[Need Advice] Helping Little Brother (College Dropout) Find a Job

why cant he finish school?

You probably shouldnt offer him any hospitality, maybe he'll wake up and smell the roses.

 

Tell him to try to work as sales. Whether it's insurance, cars or whatever. It will either make him realize that the real world is tough or he'll succeed. It's a professional career and can lead to good paths. You can also tell him to work at a cable company fixing routers or w/e, or some other sort of "skilled" labor. Maybe get him a job in data entry or other manual clerk office jobs. If he's good and dedicated, still can be a career.

Lastly, you can let him live on your couch but you can't make it easy on him. Parental block the cable box so he can't watch TV, put no food in the fridge (or get a lock on it), and password protect the network modem in your room, which you should lock.

 

What exactly can he write on his resume? It will be very tough to explain to every potential employer about the whole college thing, and every one of them (especially the, ah, non-beneath jobs) will want to know why. No reputable firm's HR department will consider (unless you are VERY good friends with them) giving an intern when there are others also desperate to get them (and have degrees). My best bet would be local, maybe VERY local firms, firms that need grunt work done for the books and need an extra hand.

But are you sure going back to school is not an option? Does he have to repeat the whole year or just the semester? And to be honest, it's a pretty shitty excuse if it's just 'he doesn't want to go to school any more' esp with a finance and ac degree. I was going to suggest summer courses or schools or whatever, but not with that kind of attitude.

 

Let him get kicked out and force him to figure it out on his own. Sounds like your brother needs a wake up call and to grow up.

 

huh

Operations MGMT is one of the easiest classes in my opinion, especially for a finance major.

Are you sure there's not anything else? Sounds like the guy just lost his sails, and that's usually because of a life-changing kind of thing, or some lack of direction. You're not really going to be able to find him a job or anything else unless you address that.

It could be your brother just finds finance alienating, or something, though there's plenty of organizations and NGOs that require the analytical skills of a finance major, and are actively searching for them. You could point him there, though I don't think anything will happen for him unless he chooses to initiate the change himself. Lack of motivation is something you can sniff out right away from an interview, if not from the porous CV.

 

Agreed, true tough love on a youngster can have negative effects. Support him, but make it tough, guilt trip the heck out of him for staying on your couch. But at the same time, you're being a great big brother, kudos.

 

How far is the school from the house. Is it out of town out of state? If its in the same town why not just finish school?

 

He can be a cop for HPD, I think it's something like only 50 college credits required.

 

I don't really think there's a way to hide that hole...I mean, I know if someone told me they spent 15 months on home improvement, that would raise some serious red flags. I think it's better to be straight out honest about it, and admit to a burnout or whatever. If it was a shorter period, I could see it, but 15 months?

What it will involve will probably have to go beyond regular job search sites/procedures. That 15 month hole is a stinker that people who resume scan will pick up right away. It'll be hard to land an interview in that case for a job your brother decides is "not beneath him". Push him to submit as many resumes as possible. Take his resume and spread it as far and wide as you can, obviously. But it might not be enough, especially with how tough the economy is these days.

I'll give you an example of how I would approach it. Make a list of companies that he would like to work for---they don't even have to be finance-related. I looked at my university's career site, and companies as diverse as Kraft, and Bombardier (airplane manufacturers) were looking for finance majors, for analysis/business strategy. That accounting double will help loads as well for stuff like that.

Is your brother passionate about anything? A particular industry/hobby? I'll take the obvious one and say video games, based on your story, then craft an example...

Philly has a few studios.

http://www.linkedin.com/company/play-eternal-llc

Play Eternal

Their COO---

http://www.linkedin.com/profile/vie...*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2&trk=pbmap

Mike Worth

http://www.playeternal.com/contact

Just tell your brother to shoot them a short email with a bit of a personal background, how he could contribute to the business with his business skills and background, and send out a resume. Address it to their COO in this case (if only because I cannot for the life of me find their HR rep). Add personal touches if you want, a lot of these people have all of their details on LinkedIn or company sites. You can really create a personal connection, as your brother can try to ask them to hold the door open and give him a chance.

Take a list of every company or organization your brother would want to work for, would be passionate to work for; Nike, Reebok, EA Games? See if they have offices in Philly. Tell him to find the names of their HR reps/contact info and get him to send out personalized emails selling his potential, and his dedication, and attach his resume.

Of course, this isn't easy. There will be tons of rejection letters. I don't really 100% recommend this, and one does have to consider that this is definitely a hard road. If he's suffering from a lack of motivation, this might just dampen it. But if he's really doing nothing, and you want to strengthen his character, this is the road to go, especially if there are some places he would love to work, but never thought he could. I think a lot of people would be surprised what doors earnest dedication can open.

Also, worst comes to worst, try to get him to volunteer for a cause he loves. I say volunteer because a lot of NGOs can't afford to pay (of course he could be lucky and find one that does), and a lot of them could use someone with a finance/accounting background to tackle funding issues, problems etc. It would plug the hole in his resume, maybe generate a good reference or two, and might get him to realize his own potential, and how good life has been to him. He might finally realize that the degree he got is useful for the skills he can bring to the table to fight for things he loves, and that work might be more than just a 9-to-5 paycheck, but a vocation for what you want to see in the world.

Long post. Hope it helps. I wouldn't take everything I wrote, but hopefully some of it is useful for you guys. Best of luck.

 

Sounds very similar to my nephew, who eventually finished his one missing item and got his degree 2 years ago. A lot of good it did: At age 26, he still lives at home with my sister without a job.

I don't want to sound negative, but even if your brother finishes his degree, he won't get a job. He doesn't want to finish because he doesn't want to work and remove his excuse for not working). This is why he's imposed two impossible conditions: (1) Not finishing his degree and (2) Will only accept a "good" job.

My sister is a psychologist and says my nephew suffers from depression. You may want to have your brother diagnosed.

 

I don't have anything all that constructive to add, but I think the OP deserve kudos for not leaving his brother out in the cold even though I think most would in that same situation.

 

tl:dr version makes him out to be a scumbag loser

kick his ass out

 

I tend to think along the same lines as Northside Storm in that it is likely there is something that he's not admitting to your family. There's no reason a semester away to all of a sudden decide to "save the money" when it sounds like your folks were helping him out in the first place unless something happened.

He wouldn't have kept up a mid B GPA if he didn't care all along.