Duke bachelor’s (economics) & literally no work history

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Military officer seems like the best option here.

It's unlikely he will be selected. It's competitive. He'd have to maintain certain physical fitness standards. He'd have to move to wherever they tell him (not always fun places.)

Plus, you don’t just get a direct commission with a bachelors. You either need to enlist and rack up enough time/points to be accepted to Officer Candidate School (OCS) or you need to participate in an officer training program like ROTC. Some with professional degrees like MD, JD, etc… can directly commission but a Bachelors in Econ, no matter what the school isn’t going to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It makes sense he didn't work summer 2021 after freshman year because it was still all weir because of covid.

but he should have worked 2022 summer and 2023 summer.

how did this happen? what DID he do all summer?? how did he get pizza and beer money?

we need more details, op. It is very strange for someone graduating from college to have ZERO work history.

Video games mostly.

WTF? That type of kid doesn’t get to just jump into a military commission. Make him enlist and see how much he wants it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did they pay their living expenses in college? How do they pay their cell phone bill? Do they have a car?

Most affluent parents pay for everything though their kids do internships, research and volunteer gigs instead of random retail jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are the employment options for a new graduate with nothing on their resume? Most recent W2 was in high school. Kid went to the career office and the first thing they wanted was a resume. Kid has nothing to put on a resume except name, address, phone, email and Duke economics degree.

Why is a supposed 2024 grad waiting til May (after graduation) to think about this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The kid is not going to get any kind of job that requires being selected. His parents need to hook up the kid with a job through any connections they may have.

When the parent is posting on the mommy site seeking advice, it isn't a good look for the kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Americorps. Maybe Peace Corps.

No experience means this would be precluded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can’t you put clubs or volunteering or something like that on it?

He was not in any clubs. He does not volunteer.

He needs to start at the very very bottom. It will be very low pay. But, I'm thinking hiring managers will see his resume and think, "why is someone who went to Duke applying for this very low level job?". They'd be competing with grads from no name state u (probably with some work experience), and then the HM might think the Duke grad will not be a good fit because they'd be arrogant about being a Duke grad, and think admin work is too good for them.

How does a Duke kid have zero work experience, even an internship? What happened there?

This. Huge red flag for a hiring manager. He had to be doing something in high school to be a competitive candidate to get in to Duke. Something went wrong when he went to college. Is there a mental health problem?

For the resume all he can do at this point is emphasize academic project experiences. Start volunteering and temping.

I've hired new grads and if we're interviewing them a few months after graduation we always ask what they've been doing with their time while job hunting. Nothing/video games is not a good answer. Volunteering, personal projects, temp work are good answers.

I went to high school with a lot of high-achieving types and some of them just completely imploded during college. I don't judge them, their parents probably put a ton of pressure on them, but drinking was their main extracurricular...

This was kind of me. I have an Econ degree from UVA, but I did get in to Duke as well, so my situation could have been like OP’s kid. I worked hard to get into college, but totally coasted once I was in. No clubs or extracurriculars or internships in college, but I did have a part time job, so at least my resume wasn’t blank. That said, I never used my Econ degree a day in my life. I bummed around a bit in some dead end jobs, but if all worked out eventually. Hope the same is true for OP’s son.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can’t you put clubs or volunteering or something like that on it?

He was not in any clubs. He does not volunteer.

He needs to start at the very very bottom. It will be very low pay. But, I'm thinking hiring managers will see his resume and think, "why is someone who went to Duke applying for this very low level job?". They'd be competing with grads from no name state u (probably with some work experience), and then the HM might think the Duke grad will not be a good fit because they'd be arrogant about being a Duke grad, and think admin work is too good for them.

How does a Duke kid have zero work experience, even an internship? What happened there?

This. Huge red flag for a hiring manager. He had to be doing something in high school to be a competitive candidate to get in to Duke. Something went wrong when he went to college. Is there a mental health problem?

For the resume all he can do at this point is emphasize academic project experiences. Start volunteering and temping.

I've hired new grads and if we're interviewing them a few months after graduation we always ask what they've been doing with their time while job hunting. Nothing/video games is not a good answer. Volunteering, personal projects, temp work are good answers.

I went to high school with a lot of high-achieving types and some of them just completely imploded during college. I don't judge them, their parents probably put a ton of pressure on them, but drinking was their main extracurricular...

This was kind of me. I have an Econ degree from UVA, but I did get in to Duke as well, so my situation could have been like OP’s kid. I worked hard to get into college, but totally coasted once I was in. No clubs or extracurriculars or internships in college, but I did have a part time job, so at least my resume wasn’t blank. That said, I never used my Econ degree a day in my life. I bummed around a bit in some dead end jobs, but if all worked out eventually. Hope the same is true for OP’s son.

what did you end up doing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Military officer seems like the best option here.

It's unlikely he will be selected. It's competitive. He'd have to maintain certain physical fitness standards. He'd have to move to wherever they tell him (not always fun places.)

Plus, you don’t just get a direct commission with a bachelors. You either need to enlist and rack up enough time/points to be accepted to Officer Candidate School (OCS) or you need to participate in an officer training program like ROTC. Some with professional degrees like MD, JD, etc… can directly commission but a Bachelors in Econ, no matter what the school isn’t going to do it.

Haha wtf you don't enlist to rack up points for OCS.

[Anonymous]

I did a lot in HS and college and most of it was a waste of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did they pay their living expenses in college? How do they pay their cell phone bill? Do they have a car?

Most affluent parents pay for everything though their kids do internships, research and volunteer gigs instead of random retail jobs.

An internship at Google pays way more than serving ice cream for the summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s nothing stopping him from temping, volunteering, etc.

Exactly. Is the question "what job can he find?" or "what job can I find for him that he won't think is beneath him, despite having only played video games in his free time during college?"

[Anonymous]

Reddit recommends lying or the employment recruiting software will simply filter him out of every starter job.

https://www.reddit.com/r/jobsearchhacks/comments/1cs4shg/conceal_your_employment_gap_or_termination_by/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did they pay their living expenses in college? How do they pay their cell phone bill? Do they have a car?

Most affluent parents pay for everything though their kids do internships, research and volunteer gigs instead of random retail jobs.

An internship at Google pays way more than serving ice cream for the summer.

+1. I always side eye when people recommend dead-end jobs 10th graders can do or migrants who don’t speak English can do. Your adult kid has X amount of years of an $90,000 a year college education. Act like it. Don’t have them waste a summer learning nothing and making peanuts. There are interns at Amazon and other tech firms making $20,000 to $30,000 a summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did they pay their living expenses in college? How do they pay their cell phone bill? Do they have a car?

Most affluent parents pay for everything though their kids do internships, research and volunteer gigs instead of random retail jobs.

An internship at Google pays way more than serving ice cream for the summer.

+1. I always side eye when people recommend dead-end jobs 10th graders can do or migrants who don’t speak English can do. Your adult kid has X amount of years of an $90,000 a year college education. Act like it. Don’t have them waste a summer learning nothing and making peanuts. There are interns at Amazon and other tech firms making $20,000 to $30,000 a summer.

And if a student is not selected for these $10k/month internships?