not a kid.

But he can afford unemployment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hmm. Many of these careers start out as internships or fellows in local government. I assume he has pursued that?

He can't afford an internship, and he's 24, not a kid.

But he can afford unemployment?

His parents are supporting him, so yes. He’s probably living better now than he would if he was on his own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hmm. Many of these careers start out as internships or fellows in local government. I assume he has pursued that?

He can't afford an internship, and he's 24, not a kid.

But he can afford unemployment?

His parents are supporting him, so yes. He’s probably living better now than he would if he was on his own.

he can't live with them and pursue an internship? and get some experience. I assumed they were in the DC area where there are many internships and he could live at home. but I have no idea of OPs situation

[Anonymous]

https://workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/default/mdf/recruitment/recruitment.html?cid=40cbdfa2-7e40-4c34-a848-d9f9c7c13663&ccId=19000101_000001&lang=en_US&jobId=467185

[Anonymous]

https://us232.dayforcehcm.com/CandidatePortal/en-US/ncmec

[Anonymous]

https://workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/default/mdf/recruitment/recruitment.html?cid=1c855259-2e9a-41b6-bae7-a5e5db263080&ccId=19000101_000001&type=MP&lang=en_US&selectedMenuKey=CareerCenter&jobId=518112


https://us232.dayforcehcm.com/CandidatePortal/en-US/ncmec/Site/INTERN

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it too late for him to apply to PMF, presidential management fellow? Google.

Sorry but he likely needs to intern. Some internships pay now, at least minimum wage.

I hope you are not paying for extras for him and that you are not doing his laundry etc.

Yes we are covering all his expenses, car, healthcare and sometimes even his laundry. Both his father and I have drive. What a spoiled lazy egghead it appears we’ve raised

I don’t know if you can jump to that conclusion when you say his dad “thinks he’s too good to go back to service industry!” Are you giving him mixed messages? Is the goal to find the right/best career step or just start making $$? I agree that you are way too involved and it’s fine to set a “we need you to contribute xx to household expenses by this date” and then stay out of how he does that.

He may need to find a paid internship or be underemployed and live at home a little longer, getting a masters without significant work experience does not pan out well for many people, they come out looking for the same entry level roles and internships that they would have sought prior to the masters.

Thank you. Yes PMF deadline was September, and he claims he didn't find out about it until October. It's hard and puzzling to me to have a child who is very bright, got amazing grades, but is unable to monetize his education. What's the point of getting high grades in college if you don't do something with them? Very confusing.

some people are just pure academics, and don't/can't do much else, including figuring out common sense things.

I don't think the PMF has a strict deadline does it? Anyway, it's hard to get a job via that route anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hmm. Many of these careers start out as internships or fellows in local government. I assume he has pursued that?

He can't afford an internship, and he's 24, not a kid.

I don't even know what this means. He's got to do whatever it takes. No wonder he ended up where he ended up.

It means I don't want to support him financially for a year or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it too late for him to apply to PMF, presidential management fellow? Google.

Sorry but he likely needs to intern. Some internships pay now, at least minimum wage.

I hope you are not paying for extras for him and that you are not doing his laundry etc.

Yes we are covering all his expenses, car, healthcare and sometimes even his laundry. Both his father and I have drive. What a spoiled lazy egghead it appears we’ve raised

I don’t know if you can jump to that conclusion when you say his dad “thinks he’s too good to go back to service industry!” Are you giving him mixed messages? Is the goal to find the right/best career step or just start making $$? I agree that you are way too involved and it’s fine to set a “we need you to contribute xx to household expenses by this date” and then stay out of how he does that.

He may need to find a paid internship or be underemployed and live at home a little longer, getting a masters without significant work experience does not pan out well for many people, they come out looking for the same entry level roles and internships that they would have sought prior to the masters.

Thank you. Yes PMF deadline was September, and he claims he didn't find out about it until October. It's hard and puzzling to me to have a child who is very bright, got amazing grades, but is unable to monetize his education. What's the point of getting high grades in college if you don't do something with them? Very confusing.

some people are just pure academics, and don't/can't do much else, including figuring out common sense things.

I don't think the PMF has a strict deadline does it? Anyway, it's hard to get a job via that route anyway.

DP. You have to be nominated by the Dean of your school to apply for the PMF program, and I'm pretty sure schools are limited in how many candidates they can nominate. But once you're in, finding a job isn't terribly difficult.

--former PMF who works with current PMFs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it too late for him to apply to PMF, presidential management fellow? Google.

Sorry but he likely needs to intern. Some internships pay now, at least minimum wage.

I hope you are not paying for extras for him and that you are not doing his laundry etc.

Yes we are covering all his expenses, car, healthcare and sometimes even his laundry. Both his father and I have drive. What a spoiled lazy egghead it appears we’ve raised

I don’t know if you can jump to that conclusion when you say his dad “thinks he’s too good to go back to service industry!” Are you giving him mixed messages? Is the goal to find the right/best career step or just start making $$? I agree that you are way too involved and it’s fine to set a “we need you to contribute xx to household expenses by this date” and then stay out of how he does that.

He may need to find a paid internship or be underemployed and live at home a little longer, getting a masters without significant work experience does not pan out well for many people, they come out looking for the same entry level roles and internships that they would have sought prior to the masters.

Thank you. Yes PMF deadline was September, and he claims he didn't find out about it until October. It's hard and puzzling to me to have a child who is very bright, got amazing grades, but is unable to monetize his education. What's the point of getting high grades in college if you don't do something with them? Very confusing.

some people are just pure academics, and don't/can't do much else, including figuring out common sense things.

I don't think the PMF has a strict deadline does it? Anyway, it's hard to get a job via that route anyway.

DP. You have to be nominated by the Dean of your school to apply for the PMF program, and I'm pretty sure schools are limited in how many candidates they can nominate. But once you're in, finding a job isn't terribly difficult.

--former PMF who works with current PMFs

How long ago were you PMF? When I was a PMF in 2001, 66% of those selected got a job. Now, it's less than 10%. They removed the caps on the number of applicants for each school.

[Anonymous]

Don't panic just yet, four months is not a long time, now if this was 6-12 months then yeah go ahead and panic.

The one mistake he did thiugh was getting that MPA from Northwestern, which a) seems to be part of Profesional and also online option so that could be frowned down upon in his case and b) doing an MPA outside of DC (ie he should have gone to either Georgetown, GW, or maybe AU,although I personally feel AU is a meh school but seperate point). The issue is that an MPA is not that marketable of a degree and has low ROI (and this is coming from someone with an MPP, who also got it straight out of undergrad). If free fine, but if have to pay for it, no thank you.

That being said he needs to consider internships to get his foot in the door. That is the quickest/easiest way to get a FT position. He also needs to network and go to whatever job fairs may be out there (networking is big for finding jobs in this city). In my view, the fact that he has restaurant experience is good, shows that he can do an "honest days work". That being said, he would have been better served doing that during a semester (to then sell it as I did it to pay for school/tuition, be that true or false) and then doing internships over summer.

[Anonymous]

Northwestern is a fantastic school for networking and alumni outreach. He should be reaching out to alumni, setting up coffee chats, teaming up with others in his cohort, and maybe consider a career coach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Politemps would be a good temp agency to try.

Maybe look at trade associations and similar organizations? Many have a DC office.

The IRS is hiring a lot. So is the VA. Once the federal budget gets worked out, or even now, SSA might be an option.

Additionally, he should definitely look at state and local government jobs. They pay well and there's room for advancement.

Trade associations are a good target for building experience. Look at Mantos Jobs and other DC/public affairs specific job listings.

He should be doing tons of informational interviews, starting with alumni of his school. These won’t lead to jobs, but will help him sound better in interviews and get leads and ideas of where to apply.

Never heard of Politemps. Thanks to both of these posters - appreciate the detailed information.

Find a secondary temp agency in case the above agency is slow to get things going.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Use a head hunter/temp firm.

How do you find reputable ones?