Bringing your parents to your job interview? Experts say don’t

They finished school and now, many young adults in the Gen Z generation, ages 18 to 27 are looking for their first job. “It’s a very tough market out there, the economy is very tough. We are seeing two applicants for every job on LinkedIn available now,” says Francisco Tobon, a career expert with LinkedIn.

We asked Tobon about a recent survey from Resume Templates that asked 1,428 U.S. based Gen Zers who looked for a job within the past year about their parent involvement.

It found 70% of them ask their parents for help in the job search process and 25% say they’ve brought their parents to interviews. Experts say they don’t recommend doing that.

“It can be looked at as unprofessional, lack of credibility. It could be seen as the person is not independent.  The person is not taking initiative for their own career, for their own professional journey,” says Tobon. 

LinkedIn experts say you can be a resource for your children during this process without taking away their independence. 

“There are many different ways that parents can lean in to the job application and their journey such as helping them with interviews, helping them rehearse interviews. Interviewing is a skill. Another one is opening up opportunities for networking and mentorship connections, opening up your network and say hey, I spoke to this person or I found this scholarship opportunity that you can apply to,” Tobon says. 

Career experts say parents can also help review their child’s resume or job application, but should be careful not to go overboard.

In the survey 16% of Gen Zers said their parents submitted job applications for them.

“Parents can send them a job and encourage them to apply, they can also sit down with them and review an application and build it out together right? Like collaborate on it.  I wouldn’t have them apply because they’re not going to be the ones sitting in the hot seat interviewing for that job,” says Tobon.

Another piece of advice experts have for really involved parents is to never contact the recruiter who is hiring your child because that is a sure way to have their resume thrown out.