Adventures in Babysitting: Does Babysitting Count As 'Employed Upon Graduation'?

A babysitting gig that almost taunts the law students who will undoubtedly apply...

We’ve done a surprising number of stories about law school career service officers who push babysitting gigs on their unemployed students. I say “surprising” because after our first story, you’d think law schools would figure out that law students don’t like being put up for jobs that they could have secured in high school.

Since that first one, most CSO personnel and other law school staffers have figured out that babysitting jobs are best when the employer is a professor or somebody else connected with the law school. Then it’s less of a “career of last resort” and more of “helping out a member of your community” (who happens to be well-connected).

But it looks like one school has regressed to the point of just insulting its students with a babysitting ad that kind of rubs salt in the unemployment wound….

A student at the University of Tulsa College of Law sent in this latest missive, which a law school administrator sent out to the College of Law listserv. Here’s how the student describes the babysitting ad:

Our Dean of Student Affairs at the University of Tulsa is constantly bombarding student inboxes with ridiculous emails via our school’s listserv. Most are just annoying, but some are also weird. The email in question was basically an ad from a local attorney who was looking for a babysitter.

I’m not sure if she a). didn’t read it before forwarding it on the listserv, b). thought it was amusing, or more likely, c). had some connection to the attorney, and did them a favor by forwarding it.

You actually have to see some of the ad to get a bead on how totally insulting it is. And this isn’t for a professor, but from a “local attorney” who seems to be hiring sitters, not associates. Imagine being, say, $50K in debt, with no job in sight, and then getting this in your email inbox:

Sponsored

Part Time CEO* Position

Seeking CEO to support domestic functions in a busy household. Duties include chaos restraint, snack procurement and distribution, minimalization/elimination of emergency response unit visits, animal control; decoding of educational communications…

*Child Entertainment Officer

Oh, hahaha, it’s a play on the “CEO” acronym. That’s so funny because it sounds like something that a person with three years of post-graduate education might want to achieve, but is actually just one of the few menial jobs that is available to recent graduates. Hahahahaha / gun.

You can see the full ad on the next page. You’ll see that the attorney is looking for help from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

That’s important — usually when law school staffers post silly jobs like this, they claim that they didn’t really “read” the ad and appreciate what was going on. But the Tulsa Law administrator who published this can’t say that. Here’s the email that the job was attached to:

So she read it. But you know what really irked our tipster?

Sponsored

Whatever the reason, many of my fellow students and myself feel like it is inappropriate for her to send these emails via our listserv. Especially considering the school’s strict policy on what items can be sent via the listserv.

You can’t say that your listserv is only for serious postings, and then try to get people babysitting gigs.

But, as usual with these stories, the insult isn’t going to stop people from applying. There aren’t enough jobs to go around. These days we’re seeing some pretty well credentialed babysitters and bartenders.

(Click through to the next page to see the full ad.)