Helicopter parents are back, and they are coming to an HR office near you
Posted On September 19, 2013
I’ve posted about this phenomenon before, and talked about it with clients over the years, but still people have a hard time believing it is true. Yes, I’m talking about parents getting all up in their grown children’s employment business. The topic is back thanks to an article in Huffington Post Business “Millennials Now Bring Their Parents along to Job Interviews.”
HuffPost is reporting out statistics that say 3% of job seekers have their parents sit in on an interview – a number that seems statistically insignificant until you realize that until a few years ago not only would the number be 0%, the question itself would not even make it to the survey.
There is one environment where this trend makes solid sense – the US Army. In fact, the Army has been recruiting parents and children together for several years now, and it makes good sense. A soldier is more successful if he or she has full support back at home. Convincing parents that the army is a great career for their children is a sound approach, because the job is putting the child’s life at risk. The survey findings above were not Army-exclusive, however, so I must remind our younger job seekers and their parents to stop. Just stop.