Anonymous
05/31/2026 18:12
Subject: Re:Tips for college grad moving home, no job yet
Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for this, and any other practical tips.
He just graduated last weekend. Arrived home yesterday. Already has plans to play basketball and golf with high school friends and a party this weekend. Making plans to get together with an out of town GF. This is what cannot continue. It's too much of the "just another summer" mindset.
He had a third interview for what sounds like a terrific opportunity on Monday, but is not feeling hopeful about the outcome.
We had these ideas:
Put him in charge of dinner for the family one night a week.
Expected to be up and out of bed (bed made) by 8:00 each weekday, working on job search.
If no real job offer by June 1 (mid June?), he finds an hourly job in retail, etc, working a minimum of 30 hours a week, to include weekends.
Other thoughts?
These sound like good ideas. Although I would not specify bedtimes or wake up times, he's a big boy and needs to figure all that out.
The dinner idea one day a week is good though.
It will be easier for him to find another job if he is working *any* job he can find to tide him over. After he finds any job, slowly start introducing expenses he needs to pay (phone bill share, internet share, etc...)
Goal.is to soft.launch him as an adult.
Anonymous
05/31/2026 18:07
Subject: Re:Tips for college grad moving home, no job yet
Anonymous wrote:I don't agree. I am speaking from the immigrant perspective who has been in 4 countries and not from the conventional American mindset. I think you need to have a deep conversation with him. He should have 3 months of grace period from getting a job.
This is a time for focussing on social connections (yes, he should party with friends, get together for golf, keep the connections alive and thriving), his network (college and HS friends, professors, mentors, PI, coaches, EC connections), his health and appearance (lose the pounds, clear the skin, get the dental checkups, up to date with vaccines, lose bad habits, therapy and career coaching if needed), and a close look at his resume, interview skills, linkedIn profile, next steps for career etc.
Do not be in a hurry to throw him in a menial job at Home-Depot or McDonalds. Because he will lose the momentum and circle that he gained in college when he transitions into doing a low-paying, low-skilled job. He will not feel good about himself and it will drain away his confidence.
It is really bad advice and a poverty mind-set that you need to get out of.
It is not a poverty mindset if you are constantly searching for opportunities. I had a retail job after college to supplement my journalism earnings that were quite paltry. The retail job earned me a couple hundred extra a week and helped me get more professional clothes and very importantly kept me out there and motivated. It was the energy that was a key to wanting to improve my situation and kept me out and active. I eventually got a better journalism job before becoming a paralegal and then going to law school. But feeling like I was out in the game was huge.
The last thing you want is an unemployed person sitting at home surfing the net for jobs and then spacing out all day. I have seen several friends do that and it leads to inertia and in some cases depression.
Anonymous
05/31/2026 17:57
Subject: Tips for college grad moving home, no job yet
He needs,to start making a transition to self support. I would encourage him to take any sort of temporary work or even a retail job that gets him out earning money. If you let him sit around at the house without doing any work you are sending a message that you are going to support him.
It is hard to transition out of college but starting with any job will help him build skills for a professional environment and maybe make a good connection for FT job.
Does his uni have a career center that he can visit?
It is hard to transition out of college but starting with any job will help him build skills for a professional environment and maybe make a good connection for FT job.
Does his uni have a career center that he can visit?
Anonymous
05/31/2026 15:29
Subject: Tips for college grad moving home, no job yet
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:No need to re-live anyone’s peasant ancestry. It is your house and you get to set the terms. I would not make their life too comfortable. Give them a roof over their head a few meals a day.
I don't understand people like you. I really don't.
You were my parents. And don't worry, I never moved home after college. But I never forgave them for it as my 20's were spent w/o healthcare insurance, with no money, paying for grad school while working several jobs. It was their "right" but it was far different than the help their parents gave them (which was a lot in terms of in person help that saved them Money).
We don't have a close relationship today. So have fun with that.
+graham’s # here…GenEx daughter of Silents
& if you asked them, they were the greatest parents who ever existed
Anonymous
05/28/2026 13:23
Subject: Tips for college grad moving home, no job yet
Anonymous wrote:WTH does everyone see open jobs?! Yeah, that’s not happening, but good luck.
Give him a break, OP. Ask him how many jobs he’s applied to. If it’s 250-300 that’s what it takes now. He should be doing that full time, not looking for a dumb job that Durant exist at this point. If he doesn’t get one this summer, that convo changes because he’ll have missed the hiring cycle and will have to try fir spring 2027.
I'm pp and this was my point...
This Summer’s Teen Job Market Is the Toughest in Decades
https://apple.news/AVfat7jgLSGCK-pK5KQkyog
Anonymous
05/25/2026 14:03
Subject: Tips for college grad moving home, no job yet
Our new college grad is staying in their college town and working a (menial to DCUM) service job they've been doing while a college student only with more hours since they have more free time now. Making upwards of $20/hour with benefits, paying their own rent, one roommate, found new off campus apartment $200 cheaper per month than what they had (kid is a hawk with their own dollar) while they gear up to apply to graduate school. We did offer to house our new college grad for the interim, you're always welcome to come home, but our kid likes their adult independence and working a steady job for their own paycheck. I'm 21, I need to make my own way now, moving home would feel like I'm backsliding. Love ya, but thanks no thanks, and I so respect that as their parent. I did the same at their age, even though it wasn't always easy. We still help with car insurance and medical, emergencies. Otherwise, they're paying for their own utilities, food, gas, extras. What's your kid's plan for the next 24 months? Grad school or workforce?
Anonymous
05/25/2026 13:39
Subject: Tips for college grad moving home, no job yet
Also, consider pivoting to teaching. Some local public schools will hire without a teaching certificate and reimburse the night classes needed to get that certificate. Salary would notch up once the teaching certificate is obtained.
Private schools, either secular or religious, might be a better starting place for a teaching career. There are legal requirements for teachers in public schools to have teaching certificates, but private schools are exempt legally from that. Most privates don't care about that piece of paper.
Private schools, either secular or religious, might be a better starting place for a teaching career. There are legal requirements for teachers in public schools to have teaching certificates, but private schools are exempt legally from that. Most privates don't care about that piece of paper.