Scott Nicholson is a 24 year-old Colgate alum who’s yet to have a job since graduating college in 2008. He’s famous today not because he’s unemployed– lots of relatively recent grads are sans employment so he’s not special in that respect– but because he’s the main character in a delightful Times story about his journey to find a job that fits the mold of his dreams. The “unemployed” status, you see, is a tool of Scott’s own making. He could’ve had a job– five months ago, the Hanover Insurance Group offered him one as an associate claims adjuster in their Worcester, at $40,000 a year– but he decided to turn it down.
Rather than waste early years in dead-end work, he reasoned, he would hold out for a corporate position that would draw on his college training and put him, as he sees it, on the bottom rungs of a career ladder.
A lofty goal but as he is living at home with his parents in Grafton, Massachusetts, rent and expenses free, Scott figured he had all the time in the world to make it happen. That was until a certain couplea jerks decided to start fucking with his master plan.
“My parents are subtly pointing out that beyond room and board, they are also paying other expenses for me, like my cellphone charges and the premiums on a life insurance policy.”
Do you believe these asshats? Subtly pointing out that they’ve been paying for his universe two years past the time they should have to and that *maybe* in the future (near or distant, whatever), that may have to end? It’s crazy but since our time-frame re: Getting Scott The Job He Deserves has been moved up, we don’t have time to blame his parents (later, of course), we just need act fast. Scott told the Times he’d like a gig in marketing or finance at “big corporation” and according to his grandfather, William Nicholson, who worked for 48 years as a stock broker, “Scott has got to find somebody who knows someone,” the grandfather said, “someone who can get him to the head of the line.”
Naturally, those someones are you people. Any MD positions open at GS? Steve, have you fired any traders lately? Scott probably will want his own pad but he’s willing to take something (very) slightly beneath what he’s due, as we’re workin under some serious time constraints.
damn parents ruin everything
Kouwe gone = opening for this young man
Handjob.
My advice mooch as along as you can, or find a cougar to pamper you
“Mom, MEATLOAF!!”
oh, by the way, eventually you get a job, mistake it for a career, then realize it is a dead end job, why not start at the finish line..
Bess, You should have marked this story with three douche bag icons…..
Living with your parents is the new killin’ it
@6 gets a golf clap
He should become a Sperm Bank lobbyist.
/Caster Semenya
At the very least, Scott needs to take courses at the Harvard extension school. It’ll make him more competitive. Just ask the UMASS Amherst guy.
There is a time-honored tradition of the American Dream eluding Colgate graduates.
I’ll bet that kid kicks ass on World of Warcraft.
Hey Bess, Scott Nicholson, Asst. Editor, Dealbreaker, has a nice ring to it.
I bet Barney Frank would be happy to let him do some jobs around the house in exchange for room and board.
@8 or as my brother and I say, killing your parents is the new living it
–Lyle Menendez
I heard a few banks have openings trading equities in Dallas.
In Soviet Russia, parents live in you!
@16: Yes, but given the parents taking out a life insurance policy on the unemployed slacker, it may work the other way this time.
“Her oldest, David Jr., 26, did land a good job. Graduating from Middlebury College in 2006, he joined a Boston insurance company, specializing in reinsurance, nearly three years ago, before the recession.
“I’m sitting with the manager, and he asked me how I had gotten interested in insurance. I mentioned Dave’s job in reinsurance, and the manager’s response was, ‘Oh, that is about 15 steps above the position you are interviewing for,’ ” Scott said, his eyes widening and his voice emotional. ”
Being Dave Nicholson is the new killin’ it
Yeah, I tend to hit hard. Sorry about that Scott.
It actually appears that I gave it to you relatively easy. White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant? No debt? Rich Family? Lounge around at home? Turn down decent paying entry-level jobs?
It looks like I need to come at you A LOT FASTER!
-Life
@6 – Hat tip to you.
My favorite part of this article is tucked away near the end, when it should have been at least in the first paragraph:
He majored in Political Science and minored in History. Why is he surprised that the BBs aren’t all over him?
When I read this type of article (aka bs human interest story about a random guy that is unemployed) I always look for college, major, and GPA (I don’t think there’s a GPA in this one). 99% of the time it’s like “Michelle graduated from Nowhere University with a 3.2 in Women’s Studies, and now she can’t find a job!”
Any open gigs @ AIG-FP? How hard could it be to write protection all day while screwing around on Pokerstars? What about the SEC? I’m sure they’d love to hire someone with experience on a variety of pron sites – which this kid surely has in droves – no?
at least he’s got nice clothes.
- guy who wears polo shirts while he lives at home looking for jobs he’ll never get
Life Insurance? Not only is he spoiled and narcissistic, he’s also financially illiterate. Ditto parents who are paying life insurance premiums on someone with no dependents. unless….
Wus!
-Nelson Muntz
Can’t blame him for turning down a job in Worcester. Could be the worst place I’ve ever been. Either way, I have a policy against vouching for anyone from Massachusetts. I hope he has fun watering the flowers on your mom’s dining table with his tears.
The most infuriating part of this is the dipshit could have been in Jackson Hole skiing/fishing/smoking for the last two years.
-guy who’s parents made him come home from the rockies 10 years earlier than his friends and is no longer THAT bitter about it
I graduated with a degree in “Greedy, Crooked, Homewrecking, Me Only Banking” and have shit tons of offers. Go figure.
Well Scott, the world needs ditch diggers too.
@21 – amen to that. Try being a Haitian crack-orphan
The US is fat, lazy, and in for an ass-whupping. This generation, unlike the boomers, is going to have some headwinds and not have everything handed to them. people like this kid are going caught in the middle because they grew up in a cushy environment where their parents told them to “study what you love” and “do what you love, worry about the money later” etc…
Meanwhile the Indians and Chinese kids were being hung by their fingernails for getting a 95 in calculus.
As a Colgate grad, all I can say is: Jesus. I wish I could say this is an outlier, but I’d be lying. Raiders are, more often than not, giant weirdos.
maybe the poor guy was bullied? ever think of that you smart alecs?
So a “Colgate” grad is getting “squeezed”? He’d better “brush” up on his job skills. All that big degree stuff is just “floss”.
$5 for a Zamboni/job
Sometimes you can get up to $300.00/month selling your blood plasma.
~Former Lehman Trader
@13 everywhere I go I’m making warcraft look good….so don’t give me no backtalk.
Scott, will you come and loufa my stretch mark?
@23 – They don’t cite his GPA, but give a clue. His “Dean’s award” involves getting a 3.3 GPA for four courses. Also, his cumulative GPA is below 3.3, since that’s the requirement for cum laude honor, and the article would’ve flogged that if possible. Given rampant grade inflation, I’m not impressed. See here:
http://www.colgate.edu/academics/liberalarts/academichonors.html
A PoliSci major, with B average (or lower) who can’t find a job? Cry me a river.
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sue-nicholson/a/833/a79
He turns down $40,OOO and I’m willing to negotiate my first month’s pay. Plus I went to Harvard Extension. Who the fuck does this guy think he is?
-Andrew Dunham, CFA Level 1 Candidate, Harvard Extension Certificate Receipient
Kinda balls-out hypocritical, Bess . . . what with daddy and all . . . .
http://www.observer.com/2009/slideshow/121004/bess-levin
@32 Hard for the US to compete in services when the education system is crap.
We’ve become a nation of rich and poor. Guess where Colgate ends up
he should study for the cfa
@43 – But unlike Scott, Bess was willing to be John Carney’s gopher to get a start (of course later she ran him over in a car and took his job but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do).
Eating pancakes shaped like your initials is the new killing it
No “the sheen was off” tag?
What is this Colgate University that you all speak of?
@43 I can’t even believe I’m responding to this since and am preemptively embarrassed for doing so since I mostly don’t give a fuck and I actually think (hope) you must be joking but it’s hot and I’m ornery today.
1) the hilarity of how much that article overstated the “just two little strokes of luck” that landed me in the position I am in now to respond to j/offs on the internet is immense. I randomly emailed Jesse Oxfeld having no idea he knew my father, ended up having coffee with him at which point he told me there was a site starting. I emailed elizabeth spiers, she asked for writing samples, and then hired me as an unpaid intern (which I started as the week after I graduated, being hired full time in August). oh. so. much. nepotism. at. work. (as for the carney getting hit by a car being my “second big break,” he and I were already co-editors at the time of the accident).
2) do you actually know the definition of hypocrisy, let alone balls-out hypocrisy? because my aforementioned “path” is slightly different than a kid who graduated from college two years ago turning down jobs and still living at home because he thinks he’s too good for them.
/unnecessary response which in retrospect I’ll want to delete (but won’t!) over. Let’s end things on a feel-good note:
Hold the phone – why does a guy who went to dental school want to become a financier?
-AIG Human Resources / Generalist
Yeah I don’t get it. Colgate like the toothpaste?
@43 and @50/Bess Levin
PULL A KOUWE ON THIS MAN AND REVEAL WHO HE IS!!!
or just
KOUWE ON THIS MAN!!!
AIG FP > Equities in Dallas > Insurance > Scott Nicholson
Whoah, bess, really no need to respond, now you just look overly defensive. So daddy helped you out a little, big deal, own it. Just trying to help.
Get ‘em Bess! Get him. Use a Mohawk grenade!
I know guys who took low-level jobs out of college because it was all they could get. I also know guys who were recruited by top i-banks and consulting firms.
Who is doing best now, 15 years later? Regardless of where they started, the ones who worked hard and looked for opportunities are the ones doing best. Sure, there are a couple who used rich daddy connections to land big jobs, but they soon plateaued.
My most successful friend went to UCSB, smoked pot 5 times every single day, and spent his first new years after school counting frozen chickens in a warehouse. Frustrated by the inefficiency, he quit and started a company to do it better. Now: Company sold, ~$25 million in the bank, started another company and will likely sell for $100M+
Take the adjuster job, d-bag.
@50 You mention ‘hot’ and ‘ornery’, which combined you have ‘erto horny’. Which, I think is fitting for this July 7th.
@33:
Class of ’85 here. You could see this coming then but the whole place is an utter trainwreck today.
S some D for pot my dude.
What an idiot.
1. He went to Colgate… Hope he went there b/c the school gave him a full ride OR he’s just plain retarded
2. Why turn down a job if you have no other alternatives. That’s what they teach you at Colgate folks
@57 I also went to UCSB for undergrad and am the most successful of my friends…Maybe a trend there?
Going to UCSB and not ending selling BJs to trannies is the new killing it.
Bess @ 50 … well said
================================
I need a new cleaning lady .. $25/hour ok there Scott ?????
I can suck my own dick. true story.
leave anal_yst alone!
#65 is the former Jeffries Analyst
That is one of the funniest clips I have ever seen. Bess, I want to have your baby. I am a male. I don’t care though.
Scott Nicholson? Didn’t he, like, kill his wife a few years ago?
There’s a typo in your column…it’s Worcester, MA not Worcestor
If the kid works hard to find what he wants– then he is right. He needs to open the doors, not grandpa, not mommy and daddy. If he takes a job, just to have employment, he will be stuck with a career track he never intended, never wanted, could care less about. I know. I’ve always been employed, because I took what was available, took what people expected me to be interested in doing. But not doing what I dreamed of doing. Oh I do it very well and noone knows what I think about my job. But the results are that “I just make sure I keep the trains running on time”.
@62,
Success is relative; thus, more likely than not, the company that you keep is to credit for that one.
Regards,
Not from UCSB
Adonal Foyle will be disappointed in his lack of moxie. Or maybe it’s a surplus of moxie that prevents him from taking the insurance gig? Either way, Adonal will be bummed, and it sucks to make a gentle giant cry.
in soviet russia, job hands you
Kouwe what’s with the change in identity?
Keeping the trains running on time is the new killin’ it.
@71 I think Astronaut is taken. But in the interest of banter, what’s your dream job?
What a dipshit. Seriously. Grade A dipshit material. Am I supposed to feel bad that some a-hole from Toothpaste U. can’t find the job of his dreams while he sits on his parents couch playing with himself and eating Totinos Pizza Roles? Seriously? NYT FAIL.
Why doesn’t he go OCS and join the Marine Corps? 4 years of that and he’ll have more connections, experience, and chest hair than anyone else he graduated with. Not to mention free business school via the G.I. bill.
Seriously a Grade A tool. Exactly why we’re in the shape we’re in now days. I wonder what his therapist thinks about this. Sure hope he didn’t see this site and get his feelings hurt. Fucking Pussy.
@62 so you’re saying you aren’t attractive enough to hang with the girls who got offers from Vivid?
@79 b/c the Corps has “lost its sheen”. What a whiny little bitch. Would survive about 5 seconds of contact w/ a Sgt Instructor…
S/F
Let’s face it, Scott’s a douchebag, but he has a better life than the other 82 people who commented on his being a douchebag here.
@71 – with you on this.. Too easy to slip into a job.. and regret later.
- Guy who is trying to slip out of a comfy job without regrets
@12; guess you got rejected by Colgate? Or didn’t have the credentials or stones to apply?
Japan had this same problem of entitlement since the 80s, even during the bubble, now there are 10 million regressing 20-30 somethings that are perpetual unskilled service workers. “Parasite singles” as they are called.
@37
Even better you can get $350 in one month by selling your virgin rectum to the public masturbator that stares at you from his bench every time you walk by Needle Park. AIDS ruins the monthly blood plasma opportunity, but keep in mind $350 >$300.
-former AIG quant
I wouldnt give this bum a mop job….
Seems his decision to take a particular job or hold out is his decision. But if he had a modicum of self-respect, he’d at least take a part time job to pay his way at home (including rent). And, since he appears to have a distinctly mediocre resume, he should probably stop bitching that he can’t get a high-flying role in a weak job market.
This kid has his head screwed on right. Top firms will recognize and respect his principled decision not to do work that is unrewarding and beneath him and will value that depth of character more than kids who will prostitute their core values by rolling up their sleeves and doing whatever some pencil pushing middle manager asks them to do just for a paycheck. Stick to your guns Scott!
having your parents pay your rent, student loans, cell phone bill, life insurance policy and totino’s pizza rolls is the new nailing your potential secretary in the A
@69. I think you’re looking for Scott Petersen. The clown from San Diego who dumped mom and the kid in the Pacific?
@55 Congratulations on your successful emulation of the village idiot, especially with your response in @55.
Oh wait, you ARE the village idiot. I was nearly fooled.
Scott went all in on red but the ball landed on black. Place your bets.
State Street Corp. Fund Accountant. $34k/yr plus O/T. MBTA Worcester line…departs Grafton Center at 7:49am, arrives at South Station at 9:09am. South Station has a Micky D’s, ABP, and Cosi, Breakfast options galore. Winning.
Some commentators are claiming that the individual interviewed in this article is wrong not to take the $40,000 job. While I think that the reporter could’ve picked a more hard-up case in the 18-24 demographic, even one unexpectedly so, statistics do show that dead-end low wage jobs could actually recess this man’s wages over his lifetime, harming him as much as helping him as college graduates in the next asset boom start out making his career wage and set themselves on the fast-track. This man may be making a rational decision, and the ground situation by which he makes this decision is determined by economic factors beyond his control–the point of the article, I believe.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=8701294
Being unemployed and raising petunias in Farmville is the new killin’ it
@95
I think everyone’s objecting to the fact that your talking about ’06 reasoning, not ’10 reasoning. Will taking a claims adjuster job make it tougher for him to be CEO of the company one day? Probably, but what makes him think CEO is an option in the first place.
P.S. What job seeker only sends out 4-5 resumes a week and sends them in to the corporate website nonetheless? Need to be sending 4-5 by lunch and making more phone calls…
97 rant continued…
And is this MF’r out there offering to help out/intern for free just to stay in the game?
-’04 grad who rants about the pussification of America…
@95 – Agree completely. I think most employers will look past the several years of post-graduation nothingness and will see the potential he has. Years from now he will look back at the years he spend sending out almost one resume day as the foundation of a great career.
Hey Scott, hold on to your dreams… impossible is nothing. Have you considered making a video?
- Alexei
I am trying to find Scott Nicholson. If you know him, will you please share this link with him? http://dearerin.com/?p=283
It is an idea that can save his behind.
Agree with 98. I came in during a crummy market too (September ’01–not as bad as now, but certainly seemed like it could get worse than it did) and took what I could get. I interned, worked for 10 bucks an hour, etc. Not saying I’ve made it or anything, but I do look at resumes and interview folks where I work. If I saw someone who was content to fart around at home for a period of YEARS, I’d be worried about their ability to even get into the swing of work. What a boring individual. I dream about having a week or two to vegetate, but seriously, not even volunteering for political campaigns, tutoring kids to meet hot, mothering types of young recent teaching college grads, nothing? No imagination or drive. That’s what this resume tells me.
Three words: pa-thet-ic.
Sometimes you’ve just got to man up and… SUCK… DICK.
I’m vastly disappointed I didn’t get a single bump, especially with the Colgate connection and all.
-36
He needs to use his own hand to do the job…
@18 – The Soviet Union is dead. This joke needs to be buried along with it.
@99, 102
Donny Deutsch, and a lot of wealthy brats spend a few years post grad traveling or lounging on a beach somewhere, before they start raking. Flawed logic if you think that equates to an inability to “get into the swing of work” when the time comes. It’s all about how the kids sells himself.
@53 – She could take ExLax first and make it a gooey-Kouwe!
@102. I completely agree. Even if he doesn’t like doing things with other people or whatever he could at least fucking, I don’t know, read every book by Tolstoy (or whoever) and write a monograph about it. That would be strange but I can handle strange. Fucktarted, however, I can’t.
-guy who also interviews people and would seriously question wtf is mentally damaged with this kid
This kid has had the easiest life. It’s kids with entitlement issues like Scott Nicholson that are bringing down this country. We’ll all be slaves to the Chinese and Indians in a few decades if more college graduates think like him.
Comments 1-108 are from a bunch of disgruntled lizard brains programmed by a school system to comply to this routine we call “real life”. I’d wager 100 of the 108 that commented entertain the idea of suicide on a weekly basis, but find the need to harp on how Scott should start subscibing to their shitty lifestyle.
Bravo to Scott for going against the grain.
- Purple cow
@112. I’d agree except that he’s not “going against the grain.” He’s going to end up in the same clusterfuck as the rest of us programmed fucks. The only difference from the norm is his sense of entitlement and the financial backing of his parents that allow this to even occur.
Gramps Nicholson: So, what are you gonna do now?
Scott Nicholson: Nobody’s hiring now. The market’s terrible.
GN: So what are you gonna do?
SN: I like sports. I could do something in sports.
GN: Uh-huh. Uh-huh. In what capacity?
SN: You know, like the general manager of a baseball team or something.
GN: Yeah. Well, that – that could be tough to get.
SN: Well, it doesn’t even have to be the general manager. Maybe I could be like, an announcer. Like a caller man. You know how I always make those interesting comments during the game.
GN: Yeah. Yeah. You make good comments.
SN: What about that?
GN: Well, they tend to give those jobs to ex-ballplayers and people that are, you know, in broadcasting.
SN: Well, that’s really not fair.
GN: I know. Well, okay. Okay. What else do ya like?
SN: Movies. I like to watch movies.
GN: Yeah. Yeah.
SN: Do they pay people to watch movies?
GN: Projectionists.
SN: That’s true.
GN: But you gotta know how to work the projector.
SN: Right.
GN: And it’s probably a union thing.
SN: [scoffs] Those unions. [sighs] Okay. Sports,…movies. What about a talk show host?
GN: Talk show host. That’s good.
SN: I think I’d be good at that. I talk to people all the time. Someone even told me once they thought I’d be a good talk show host.
GN: Really?
SN: Yeah. A couple of people. I don’t get that, though. Where do you start?
GN: Well, that’s where it gets tricky.
SN: You can’t just walk into a building and say ” I wanna be a talk show host.”
GN: I wouldn’t think so.
SN: It’s all politics.
Scott – get a fucking job. Champions start at the bottom. Douchebags start above the bottom and suck wind for the rest of their lives.
Bess – You are very cute. Also, any blownad who thinks that from what is mentioned in that story, you “got a lucky break,” is a complete moron. Sounds to me like you worked and earned your place.
111 – don’t worry, Karma will catch up to the douchebags, one way or another.
112 – Scott is not ‘going against the grain’ – he is living in a fantasy world where he will be unable to cope with the slightest difficulty that comes up later in life. I predict he’ll get married, his coddling parents will pass away at some point, he’ll become a self-pitying alcoholic (apologies to any alcoholics for whom this was not their path to alcoholism), he’ll ruin the lives of his wife and children, she’ll divorce him, life will get ‘too tough,’ and he’ll jump off a bridge or something.
Scott: You WORK to EARN RESPECT. Get off your ass you little turd.
114 – Perfect. How his idiot parents and grandparents haven’t done this yet, baffles me.
Does he think this article will help him find a job?
A good friend of mine has two kids and is out of a job right now. Spins the wheels like a f’n madman and has been for about a year–works on tons of projects pro bono for anyone with a remotely reasonable idea and begs for lunch/coffee/drinks whenever possible, but they’re writing an article about this kid…
@95 – Doesn’t doing and making nothing recess his wages over time?
Maybe you can give this kid a job to bring in a fresh perspective to Dealbreaker. He’s gotta be funnier than you, Bess.
Scott,
Don’t listen to these Ivy league schmucks. Create your own path and soon enough they’ll all be sucking your kneecaps.
GoGe
@120, ?
@114 you sure that wasn’t W. talking to dad George HW?
@57 – I call b.s. on your story about your buddy. I’ve looked into it and there is no such company, no such UCSB grad. Sweet try.
You know, I’ve come across a bunch of these types in my lifetime, but never I have been so astounded by one as young Mr. N. This kid was offered a $40,000 a year job to start, and he had the temerity to turn it down.
This kid totally believes (attitudes reinforced, I am sure, by Colgate, as well as his $$$-sucking family) that he is some sort of elite worker who should just walk into a high-paying job just because of who he is, and where he went to school.
The world, esp. America is full of these types, and it is truly sickening. Kid, you take the jobs where you can get them; and stop sponging off Mom and Dad for all your living expenses! It’s time to get out there and work, asshole.
The Sheen is also off his nuggets apparently~! He would have been AWOL from the Marines in 3 months from what his lack of character is showing the world – amiright? amiright???
also – is anyone remotely entertaining the idea that in addition to his -let’s just come out and say it – “worthless-in-finance/business world” Poli Sci major and History minor, he may be a total D-Bag in an interview?? Does anyone doubt he welled up when the interviewer basically crushed him with the “your big brother is so much higher than this role” comment?? How does “crying” play in the interview process.. for guys?
I cry today not for his situation, but for his poor parents.. and his grandparents who shelled out all that good cash on this weenie! If that were my kid he would not be working either, but only because he would have been hospitalized after agreeing to this woe is me interview… metaphorically speaking of course.
That being said, I wish him all the best. No, I do.
I prefer Crest to be honest
The boy is unemployable now. What is he thinking? Holding out for 6 months? Ok, I can respect that, but more than that… I could not hire him in good conscience because of the attitude and lack of vision.
If he had started in a lowly job and he is really that good, by now he would have low level supervisory role. From there with a good GMAT he could aim for a top 40 MBA. He could also have gone travelling, joined an NGO, started a home business, etc.
Instead he just sat at home. What a waste and what a sad end to a smart young man
Okay no seriously though, what the fuck is Colgate University?
-49
this is fucking irrevocably retarded. what a fucking idiot. and people wonder why smart people get to make so much money. waaa. cry some more, you mediocre fucks.
@49/guy not from the northeast-
It’s actually a pretty well-respected small college in upstate NY. Ranked like 18th or so for lib arts colleges by US news, for what it’s worth.
-guy who went to a top 17 lib arts college but has friends that went to ‘Gate
No one is going to hire a person with a 2 year post-grad gap on their resume. He should’ve taken the adjuster job and hustled his was into another company in the next couple years.
@131
Stop speaking in absolutes. Scottie will be fine.
Not sure who’s to blame most…
This kid obviously does not make good decisions, as evidenced by his turning down the $40k job – duh. He is a member of the way-too-large “entitled” crowd. He is ill-informed and out of touch.
The school he went to is keeping its students ill-informed about expectations. How else can they make you feel good about the huge debt they are putting you under – right?
The parent are enablers – enough said.
NY Times – awful “report” and write up. The American Dream is alive and well – but only for those willing to work for it.
I myself went to Colgate. Hell of a school…all you grads of University of Southeastern [insert shitty state here] A&M that are hating on ‘Gate can juggle my hairy golf balls.
@101 is that / are you a joke?
Fun Fact: My source says that Scott gave her friend chlamydia and that he is “widely regarded as a douchebag.” Nice to see that karma sometimes works.
I went to Colgate and I can safely say that the only way to the top is to work your @ss off. If he thinks the job he takes out of college is going impact his future that badly, he doesn’t understand how to take charge of life = mediocre
Good luck getting hired. Sad day for a good school.
Dear Scott-You are a idiot. Good news is that you will have years to practice not working now that your name will forever be linked by internet when someone googles “guy too lazy to take a job but wants to go into a high pressure finance job”
Scottie—Got out of college during the worst recession since depression (before this one). Took a job as an assistant claims adjuster at an insurance company. They paid my way through law school. went to wall street as a lawyer for several years. Then Ibanking; now private equity. I know your situation is tough, I really feel for you. Can’t believe your parent’s reminded you that they are are paying your cell bill and insurance. Mine never said that to me (because they didn’t pay my bills). Tip of the hat to my son, who showed me this story and this site as we are relaxing in Europe before he starts his career as an ibank analyst in two weeks. Scott–your job and mine are now similar in that we both have the time to wax lyrically in print. Only difference is a) i have a job (and you don’t) and b) my name is not out there as someone who really, really wants to live at home for the rest of his life. You are a lucky man to have a father and grandfather who still want to have their picture taken with you. My advice–change your name and go get a job.
What chick would ever fuck this guy while he’s living at home? Life isn’t rocket surgery.
Scott’s mother says he has “a good work ethic” but there is not one shred of evidence to support that claim. With an all expense-paid sojurn at Colgate, the best he could manage was to get on the Dean’s list one or two semesters. I’m sure though, that he had classmates who earned “cum laude” honors (3.3 overall GPA) while working 20+ hours/week for all four years at crummy jobs to supplement loans.
What did Scott, a son of privilege do during his college summers? We don’t know but we can be sure that if he had taken a low paying internship to get experience and make contacts, it would have been mentioned. And if he had ever done manual labor at his father’s company, he wouldn’t have dreamt of turning down the insurance adjuster’s job. He probably spent his college summers doing just what he’s doing now: picking up pocket change by taking work from truly ambitious, under-aged, high-schoolers for whom yard work is often the only option.
Scott is just too special to toil with the rest of us; a paying job or ordinary military service is not good enough. Anything less than a special management or elite military program is not to be considered.
@ 141: Carla, my guess is that dear Scottso probably spent his summers partying his white ass off with the fellas, and running up obscene bar bills. That is, when he was not lounging about with Mom and Dad on some cruise ship, or at some exclusive resort in the Bahamas or Cozumel.
The harsh reality for a lot of these well-bred (hah!), well-connected little brats is that the world has changed. The economic downfall of this nation, like much of the world has hit even the wealthy. I heard today that the rich are also defaulting on home loans; something like million-dollar mortgages.
Welcome back to Earth, folks. Oh, by the way: Scott, according to the NYT is only sending out four or five resumes a week. Okay, I’m sure they look good and the cover letters are well-crafted, but that’s not enough. Dude has to really start hitting any place that might consider him, even after this piece.
139 FTW
@142 agreed. I dont get how these kids (my peers) do this and end up like this.
Too many smart, previleged kids with no hustle or street smarts. This is what happens when you are ushered throughout your entire life and suddenly the trail ends. Time to hustle and man-up. I went to a non-target party school, worked fulltime while going to school fulltime and partying full-time. Basically working 3 full-time jobs!
For those asking WTF is Colgate, I proudly went there and will answer your question: As Life Magazine once commented, Colgate is ” … For the businessman’s son who can’t quite make the Ivy League.”
I was a political science major as well. Luckily, after realizing that I was not a scientist, I went to law school. I now make what would probably be considered by most as a good salary, but if you divide it by the number of hours that I work, I might as well just work at Burger King.
Colgate is a toothpaste and its also a college that recently earned the top spot in a salary study of liberal arts colleges, the mid career income is $122k. It doesn’t hurt the rankings that he makes $0.00 because I make 10 times that, thanks Colgate!
http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges
@146 Hold on, 10 times $0.00? 10*0.00 = ?
Looks like that Colgate education is really paying off!
@147: I think he meant 10 times $122k. If that makes you sad, well, that’s because it should.
@148 I KNOW that’s what he MEANT. Did 146 learn terrible English grammar at Colgate, too? Pure BS…just some undergrad punk trying to make Colgate sound better. I guess that’s the great thing about an anonymous message board, right?
@139 Amen for the real killing it!
all, wow, stop bitching and get off your ass and get a job. Question; how many in the top 1% (tax bracket) are ivy grades that waited for the “right” job.
I’d feel like a fucking loser to be at the house X>20…..
Poor Scott, thinking he’d land a similar position to the classmate who’s working at Goldman after graduating summa cum laude (while interning and networking up the wazoo). As a fellow Colgate grad (class of 2009), I’d like to say, fuck you Scott. It’s no fun when your colleagues make fun of you all day in the lab because some misguided idiot who only represents a small subset of the population takes his sob story into the wild. And oh yeah, just in case, check him out on facebook, he’s the one in the middle of his profile pic. Stay classy Colgate!
The thousands of blog commentaries about the choices by Scott Nicholson have been most elucidating, and un-nerving. One reputable insurance company offered him a nice-paying job plus open-ended opportunities, where he could earn multiples of his current income (only if you include parental subsidies for cellphone, rent, food, maid service, etc.), despite zero relevant experience. The US Marine Corp offered to let him re-apply for officer candidate school, despite hints of the poor leadership and decision-making which would doom troops on the battlefield to come home in Ziploc bags. What did he do? He dismissively kicked both organizations in the teeth, by specifically disparaging what they generously risked to offer him.
Sympathy is tough to muster now, especially with all the other far more deserving, humble, grateful, and hard-working others looking for safe harbor in this generational economic storm. Throw him an anchor.
@151 Really, one look at that facebook picture says it all. Sandwiched between light blue pants and pocket square-in-blazer-guy sipping chardonnay. Seems like such a tool I’m actually starting to feel for this guy.
@154: More like his parents are, if it’s true they’re making “subtle” threats to cut him off at the bollocks.
wtf! I wanna puke
this guy nauseates me
http://jobs.hanover.com/go/Claims-Jobs-at-The-Hanover/218380/?title=adjuster&location=&date=
Good news. The job seems to have been filled, no longer listed on the Hanover site. The peril to his career has passed. Time to crawl out of the foxhole and grab a parent-subsidized Starbucks caramel mocchiato, in order to proceed at his current, better, home-based career opportunity.
Surely Colgate has nothing on a really top notch business school like Fordham
This guy will skate for a few more years, nail his GMATs and ride it out at Stern.
High GMAT scores will be insufficient, if there are years of dead space in lieu of work experience. Indeed, where would he get written recommendations, often vital to apply for graduate school?
Nah – Stern doesn’t require a premium post-college job posting, unlike a HBS or Wharton. It’s full of guys like this – putz around for a few years, study hard for GMATs and boom-presto: job.
kinda glad i couldnt get into school now (money and weird issues, had great test scores an ap leg up). have done well with smarts and hustle alone (guess looks dont hurt) what a bunch of over privileged tools though. there is an amazing issue with guys like this born into money at 3rd and thinking they hit a double. Alas these are the guys who will ride out the eco-storm s they have cash to fall back on (and what mommy dont luv her lil princey wincy?) these are the guys that will tell the ghost writers how they couldnt get a job in a terrible market (on princiPAL of course) but somehow managed to rise, trump like, from the ashes…cripes
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704288204575362763101099660.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_news
Scott can apply his college training here.