Sometimes it is difficult to find a job because of an unwillingness to leave a particular geography.
Kid is finding that her Fulbright fellowship is a huge minus for employers. One HR person even recommended deleting that from her résumé. So if your kids think about applying, they need to take employability into consideration! Kid has 2 interviews scheduled for this week and maybe one next week. Fingers crossed.
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I can't WAIT until our D is healthy enough to consider searching for and accepting a job! I
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Best wishes for that. Is it possible for her to become healthy enough to work? From earlier posts it sounds like she’s very weak and bed-ridden. If she can’t work, can she come home to HI and live with y’all?
@sfSTEM–You weren’t addressing me, but I’ll answer your question anyway (and who knows how everything will change in the next decade. . .) If my son were get a do-over, I would make sure he was taking advantage of everything his college had to offer–in research opportunities, internships, job fairs, career center advice, CV/interview prep, mock interviews–anything to give him experience and connections, and to make him more comfortable with the application process. And going back to high school and even middle school, I would make sure that S did everything he could to develop his verbal communication skills. Encourage your s to get involved in things like speech/debate/drama etc. Yes, there is so much demand out there, but the demand is for people with very specific skills in hundreds (if not thousands) of very specific–and constantly changing-- things. Everyone wants a couple years of experience, but few companies want to give a new grad that required experience/on the job training. (Just want to scream every time I read/hear about the “huge shortage of CS/STEM workers,” telling all kids to go into this “in-demand” field. There are a lot of qualified grads out there—willing and able to work, but unemployeed for months (maybe years for some), mostly because they lack experience. As it is for any job search, you have to be thick-skinned enough to take a lot of rejection and just keep looking far and wide.
HImom’s post is a reminder to keep perspective. Much worse to be ill and unable to work, or unemployed with children, mortgage, other obligations. HImom–hoping your daughter regains her health soon.
“Kid is finding that her Fulbright fellowship is a huge minus for employers. One HR person even recommended deleting that from her résumé.”
Wow! That is unfortunate to hear. 
What do you think the line of thinking on that stems from, @BunsenBurner. I can only think of positives in terms of the whole experience as well as having the fortitude to go through the lengthy application process.
@Youdon’tsay!! Best of luck to your child traveling to NYC…weather is beautiful today (58 and sunny). Snow in the forecast for Tuesday/Wednesday!! Hard to pack! Crazy!!
She has periods where she is indeed weak and bed-ridden, but sometimes she IS able to do some very short “gigs,” and then has to rest up again until her stamina is back. She seems happy living with friends in her own room in CA, so at this point, we feel that’s the best place for her. She knows she always has a place with us when she wants one. Thanks for thinking of her and us.
@BunsenBurner , may I ask why would Fulbright ever be a minus? Best of luck on those interviews…let’s keep those good vibes alive here!!
The negative? The HR person who reviewed the résumé said that fellowships of any kind are red flags outside of academia and employers are always concerned about how someone who has spent a year abroad would be integrating into the US office culture. So if a kid is planning to pursue academic career - it is great, going outside of academia it seems to be a huge minus.
Maybe some magic dust will rub off this thread… Kid needs a job - just one job. 
Good luck, Bunsen! Fingers crossed for her!
Atomom, you sure hit the nail on the head with those recommendations. It also makes me want to scream when I hear about the shortage of CS grads…they constantly play commercials on the radio for intensive web development schools, of which my son did attend, talking about the high employment rates. I just swear and turn it off!
For my child, I would have recommended spending less of his life on theatre productions, (his true love) and more of it doing hackathons, independent programming projects, and really working to get a tech internship. His research summer was pretty worthless, he would have been better off spending his summer doing an internship to get a foot in the door, or the intensive web development school.
That HR person sounds a little naive to me, or perhaps they are looking for a well thought out rebuttal. If it was my kid, I’d have them practice and prepare two minute response to that kind of comment, that would politely and articulately inform the person as to why a Fulbright scholar would make an excellent employee and all she learned and can offer because of the experience. In my experience, being able to calmly voice one’s case can be a strong selling point. I think many people are just unaware of all that is entailed with a Fulbright and other fellowships.
Wow, I always assumed that most places would be thrilled to have a Fulbright Fellowship hire. That’s fascinating!
Nope, that HR has been recruiting in the industry for many years (presently a head of HR at a pharma division), so I take their word seriously. The HR offered to review the résumé and this came up as a huge red flag for them.
A rebuttal is only good if you get to an interview. And even at an interview a rebuttal will equal no job offer. This world is changing. What was valuable back then when we were younger is apparently not great to have on your résumé now.
Yes, HIMom, that’s what we think. The hiring gods apparently think differently.
Do you feel it is widespread though or a personal bias of this hiring manager? Have others commented on it as well?
Yes, she had the résumé reviewed by two other folks and they said the same thing. She was also told that she interviews in person very well. I am not going to discuss more details because the kid is still out there interviewing. 
Bunsen, maybe I missed it, but did the HR say why it was a negative? That seems nonsensical to me.
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I don’t think that is a good justification really. Why would it make them more at risk integrating into a culture than someone fresh out of college? Learning to be adaptable by spending a year abroad with new experiences would seem to make one more able to fit into whatever culture. Or maybe I am missing some nuance…
At the risk of sounding like a 5 year old, I would have been tempted to respond to that HR person’s response with, “But why?”