Reply to Any Ivy graduates here? Ivy League graduate son in a funk, humuliated, & remains jobless

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I posted a few months ago about my son's looming graduation. Now he is home and moping around. He finally opened up that feels like an idiot, he's overwhelmed and he's humiliated compared to all of his overachieving classmates. He's scared to ask his more connected friends (and their parents) for help because his resume is so vacant and they seem so perfect. He knows he can apply for random entry-level jobs any random college grad can apply for but he feels like he has wasted the opportunity if he settles for anything. He does not mean that in a snobby way–we are just a middle class family–but I also know how that could come across. It was a very expensive education and the opportunity of a lifetime. Any help in coaxing him out of this funk and where he should be looking is appreciated. Should he contact career services at his alma mater or would reaching out to his network of friends and their parents offer far more opportunities?

I want to stress his resume is basically vacant outside of the new BA and his GPA is pretty abysmal, so he thinks he's going to be mocked or his resume will just be ignored.[/quote]

Not to be rude, but a huge part of the problem here seems to be that both you and he think there's something really special or different about getting a job out of an Ivy League school than any other school. Sure, there are differences, but get over it.

Yes, he should absolutely contact his career services office.[/quote]

How many 22 year old Ivy League graduates are minted each year? It is pretty rarefied air and some employers do actually pay a hefty premium to employ them.[/quote]

This kind of stupid attitude is how he ended up where he is. [/quote]

No, pandemic-fueled depression and anxiety led to this.[/quote]

God, this excuse is getting so, so damn tired. Pandemic card denied.[/quote]

The fact is, your first job out of college is a direct result of the internships, volunteering, and extracurriculars you did throughout undergrad. So your son started letting himself fall behind long before the pandemic. At my Ivy, the drive for resume building was in the water and everybody but a small handful (all male, interestingly) was always thinking about the next, post-graduation step. The handful who ignored the resume game either ended up going into family-connected jobs or, I'm sorry to say, just failed to achieve liftoff. I guess they convinced themselves a great job at graduation was their birthright, but that was willful ignorance, because all they had to do was watch peers and students in front of them to see how the game was being played.

He needs to go back and do the steps his peers did earlier. Internships, volunteering, student programs. Have him look at programs that have an application involving more than a resume, like Americorps or Service Year.

Another option could be going through some kind of coding or data science bootcamp. Some programs have job placement services with good success rates and the credential can help make up for lack of experience.

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