GRAFTON, Mass. — After breakfast, his parents left for their jobs, and Scott Nicholson, alone in the house in this comfortable suburb west of Boston, went to his laptop in the living room. He had placed it on a small table that his mother had used for a vase of flowers until her unemployed son found himself reluctantly stuck at home.

The daily routine seldom varied. Mr. Nicholson, 24, a graduate of Colgate University, winner of a dean’s award for academic excellence, spent his mornings searching corporate Web sites for suitable job openings. When he found one, he mailed off a résumé and cover letter — four or five a week, week after week.

Over the last five months, only one job materialized. After several interviews, the Hanover Insurance Group in nearby Worcester offered to hire him as an associate claims adjuster, at $40,000 a year. But even before the formal offer, Mr. Nicholson had decided not to take the job.

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.

“The conversation I’m going to have with my parents now that I’ve turned down this job is more of a concern to me than turning down the job,” he said.

As a parent my next words would be of support, encouragement and "pack your bags you idiot spawn of my loins, sorry I failed to raise you as a intelligent human being, may the world be a better teacher."

First, his Dad is employed but they don't mention anything about his Mom. Dad is a manager of a tool manufacturer, and the household has an annual income of $175k.

Second, it sounds like he's recently out of college doing quite well. Based on his age and taking the claims of his competitiveness and work ethic at face value, I have to assume that he has a Masters degree. Depending on the field he's in, he very well could command a salary much higher than $40k/year. If so, it would be completely stupid for him to jump too quickly on a lower paying job instead of at least trying to find something within his field.

Finally, $40k isn't the same everywhere. $40k is a decent lower-middle class income here in Minneapolis, but they are in the Boston area and the cost of living is MUCH higher up there. I suspect that $40k there would be the equivelant to something like 26-30k here.

If you read the rest of the article, he has a BA in political science. That's not exactly a degree that is way up there in demand.

Sure, he was a good student. But it's not like he has an MBA (even though that's worthless without job experience to back it), or even a degree in business, finance, or accounting. Or a degree in one of the sciences or engineering.

Not only that, but at the end of the article, his current plan?

To find a job tending bar or working at a temp agency.

That's gonna look MUCH better on a resume than the job he turned down, for sure...

I just don't have much patience for this. Sure, he doesn't have any debt. Why? Because he had everything paid for by his grandparents and parents. He's spending their money so he can sit on his *** instead of getting an entry level job and working his way up.

A BA in political science with a minor in history does not really qualify you for a managerial position in a big corporation, which is what he wants.

However, it appears from the article that he just graduated. In my mind 2 months is too soon to abandon trying to get into a job within your chosen field and to settle for "anything". It is the epitome of penny wise and pound foolish.

Now, if we fast forward this say 4-6 months and there's still no sign of anything within your field, then you need to take a hard look at anything that is a resonable position.

Over the last five months, only one job materialized. After several interviews, the Hanover Insurance Group in nearby Worcester offered to hire him as an associate claims adjuster, at $40,000 a year. But even before the formal offer, Mr. Nicholson had decided not to take the job.

What's the cost of living in Mass?