<p>emilybee, we were ready to do that for our sons, too. It’s a lot easier to job hunt in a location where there is a large concentration of jobs, and also a lot easier to piece together part time/ temp work in those locations as well, as a way of self-support through the job search period. It seemed to us that it would be less expensive in the long run. To have our sons come home to a location where jobs are relatively scarce did not seem like a good long term strategy, for them or for us.</p>
<p>S3 has a friend whose family made her come back to her small town in central Pennsylvania after college–it didn’t work out well for her job search. There were no real opportunities at home. She did get a lot of interviews, but it was expensive and inconvenient for her to travel to all of the interviews she did manage to secure in other cities. She eventually was persuaded to crash on the sofa in S3’s apartment for a while (he lives with three roomies in DC) and she first found a great paying post-graduate internship, and then a great job–but it took her almost a year. </p>
<p>I think if she had started out in DC to begin with it might have taken her a lot less time and frustration in finding employment.</p>
<p>“Anyway, even Podunk has a piddling TV station so I’m not sure I’d want to supplement a kid living in New York City to sell advertising.”</p>
<p>There is a big difference between selling time for a cable station which is on every cable system in the country (think a station like TVland, for example ) than a local station. But regardless, what good does it do a kid to go home if where home is there aren’t many jobs? So they share housing and work a couple of part time jobs (one niece of mine worked at Whole Foods in SF in the cheese & wine section) another in a knitting shop - while looking for a “real job.” The Whole Foods girl was able to parlay that one lowly job, into a job as a cheesemonger at a fancy schmancy gourmet market, then to a small importer and now to a much larger importer. Her clients (wholesalers) are now all over the country. She is making well into the 6 figures, they pay for her car, her phone, etc., and she just turned 28. She was a Religion major at a midwest LAC but had the ambition to turn a minimum wage job into a career. </p>
<p>The knitting store clerk is now at a non profit in NYC where she is a Sr. development officer for Major Gifts. </p>
<p>Well, Emily no-one would disagree that there are better employment options in larger cities. I imagine the kids coming home after college because they are broke, are broke. Maybe, their parents are broke, too. That’s not unusual these days. Most parents cannot afford a fancy vacation let alone a big city apartment for their offspring. That’s just reality. Incidentally, the “boomerang” girl in the original article lives 20 minutes outside of Chicago so renting her an apartment in the city would be a waste, imho. </p>
<p>So what is the point then to moving home if isn’t going to get a kid a job - even if the kid does have debt? So go somewhere were there are at least plenty of jobs - even if they are low paying - so you can get something and are in a place where there is much more of a likelihood of advancement so eventually one can pay off the debt. </p>
<p>Plenty of kids double, triple and even quadruple up in the expensive metro areas and there is public transportation so they don’t need a car, so no car payment and no car insurance. </p>
<p>I just think, in the long run, they would be better off being in a big metro area where there are jobs and job growth. </p>
<p>I don’t think “pounding the pavement” is the be-all and end-all of getting a job any more. A savvy online presence, making connections through sites like LInkedIn, a well thought out resume with good internship experiences hopefully gained earlier in college years, and strong references make it possible to job search from a distance. My D1 got her job while still in college from a company that did NOT recruit on her campus, nor did she live in the city the company is based in. She just referred someone from our Midwest home town who was living her (at home) after grad school. Her company did a phone interview, then flew the friend to the city for an interview, then hired her. </p>
<p>DS1 got a job about a week after graduating but it doesn’t start until August 4. His lease with 2 other roommates in an apartment does not expire until mid July. So he has continued working his part time job and will move home in another 3 weeks. Then 2 weeks later we are going to drive to his new permanent address. It works well for all involved because he has no loans and everything else seem to be falling into place.</p>
We used to have an intern from BYU. He told us that the girls at BYU would not be interested in dating a boy who majors in something that may not likely lead to a reasonably acceptable career, or at least premed/prelaw if his degree is not vocational oriented as a terminal degree. He also told us that the girls at his school date more seriously for finding their future husband rather than just for fun.</p>
<p>At DS’s college which is overall more liberal art-ish (but, should I say it is also pretty preprofessional in the sense of sending many kids to the i-banking/consulting career path with a seemingly useless degree?), a particular girl was more interested in dating one boy who was a prelaw (his science grades were actually good for a premed as well but chose to go the other path) than dating another boy who was big on pure humanity - even though the latter is much more well-liked by almost all people in their circle (and definitely taller, better mannered, and arguably better looking.) Maybe this is a case where a girl happens to like a “bad” boy who is more ambitious and aggressive in his nature?</p>
<p>“I don’t think “pounding the pavement” is the be-all and end-all of getting a job any more. A savvy online presence, making connections through sites like LInkedIn, a well thought out resume with good internship experiences hopefully gained earlier in college years, and strong references make it possible to job search from a distance.”</p>
<p>I think all different types of job searches should be on the table for those who graduate without having landed a job, including word of mouth. My sister’s step daughter is a head hunter in NYC and already told my S to contact her in the fall and she will get him job interviews. </p>
<p>I just think people automatically think that if their kid doesn’t have a job lined up before they graduate they should move home. I’ve seen it turn into a nightmare - so much so that a good friend once said to me she “hated her son.” He came home without a job and made half hearted attempts to have employment - after all he didn’t have rent to pay, didn’t have to buy his food or cook it. He spent most of his time getting stoned. He didn’t even have friends at home anymore to do things with so was always there. And he was no dummy, either - he graduated from UMich. After 4 years he finally got a real job and is living in the city now - but he’s 4 years behind his peers. </p>
<p>yes, emilybee, but sometimes there is just no choice, no money available for parents to help, used up couch-surfing favors from friends. A free bed in a homeless shelter or a free bed at home?</p>
<p>^ How do all the kids who graduate with an acting degree manage it? They basically only have a choice of two cities to move to and I imagine a lot of them have debt, too. They share housing and get jobs waiting tables, bartending, etc., to pay the bills. Somehow they manage. Don’t see why others cannot do the same thing. That is my opinion and one doesn’t have to agree with me if they don’t want. Anyway, it almost time for US-Portugal so I’m bowing out of this conversation. </p>
<p>And that is why my kids don’t have a theater degree. And if they had wanted to major in it, I would have insisted on a double major or a minor in something more marketable. With the same caveat that they have to be self supporting when they finish 4 years of undergrad, however they want to accomplish that.</p>
<p>My S came home to live for about six months, then moved into NYC. That seemed perfectly appropriate to me as he was able to save enough to buy furniture for the apartment and pay his broker’s fee. We did not charge hm rent as we knew it was short term.</p>
<p>“Annie Kasinecz has two different ways of explaining why, at age 27, she still lives with her mom. In the first version — the optimistic one — she says that she is doing the sensible thing by living rent-free as she plans her next career move.” …</p>
<p>“Okay, theater kids can be self-supporting, too. Not all theater kid parents pay rent Really.”</p>
<p>I bet most theater kids parents do not help them out at all. Yet, they move to NY or LA, work as waiters, bartenders, etc, and I am pretty sure most are not homeless. They also find a way to afford to take class, get their head shots done and whatever else they need to do to get their name out there. And most of the acting jobs they might be lucky enough to get when first starting out don’t pay diddly if they pay anything at all. </p>
<p>We have a very small house.
I think after the freedom of being away at college and not wanting to be an adult sleeping in their childhood bedroom, motivated the girls to find work/housing.
They both have loans, oldest also has grad school loans.</p>
<p>The world is connected online now. My D1 found her job through a Facebook friend (graduate from her college a couple of years older) who said they had openings. She was not in the city where the job was… she heard the “word of mouth” anyway.</p>
<p>Who is to say that this kid from U of Mich wouldn’t have done the same on mom & dad’s dime in an apartment in NYC? In fact, he probably wouldn’t have job hunted AT ALL if mom & dad paid rent. Get a roommate to crash in the apartment for enough rent to the kid to pay for groceries. Why would he hunt for a job?</p>