Pharmacist Tells Sister In College To Turn Down A Job Offer After Being Told Her Salary Would Be $55,000 A Year
MAYA LAB / Shutterstock A college degree doesn't exactly provide the return on investment it once did, thanks to our difficult job market. Still, one woman had high hopes for her sister's first job post-grad and was unhappy with the job offer she received.
Finding an acceptable job after college graduation is not so easy these days, especially if you're looking for something that pays well and has a positive work culture. In fact, according to The Washington Post, recent graduates are more likely to be unemployed than other workers.
The woman advised her sister not to take the job offer because she believed the pay was too low.
Pharmacist and entrepreneur Dr. Najifa Choudhury wrote in her TikTok bio that she is “sharing ways for you to become wealthier and healthier.” It only makes sense that she would want her sister to do the same. However, there are conflicting views online about whether she gave her sister the right advice.
In a video on the app, Choudhury shared “the low job offer [her] sister just got.” She explained that her sister is about to graduate, having double majored in supply chain and business.
“She literally got a job offer for $55,000 a year,” Choudhury said. “And I told her not to take it because, honestly, you can make almost that much working at Starbucks without a college degree.”
Choudhury admitted that she felt conflicted about the advice she gave her sister regarding the job. “I don’t know if I gave her the right advice,” she said. “But I just thought $55,000 a year was so low, and I told her to keep job hunting.”
Many did not agree with Choudhury’s estimate of what Starbucks employees make each year or with the advice she gave her sister.
Choudhury made a follow-up video in which she addressed a comment from a user who argued that no one actually makes that much money at Starbucks and that her sister should take the job.
“So, I live in California, and actually, California’s new minimum wage law for fast food workers is $20 an hour,” she explained. “If you do the math, $20 an hour equates to almost … $42,000 a year, which is pretty close to $55,000 if you ask me. So, yes, in California, Starbucks workers do make a lot of money.”
Choudhury also said that initially she wanted her sister to take the job and continue looking for something else, as the commenter suggested. However, she decided that wasn’t a good option due to the nature of the job.
“The thing is, even though she graduates in May, they want her to start working right away as an intern and then transition her to a full-time gig,” she said. “And, so, if she starts working there full-time right now, then she wouldn’t have the bandwidth or time to network and look for another job.”
Many commenters still disagreed with the woman's advice, noting that her sister does not have the leverage to negotiate as a recent graduate and that "she still needs professional experience and has to start somewhere."
The job offer Choudhury’s sister got does align with common offers for new college graduates.
CNBC took a look at survey information gathered by Real Estate Witch. They found that “today’s undergraduates expect to make about $84,855 one year after graduation.”
However, the reality is not nearly so high. “The average starting salary for recent graduates is just shy of $56,000, Real Estate Witch found, a difference of nearly $30,000,” they wrote.
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Therefore, according to statistics, Choudhury’s sister’s $55,000 offer is almost identical to what a college graduate can expect. This fits with what TikTok commenters said, with the overwhelming majority insisting that Choudhury gave her sister bad advice.
During a time when the economy is so unpredictable, it is often more important to ensure you have something to fall back on, even if you don’t think it’s the best or highest-paying option out there. Choudhury’s sister would be smart to take the job, even if she still wants to look for something else in the meantime.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
