<p>D went for another interview today, she couldn’t take the last job she interviewed for because of summer class. I wished she could, it coordinating a summer class for kids, which I think she would be great at and it pays $11/hour ! I took the suggestion of volunteer work and she was receptive so she applied for an unpaid position with a major financial institution. </p>
<p>She is asked to go back for a second interview this Friday. However, I think these people are being exploitative. They are asking for some major investment of her time and effort - learning about retirement plans and taxes and a six month contract, all without pay, and without any promise of advancement to a paying position with the company. </p>
<p>I think she should keep looking for other jobs with better prospects (it’s not the lack of pay, it’s the feeling of being exploited) but take this one if nothing turns up meanwhile. I wonder how does this company can even enforce a contract when there is no renumeration ? She was told there were a lot of applicants for this unpaid position. I wonder.</p>
<p>Does anyone else find this discussion ridiculous? It’s a summer job for crying out loud. Wait tables, be a nanny, work in a store, at a summer camp, at the movie theater, whatever! Just get off your butt and start making some of your own money. Big deal–she’s taking ONE CLASS!!! She should have registered for an online class like most kids during the summer so she can study around her work schedule. It sounds like she scheduled this class in the middle of the day to justify her not getting a job. Sorry, no sympathy about your situation here. I have sons who are busting their butts working for their own spending money, gas money, college book money, etc. And yes, the one who is home after his 2nd year of college is also taking classes this summer (he’s all ready well over 20 credits ahead of most college sophomores). In addition, he works over 40 hours a week. How does she fill up her gas tank, socialize, save money for the college expenses, buy her books, buy her clothes, get her hair cut, buy her itunes, etc.? Do you give her the money?</p>
<p>mom2three: I think you have it exactly right. We all have areas that the kids know we’d like them to do, but aren’t real strict about and others that we really mean. They are different in every family. </p>
<p>If mine hadn’t worked over a summer, they would have starved. I see no reason for the able bodied to sit around doing nothing. On the other hand, I would have liked them to help a little more around the house and keep their rooms clean. It wasn’t going to happen.</p>
<p>Those are just two examples, there are lots more of things I maybe should have stressed a little more and others that they knew I meant. And they knew the difference.</p>
<p>OK–I’ve gone back and reread the previous posts. I think munchkin is finally realizing the consequences of making life too easy for her daughter. It’s hard for me to relate to her situation. Our house is run like a team. Everyone needs to chip in to make it work.</p>
Read the fine print of the ‘contract’ and understand it before signing it. Since it’s not the military, they can’t throw her in the brig if she quits before the 6 months. However, a company can contractually require repayment of certain expenses if the person quits before a certain time. This is commonly done with relocation packages. Since she wouldn’t be getting paid by this company make sure they don’t consider this some kind of ‘investment’ on their part with a requirement for her to pay them back the investment somehow if she quits early. </p>
<p>For an unpaid position I wouldn’t sign any contract, period. I think your D needs to keep looking. As ‘nysmile’ stated, it’s not usually that hard to find a low-end job if you’re in a medium to large urban/suburban area and a number of these can work around a school schedule. That poster already listed many of them.</p>
<p>Unpaid position at a major financial company? I’d run like h*ll from that one. How do they justify it? Is this a non-profit or will your D get college credit for her “internship”? I agree with the posters who said keep looking.</p>
<p>D is not giving up her search. She said she couldn’t really explain the job better to me but that it is very involved and she has to learn about taxes (nothing wrong with that ) . She seem to want the job. Like BunsenBurner & U_Dad I thought it was strange a company as well established as the one she interviewed at to have such an arrangement. She can’t tell me if it’s just the person, an account executive & assistant manager hiring a personal/ private assistant and want to get some inexpensive help or it is the institution that is hiring. A flag for me is the 6 month commitment and no promise of future advancement. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to work under these parameters. I guess the only benefit is looking good on her resume if the experience is a good one and she can put XYZ co as the employer. </p>
<p>She has to go for a second interview so she may not get it, meanwhile she said she is still applying for other jobs. </p>
<p>nysmile - Sometimes I think D is spoiled and sometimes her attitude comes from lack of confidence and shyness. But as mom2three said, like potty-training, she will eventually grow out of it. Even if we wished to cannot coddle her forever. We will grow old, feeble and die and she still have to face whatever life throws at her.</p>
<p>This person, I suspect, could be hiring her personally as his personal assistant. No downside to him since he is not paying anything. He is an account executive (I would imagine some kind sales representative and assistant manager). </p>
<p>On the other hand I am thinking being exploited is not necessarily a bad thing for her, when we lived in Chicago people (people who hired for for baby sitting) were so nice and fair to her, didn’t contribute to much street smarts or toughness. </p>
<p>Since she is majoring in Economics she will probably end up working in a similar office environment so this could be good for experience, even she derives no income from it. </p>
<p>I asked her again and she said it’s not so much a contract she needs to sign but the guy said the “work term” is 6 months. They already talked about the schedule when she goes back to school, which is 1 day per week, plus 1 weekend and another day /per month.</p>
<p>munchkin, I smell a rat - what that person is doing might be against his company’s policies.</p>
<p>If she wants to develop street smartness and toughness, I bet a burger-flipping job would be a good tool for that (not that I’m recommending it).</p>
<p>I agree, had been singing the praises of waitressing since she was old enough to work. No luck in pushing her in that direction, just like I have no luck in pushing her to study something I thought may be great for her. </p>
<p>Well, she said the office has other staff, so at least there has to be some standards. This is a very large corporation. </p>
<p>I’ll post about the outcome this Friday. Hopefully something else more promising will come up meanwhile. </p>
<p>I haven’t read all of the posts, but I wanted to put in my opinion on this one because it seemed quite different than the ones I read in the first few pages.</p>
<p>I think she just doesn’t like the jobs you are getting for her. She sounds like she knows how to work and how to save, does well in school and chose a fairly practical major – so I don’t think this is a character flaw. I think it’s a personal choice.</p>
<p>I would just stick to your agreements about what you will pay for (tuition, books, bus, etc.) and what you will not (spending money, etc.) and let her be. Perhaps she will come up with a great entrepreneurial idea or write a great novel or have an important epiphany in her time off. If she’s got the money saved up to meet her commitments, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the choice that free time is more important to her than punching a clock somewhere. And it may just be so Gen X/Y of me, but I think that choosing to take time for yourself instead of being a wage slave (when you are meeting your financial commitments, as she is) is a valuable choice, not laziness.</p>
<p>Update : D was offered the internship this Monday, long after she thought they picked someone else. We asked around about this setup and apparently this practice is relatively common locally. At the end of the no pay internship, a paying job may be offered, if they like her enough, giving D an in at an established company. </p>
<p>She went on a few interviews in the last month on her own, but because of her summer course in the middle of the day, had to turn down two jobs that were offered. She just passed another test for another paying job and she said if she gets it she will take it as well. So she may end up working at two jobs plus a summer course. </p>
<p>So all in all I am pretty relieved. She also ended her second year with a 3.4 gpa, not super, but I know it’s very difficult to achieve at her college. So she is going to an exchange program next summer. </p>
<p>Now I am working on my s to fill out more applications for stock room jobs…;)</p>
<p>Munchkin, unpaid internships can be pretty common, but you have to be careful that your D isn’t being taken advantage of. In our State we have very specific rules about who can take on an unpaid intern (you have to fill out paperwork and get permission from the State), the employer can’t be using the intern to fill a job that a paid individual would normally do (they can’t have an intern do the work of someone out on maternity leave, for example). </p>
<p>You don’t say what state you are in, but you might want to do a little research. Unpaid internships can be a great thing, I did a couple in my youth too, but they can also be a chance for companies to get ‘free labor’ and that is NOT the point of the internship.</p>
<p>Wow, I wish I was an economics major. She has more employment prospects than I do, and I am a liberal arts college graduate with years of work experience. Employers want students and graduates who have office, interpersonal and computer skills. She must know how to write a resume and cover letter. She must know how to perform in an interview and ask the right questions. You cannot do all of this for your daughter. She will eventually need to grow less dependent on you. She is an upperclassman.</p>
<p>If she cannot find a job this summer, make her get a job during the school year. She will learn a lot of skills, such as multi-tasking, professionalism and much more. More importantly, she will acquire a new skill in each job she takes. I have found all of my jobs on my own, and only depend on my parents for networking purposes.</p>
<p>Update : d has worked in her unpaid internship for 3 or 4 weeks now, and I really want to thank the people who suggested this idea for us. </p>
<p>A quick recap for people who is not familiar with our situation, d, a rising junior, started the summer turning down two jobs I secured for her and seemingly not too motivated to work. She took a summer course which meets two days a week in the middle of the day so it limited her opportunities somewhat. Some parents suggested unpaid internships and I mentioned it to her and she was receptive. She ended up being hired by an investment company similar to Smith Barney.</p>
<p>The setup seem to be perfect for her. It is a professional setting and in line with her major. Last week she said she was researching on growth in household incomes for a client. In two weeks she has to help out with an investment seminar the company is putting out. The other two interns who are there are university graduates in finance, so she is quite junior in her qualifications compared to them. So hopefully this will give her a leg up next summer or sometime in the future. </p>
<p>A second job opportunity came up and now she is considering working at a second paying job to make some money. I am not sure it’s a good idea as her current course is fairly difficult and in her major and I worry she will end up having not enough time to study and not do well, as the first job already take up 3 full days. </p>
<p>She said she want to pursue an MBA so grades are very important, esp. her college apparently do not give good grades easily. She did ok this year but first year was very tough and her grades were low. </p>
<p>So, I have gone from worrying and mad at d for being not motivated and not working enough to worrying her taking on too much and affecting the true focus/goal of her life, how ironical. I had asked her to think taking on this second job very carefully and weigh it against the possiblity of not having enough time to study. Given the timing, she would only be at most be thinking about 5 weeks of part time paid work, but she said she wants some income as her savings are running low. </p>
<p>I wonder if I should stack the deck by planning a family visit to their grands, who missed them terribly and haven’t seen them for two years. Hmmmm.</p>
<p>Sorry if this is blunt, but I think you should let your d make her own decisions. She’s already shown you that she doesn’t accept your help graciously, by turning down the jobs you found for her but accepting and apparently excelling at the one she found for herself. She’s old enough to be able to determine what she can or cannot handle. And she’s also old enough to accept the consequences if she doesn’t do well enough in her summer course.</p>
<p>Also note that most MBA programs require students to have prior full-time work experience before admission. This work experience is much more important than the undergraduate grades.</p>
<p>OP, Is the mention of a potential grandparent trip meant tongue-in-cheek or are you serious ? I can’t believe that you would really do something so manipulative and unsupportive - so I have to believe it was not serious ???</p>
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