Posted on 11/10/2006 7:13:49 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
CHICAGO -- Some parents are writing their college-age children's resumes. Others are acting as their children's "representatives," hounding college career counselors, showing up at job fairs and sometimes going as far as calling employers to ask why their son or daughter didn't get a job.
It's the next phase in helicopter parenting, a term coined for those who have hovered over their children's lives from kindergarten to college. Now they are inserting themselves into their children's job searches -- and school officials and employers say it's a problem that may be hampering some young people's careers.
"It has now reached epidemic proportions," says Michael Ellis, director of career and life education at Delaware Valley College, a small private school in Doylestown, Pa.
At the school's annual job fair last year, he says, one father accompanied his daughter, handed out her resume and answered most of the questions the recruiters were asking the young woman. Even more often, Mr. Ellis receives calls from parents, only to find out later that their soon-to-be college grad was sitting next to the parent, quietly listening.
Jobs counselors at universities across the country say such experiences are commonplace.
"My main concern is the obvious need of the students to develop their independence and confidence," says Kate Brooks, director of the Liberal Arts Career Services at the University of Texas. "I think it's great that parents want to share their advice -- and even better that students of this age are willing to listen -- but I think the boundaries get crossed sometimes."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I would automatically reject any job candidate who brought parents into the situation. What happens if those parents die? People have to stand on their own feet.
I would too, for murder.
People perceive the Democrats will "take care" of them.
What the hell happened to this country?
I can remember being resentful of my mother trying to help me cross the street when I was 4 years old.
I can't wait to do this to my kids! If they're embarrassed by me now in elementary school, wait'll I go on job interviews with them!
Well, it's one thing to have an interest, and quite another to impose that interest on the employers themselves. That does more damage than anything else.
>> you gotta' understand that when the parents have $100,000 and up invested in the kid's degree, they have a serious interest.<<
Yes, and they are proving it was a waste of money. It is not their presence that is killing the kid, it is the kids willingness to allow them to even be there.
I don't hire "mamma's boys" if I can help it. These kids are still children, if their parents are this involved. Companies want to hire adults.
Every American parent needs to like to George Carlin's "F#$k the Children." Children are getting entirely too much attention: "Parents are enrolling their kids into college before the know which end of the playpen smells the worst."
There is entirely too much meaningless structure these "cell phone" parents are forcing on children: "You need a helmet for everything except jerking off!"
The one requirement parents should make of their children is for them to look at the clouds and daydream--EVERY DAY FOR AT LEAST AN HOUR!!! Let them think for themselves.
I agree. If I made an offer and the candidate asked for time to discuss it with his parents, I would rescind it.
Too bad they forgot about the "letting the young adult make decisions on his/her own part."
I embarrass my kids (19 & 17) now by simply BREATHING!!!
I can hardly wait to see their reaction when I announce that I'll be joining them during job interviews.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA!!!
If I got a call asking me why "Jeffie" didn't get the job or promotion, I'd reply "Because his parents don't know or care when they cross the line, and he's afraid to tell them. He's lucky I haven't recided to replace him yet."
I know this school well and I find the students as a whole to be remarkably self-sufficient. It was at one time the National Farm School and there are still a lot of farm families who send their children here. They can major in small or large anaimals or different types of horticulture. These kids who grow up on farms learn to work at a young age. My guess is that these are the non-farm majors. Criminal justice is a big major there now, among others.
I would love to ask that man if he brought his resume and was interested in a job. Tell him that he seems to have something on the ball even if his daughter is a complete waste. (No, I wouldn't hire him. I would just want to publicly embarrass him and his daughter.)
Ping for later read...
I get lambasted by my children's teachers for not hovering over every assignment. I told them that if I hovered over their assignments in the fourth and fifth grade, I will be having to hover in the 10th and 11th grade. Why bother starting when I refuse to continue it.
So I guess I'm just a bad mom.
So would mommy and daddy be sharing a cube with their kid when they get the job? Would they "supervise" their kid's out of town business trips? Come on! These aren't kids. They are adults who are going to be spending a lot of money on therapy because they don't know how to handle themselves without mommy and daddy talking for them and holding their hand in difficult situations. I thought that tough situations like interviewing were supposed to be character building, not coddling.
Sounds like a bunch of union dolts not wanting to do their jobs.
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