Hi All,
I am very much in need of advice.
I am a May 2015 college graduate and I began working 9 days after graduation at one of the big three media companies (ABC,NBC,CBS—dont want to give out too many details haha) as part of a unique program where I shadow VPs and rotate thru dif depts for a year. I am making 45k–modest to some but it’s a start for me.
For the past couple of months, however, my mentor, whose an older alum from my high school, has been trying to recruit me to join what hes doing. Hes an entrepreneur, multimillionaire, econ consultant to a struggling city’s mayor and works on projects across the country and has great connections with a lot of important people. This sounds like a great opp and I am interested in entrepreneurship and economics and not working a 9-5p but he isn’t offering me any money. He told me to quit my job to work under him and he’ll get my name out there and I can work on projects that will look great on my resume.
My family is adamantly against me quitting my job because they think it’s crazy to go work for a millionaire for free when he has the money to at least give me $100/week lol. But the end of the day, i feel like working with this guy might be a once in a lifetime opp.
I need help deciding whether to quit my job by next week. Should i go work for free or should i make this guy pay me if he’s telling me to quit my job? My concern is being taken advantage of.
Any advice is appreciated
Why exactly isn’t he willing to pay you? Does a request for you to quit a job with benefits and a future for being a glorified unpaid assistant sound respectful to you?
I’m with your parents on this one.
There have been lots of discussions about unpaid internships…and basically the summation is this is beneficial only to the employer. They get free labor.
You have a job with a top company…where you are gaining valuable experience. Your name should get circulated well,there too if you do a good job.
I would not take unpaid job with this “mentor” who most definitely could hire you if he so chose.
Will you be able to support yourself if you get no pay? If not, it’s a no-brainer. I suspect you might be burning some bridges if you leave your network job, and that might be bad for your future career. If the guy was offering you say 100K a year to take the risk, then sure, why not. But he’s not offering to pay you at all, so I’m not sure why you would even consider it.
Why on earth isn’t this mentor offering you a salary and benefits? Doe he expect your parents to feed/clothe/house/provide transportation/pay off your student loans while you are working on his projects?
Thank him for his offer, and tell him that you’d like to discuss any opportunities he has to offer you when you’ve completed a year at your current job. You will be even more valuable to his organization after you’ve had that experience.
Ah thanks for your answers! He does not have a firm but is a consultant to a major city mayor’s office and works on investing in businesses…he’s an angel investor basically
I don’t care what he does. He is being abundantly cheap with this “offer” to you. It benefits no one but him.
I would thank him for,the offer, and say you would be interested in discussing employment (paid) opportunities when you have sufficient experience to do so.
Then stay at your current job.
What would you do to support yourself while working for free? Just tell the guy that you would love to work with him but you can’t afford it right now, and that you would like to get a year under your belt at your current place of employ. Either he will pony up or he won’t, and even then you will have to think about whether his job is really going to open any doors for you. While you may think your current salary is modest, it’s a very respectable post-grad salary in the industry you are currently in, and I would think twice before letting that job go.
And i have very little student debt and i currently live at home so technically i can support myself with no pay but i don’t want to have to go through that unless it’s neccesary or more particularly, normal. He made it seem like this is how young entrepreneurs begin and i should follow suit. Sounds more like free labor to me lol
Thank you all for these thorough responses. I am not as wise as I would like to believe !
I’m willing to bet that the VP’s that you’re shadowing at the major network have a lot more connections than the “entrepreneur”. They’re millionaires too.
“And i have very little student debt and i currently live at home so technically i can support myself with no pay”
Wrong! Who is paying for the food and mortgage?
He will still be your mentor in a year. And he may even still be a millionaire in a year. And you will be someone with a year’s worth of experience under your belt at a major company which is paying you a living wage.
Tell him you need to table the discussion for a year since you are not in a position to work for free right now.
And don’t look back.
This really shows the generational divide. My peers are calling me dumb for not taking the guy’s offer but my parents and you all on this forum are against it. Im leaning towards trusting the parents tho 
@strongbeans12: I am confused why a multimillionaire is unable to offer you a salary. Also, just so you’re aware, the “job” he is offering is illegal.
Ask him if he would work for free. Ask him if you were to work for free, would you be getting any equity in his company. It is technically illegal to not pay for someone’s work unless he/she is getting school credit. You also can’t do work otherwise would be done by paid worker.
And while you are at it…discuss your living costs with your parents. We gave our kids a limited amount of time living here at no cost. Then we asked for a modest amount of rent.
It shows a lack of respect for him to ask you to quit your very good job to “work” for him. Sorry, but I would never allow anyone I cared about to do volunteer work when they have a good job already.
On occasion I interact professionally with “millionaires” who are “consultants” to governors, senators, mayors, etc. and they would never expect a new college grad to leave a professional position to work for them for free. Others have pointed out how odd this would be – let me add the word “creepy.”
Yes, tell him that you want to commit to work for a full year for your current employer and then you will be available to discuss the terms of your employment with him. Suggest you will have more skills then and be willing to command a higher salary. Also tell him that you are open to any good networking opportunities he can provide.