Thanks again for all of your advice. I am taking notes. My concern about him getting any old random job is that he will get stuck in it forever. But I have encouraged him to do whatever it takes to become self-sufficient.
In today’s job market I think he can do better than Starbucks and Best Buy with a bachelor’s degree from a high quality LAC. I graduated from a large Public University in the early 90s recession, and interviewed exclusively at my school using Career Services. I got one offer and it dozen rejections. That be offer was with a excellent firm that launched me into an interesting career that I still work in. Screw you, Andersen Consulting- I didn’t want you anyway!
He needs to really work the career services department at his college. As a helpful mom you could also use the internet to find interesting opportunities.
He hasn’t graduated yet right? The next several months are key.
Agree with the above, but it will all depend on how he interviews and presents. I’ve interviewed plenty of kids that were probably pretty “smart”, but they were lacking in the people skills to survive interviews. But I’m in a pretty dog eat dog career so maybe other industries/careers are more forgiving in that regard. I would say interview, interview, interview…even if it’s for a job way beneath capabilities. There is much to learn from interviews and the practice.
If he can take a course at the local CC, he can use their career center and counselors too. They may have some additional resources.
@EmilySpinach --here’s a success story. I’ve told it before, so this is very condensed: S dropped out of college senior year (personal issues), lived with us, worked a low-level job (a great non-profit, but little money, no education needed, he wasn’t good at canvassing), spent some time playing poker professionally but not enough to make a career, back to low-level job, finally decided to go back to school six years later, got re-admitted to school he went to, took ALL the credits he needed in one semester (lived at home and long commute), graduated, and then got a great job in nonprofit world, advancing there nicely, living on his own, in good financial shape.
I’m very glad we never gave up on him, issued ultimatums, etc. It took time, but I KNEW who he was, and believed he would find his way. And he did.
Our loved one is still working on her health (she has chronic health issues which she has had for more than 2/3s of her life). She has worked two part time jobs in her life as well as several gigs, where she helps others with their movies (she majored in cinema).
She has never held a full-time job but manages all her medical appointments and has a nice circle of friends and lives in a room in a house and is happy and hopeful of getting healthy enough to have a regular job. Fortunately she has full financial support of family and medical coverage as a disabled dependent.
UPDATE: My son finally passed his driving test! His issue wasn’t that he didn’t have the skills, but that he would get super anxious during the exam and then do something really stupid. This used to happen to him on PE assessments as well. So while he was home this past month, we worked with him, having him drive in horrible conditions (snow, ice, fog, torrential rain, tailgating jerks, we had it all), pretending that we were grumpy examiners.
He was so anxious about getting the same examiner again that he scheduled his new test in another city. This added another variable, of course, but he wanted to chance it. We took him to the location a few days ago to get some idea of what the course might be like. (I thought it might be helpful to follow a driver being tested, but he thought that would be cheating and vetoed the idea!) The test turned out to be much harder than the previous tests he had failed (this one included two multi-lane rotaries, rush hour traffic, urban congestion, and a highway), but he said he actually felt calmer because he knew he just had to handle one challenge at a time.So at age 22, he is a licensed driver!
Well done, @Massmomm !
That’s exciting news!
Congratulations, that is wonderful news!! He’s on his way