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

[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.

Internships pay anyway, but did he have good internships previously? If so, he needs to find out why he is not getting offers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he doesn’t have super relevant experience and little or no internships while in school, his first job out of school may be a little bit lower on the pay scale and will start to give him the experience he needs. 220 applications with nothing to show for it means something is not tracking. Some kids who are good at stats and coding can get entry level analyst jobs. But they have to be willing to put the time and hours into it. May not seem glamourous, or what they did a Masters for, but it’s the way to start building.

He's had one class each of stats and coding, so not enough to get a job. It's very concerning that he graduated magna cum laude from a top 25 college. What the heck?

To clarify, was he in Northwestern’s one year online master’s program? How much time did he have on campus as part of that? What is his undergrad degree in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mom/dad, please let your grown child figure this out.

He doesn't seem able to. Seriously. Book smart but very little drive.

Are you wealthy or comfortably upper middle class? Have you told him he needs a job, any job, and to pay you rent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can’t online masters your way out of entry level work.

Go volunteer on either a presidential campaign or one of the big campaign committees (DNC/RNC/the state party). Usually the January volunteers are picked up for paid jobs quickly. If the candidate wins, they will find him a job. If the candidate loses, he can find a job on the Hill or in a non-profit/trade association.

+1 This is a great idea. All the campaigns are messes right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Don’t forget UMD College Park! Good kids getting internships and jobs out of that program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's been almost 4 months, 220 job applications, a dozen interviews, no offers. I'm starting to panic. What's a good interim job for him so he doesn't become depressed and can start earning some experience and money???

Sounds a lot like me. I don't have a masters in public administration but i have a BA and I've been out of works for eight months. Five interviews, zero offers, and I'm not optimistic about this changing anytime soon. Wish I was wrong.

The longest I had previously gone unemployed in my post college life was 3 months. This sucks.

Sorry to hear this.

What are you looking to do? Have you taken all the steps the career advisor outlined in a prior post?

Be sure you are proofing your correspondence before sending it out. It is “work” and it should be “three” not 3. Writing matters.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

My son 24 years has his bachelor and master’s degree. Is anyone looking for immediately hire? He’s pushing everyday, please assist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's been almost 4 months, 220 job applications, a dozen interviews, no offers. I'm starting to panic. What's a good interim job for him so he doesn't become depressed and can start earning some experience and money???

Tell him to apply to any United nations organization including overseas. The US is a big donor to the UN, but Americans are underrepresented at the UN.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son 24 years has his bachelor and master’s degree. Is anyone looking for immediately hire? He’s pushing everyday, please assist.

Degree please? Any prior work experience even internship?

[Anonymous]

My kids friend just got an undergrad in that and she had a horrible time with that degree, she finally got a job in a law office and is thinking of going to law school.

[Anonymous]

He needs a network to help him. Having a MPA does not mean doors will open and he escapes an entry level position.
Government - any and all, federal, state, local
Gov't Relations - almost all decently sized organizations have a gov relations department.
Schools - what does it take to teach government, civics, etc. at private or public schools.
Internships - they are pretty competitive but he needs to apply. Also, he needs to work his connections from his prior internship/job
School - His school has a career services office. Use it
Alumni - is he on the alumni LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. connect with alumni.
LinkedIn - have a GOOD profile. When he applies for a job, look for connections at that company - school connections are good. Reach out and be proactive.
The spray and pray aspect of tossing out 400 applications does not work. Curate a few and work them hard like a job.

Can he tell his story? He needs to connect the dots for hiring managers on how his education and skills fit the role. Otherwise, he just has what is perceived as a "soft" degree and it's hard to see how his education relates to problem solving.

So, your son needs to create and leverage a network. Unerstand what he wants to do, be willing to accept an entry level job, learn how to tell his story, and learn how to relate his education and skills to the task at hand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I parlayed an internship during my MPA program—that I interviewed and got through my school—into a full time federal job. What actual experience does he have? Where did he get the degree?

No super relevant experience, a year of analytic work between college and grad school. MPPA from Northwestern.

He should do more analytics/consulting. They like the young ones with masters.

Guidehouse put him through the full interview cycle, then closed the position. Hasn't been able to get any other interviews with consulting firms.

Consulting?
What is he consulting about?
He's an unemployed 24-year-old with a dime a dozen online masters.
I guess he could build power point decks for the BD folks.
Focus on industries where he can build his skills and knowledge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you panicking? He should be.
What he needs now is a job, any job.
Food service, bar man, ups delivery, Starbucks, car dealership

Once he has that, then he can continue his job search

His father thinks our son is too good for that. Our kid waited tables for 6 months after college til he got his first office job, so there's a history here.

A history of no employment?

[Anonymous]

The OP was from 2023!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The OP was from 2023!

OP here. He got a temp job that ended in April. 10 new weeks of unemployment great advice in this thread though thanks to everyone who took time to post.