Georgia Mom Holds 'Hiring Event' for Her Three Kids to Teach Them About Money and the Workforce

"Whether they're applying for school or a new job ... they can look back and say, 'I did this with Mom all those years ago,' " said Shaketha McGregor

Photo: Courtesy Shaketha Marion McGregor

A Dublin, Georgia-based single mom of three just set the parenting bar super high with her creative method of teaching her kids the value of money and hard work.

In a now-viral Facebook post shared on Aug. 13, Shaketha McGregor explained that she planned a “surprise” for her children — daughters Serinity, 6, and Takeia, 10, plus son Jahkeem, 13 — for when they got home from school, only for their faces to fall a bit when they learned what she was up to: a “hiring event.”

“When they came through the door it was kind of like a, ‘Yay!’ to an ‘Ohhhh. Really?’ ” McGregor, 30, told Good Morning America of her experiment, which saw her set up a “job fair” for the siblings where they’d need to “apply” for jobs at home to earn the money they’d been requesting for things like cell phones and social activities.

“I was like, ‘I don’t want to just give it to them,’ ” added McGregor, who now works for the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice but faced two big money-related challenges in the recent past: She battled cancer in 2016, before a 2018 house fire where the family lost most of their possessions.

“I want to do something different to make them work for [the money] this time around so they will appreciate it more,” she said in her GMA interview.

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Shaketha McGregor’s “job fair” for her kids.

Shaketha McGregor’s “credit union” for her kids.

Shaketha McGregor and her kids.

The three jobs up for grabs, alongside a clever ad for an offer to teach them how to build their credit? Kitchen Manager, Lead Housekeeper and Laundry Supervisor. And despite the kids’ initial reservations, things suddenly turned competitive in the application pool.

“I’m so sorry, son. I love you though lol,” read an Aug. 14 post on McGregor’s Facebook page, which displayed a rejection e-mail to Jahkeem for a job that ultimately went to his little sister Serinity.

“My 6-year-old, I was more impressed with her application and her interview than my 13-year-old,” McGregor told GMA (and yes, she had them fill out actual paper applications and interview with her!). “And she said she could start immediately, and he needed a few days before he could start and she was a cheaper hire.”

That didn’t mean Jahkeem didn’t have another opportunity. As his mom explained in the letter, “We still have the Kitchen Manager position available and we are willing to negotiate a higher pay if you are willing to accept.”

Shaketha McGregor.

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Just over a week since McGregor’s initial post, it has racked up an astonishing 212,000 reactions, 35,000 comments and 130,000 shares.

But as the working mom and Mirror Mirror author explained to GMA, she was just looking to get her kids “a little bit familiar with the process” now, so they’ll be prepared when they grow up and are entering the workforce.

“Whether they’re applying for school or a new job or something, they can look back and say, ‘I did this with Mom all those years ago,’ ” McGregor said.

“Adulthood happens and it happens hard and sometimes you’re just not prepared for it,” she added. “As a parent you want to protect your children from as much as possible but you know that eventually they’re going to have to go through it on their own and that’s why life’s greatest lessons are through experience.”