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

[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.

I would suggest finding someone who helps with resumes. One my dc used put classes and projects as experiences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I would suggest finding someone who helps with resumes. One my dc used put classes and projects as experiences.

Yeah, what they are going to have to create is a functional resume: https://www.themuse.com/advice/what-is-a-functional-resume-example

Aka, with an econ degree, they will likely have skills with excel, statistics, word processing. With videogaming they have experience in immersive worldbuilding. They'll need to go through each syllabus of their high-level classes to pull out skills or projects or areas of focus.

And then they'll need to hit the streets. Can probably get a job with a political campaign or a temp agency, and should apply to any pathways/recent grad jobs that interest them: https://recentgrad.usajobs.gov/search/results/?hp=graduates&wt=15326&s=relevance&sd=asc&p=1

[Anonymous]

The lazy unambitious kid is an adult. How did they pay their living expenses in college? How do they pay their cell phone bill? Do they have a car?

They can make their own choices and pay their own way. Unless they are a trust fund baby, reality will hit soon enough. Given they have no work experience, they will need to apply for a job like a 16 year old wood. Get into fast food or retail or construction or something and then if motivated, they can work their way up to something closer to their field.

They are an educated, employable adult. No one else should be financing their life at this point beyond a bed to sleep in to ensure their basic safety.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

Then he is not interesting to employers. Its going to be using your network to get him a first job.

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

Does the kid have mental health struggles.
I don’t understand how he was admitted to Duke in the first place. Double legacy? Huge donation?

[Anonymous]

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.

So... what did he do, and what does he like?

Probably should get a Master's.

[Anonymous]

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.

So... what did he do, and what does he like?

Probably should get a Master's.

+1 not a bad idea. And he should definitely get internships or any job this summer and also while getting his masters. He really needs some work experience.

Maybe he just needed time to mature and grow? Getting a masters could be ideal for him.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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...

[Anonymous]

I low key respect doing their own thing and not filling their resume with BS extracurriculars that nobody cares about

[Anonymous]

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.

If he entered college in the fall of 2020, he did not have the typical college experience freshman year. I also have a kid that entered college in fall of 2020. There were no club/organization meetings, no parties, no experiences (even in person orientation.) It was easy for a student to fall into a depression and even when things "opened back up" in their sophomore year, it might have seemed to daunting to get back out there and participate in things again.

[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...

With enough free time and know-how, it's easy for a helicopter parent to micromanage and scam a lazy kid into a selective university, especially if they can check a diversity box. But once the teen is left to their own devices away at college, they revert to their unambitious mean. All of that said, plenty of lazy and dull people who work for the federal government, so that's my recommendation.

[Anonymous]

Time to apply to OCS!