Is it really possible that when about half of college age men and women go to interview for a job, they take at least one of their parents with them.
The college news website College Fix says it's true, they have a new survey in which about half of those responding admitted to taking a parent along, and 35% even said their parents either took an assignment test for them or wrote a cover letter for them.
To some such actions might seem like devotion to children on the part of parents, but workplace expert and Yellin Group President Sherry Yellin says such concerns between parents and children spring from a darker place.
"That's driven by fear, because if I feel like there's the unknown, the brain just wants to overprotect and control," she says.
Many people cringe when they think of their first job interviews, but some people smile. Each one makes us a little more confident and a little more comfortable with the process and with ourselves, she says.
"Robbing them of these little professional milestones that are really designed for people to encounter on their own" is doing them a disservice.
"The interviews help build the kind of resilience and comfort that you need in operating in the unknown," she adds.
At least one career coach said keeping kids out of school and out of touch with friends during the Pandemic was a large contributor to these fear systems, and the damage to young people at the time has still not been scientifically quantified.
“Right now, one of the main factors is the unpredictable market. I think parents are seeing how difficult it’s been to get hired and how many entry-level and early-career positions are being replaced with AI or simply being limited," said Julia Toothacre, who worked with the survey at College Fix.
But Sherry Yellin says despite the events that led up to these behaviors, the result is fairly simple.
"We've passed the line, at times, from supporting to debilitating."