College grads venturing out into the corporate world should, by now, know the ins and outs of the job interview process.
Dress smart. Project confidence. Know how to answer that boilerplate question, “What’s your biggest flaw?” Don’t bring your parents along.
Wait, what? Come again? Yes, it seems the safe-space generation apparently needs mommy and/or daddy to show up as they try to land their dream job.
According to a survey by Resume Templates, 26 percent of those ages 18 to 27 brought along a parent to a job interview — and that’s just the beginning of the disturbing findings from the survey, conducted in April among 1,428 U.S.-based respondents who said they had searched for a job in the last year.
“Gen Z has a reputation for lacking the independence, motivation, and real-world knowledge to contribute in the workplace,” the employment resource provider said in a media release.
That’s putting it mildly.
“Many Gen Z’ers involve their parents in their interview process. In fact, 26 percent of all Gen Zers who have undergone a job search in the past year say that they have taken a parent to an interview,” the media release read.
“Of Gen Z’ers who brought their parent(s), 31 percent had a parent accompany them to an in-person interview, while 29 percent had them join a virtual interview.
“For those who had a parent come to an in-person interview, 37 percent say that their parent accompanied them to the office, 26 percent say their parent physically sat in the interview room, and 18 percent say their parent introduced themselves to the manager. Additionally, 7 percent say their parents answered questions.”
Is Gen Z too coddled?
Of those Gen Z’ers who attended virtual interviews, 71 percent said that the parent was off-camera and 29 percent of parents joined Zoom interviews with their children.
There are no words.
Another 24 percent of Gen Z respondents said their parents submitted job applications for them and 18 percent said their parents wrote their resume from scratch for them. (Only 13 percent wrote the cover letter from scratch, thank heavens.)
“The top reasons Gen Z’ers ask their parents to complete and submit their applications include thinking their parents’ work is better (46 percent), not knowing how to communicate with hiring managers (34 percent), being unmotivated (32 percent), and poor mental health (22 percent),” the media release read.
“The number of employment opportunities and complexity of the job market are factors causing Gen Z’ers to seek parental help,” said Andrew Stoner, an executive resume writer for the firm.
“Knowing what a company does, verifying its legitimacy, and understanding what a specific job entails are tasks that can be challenging for someone without any formal work experience. A parent’s help should bolster a child’s development and eventual independence.”
“While a parent writing a resume or cover letter isn’t necessarily an ethical concern, a child should be ready to fully discuss every aspect of their resume with a potential employer,” he added.
“Broadly speaking, Gen Z can become more independent through a healthy partnership; one that is led by a willing parent and develops critical life skills.”
Now, a caveat — while Resume Templates does a great deal of market research into trends in the employment market, it’s also in the business of selling resume services. Furthermore, this appears to be more of an informal survey than a rigorous poll.
That being said, do you know what the number of 18- to 27-year-old job seekers bringing parents to job interviews should be? Zero. Zilch. Nada. No matter how informal the poll, there shouldn’t be a. single. person. who. admits. to. this.
If you have some degree of schooling, you should not need your mom or dad to write your resume. You do not need them to write your cover letter. And you certainly do not need them to sit in an interview with you like you just got caught flushing a cherry bomb down the toilet at your middle school.
Between helicopter parenting, safe-space culture, digital lives replacing life skills, and our culture’s collective tendency to treat maturity and self-reliance as a millstone around one’s neck, it appears we’ve finally raised a generation completely unable to function as autonomous adults.
This isn’t just one of those “kids today!” rants we’ve heard from time immemorial. This time, we’ve really done it. And you don’t need this survey to back this assertion up. Look around you. It takes a village, they say — and our village has raised a generation that knows how to use 86 different Instagram filters but doesn’t know the difference between a man and a woman.
There isn’t a single person on God’s green Earth who should openly admit to bringing a parent along to a job interview. Period. It doesn’t matter if you think their worth is better, they know how to communicate with hiring managers, or your fragile mental health means you just aren’t up to it.
If these are the men and women who will inherit our positions in American enterprise as we move up the corporate ladder — and eventually, one day, take over — we’re thoroughly doomed.
