I Want A Stage Mom

Sez Gen Y Spokesman.

Parents of previous times were simple, uneducated folk. Indeed many of them could not speak proper English. Gen Y's parents however are the products of the post-secondary school education explosion of the 1960s.

Never before have so many students had such well-educated, business-savvy progenitors to advise and represent them. And, Gen Y not only has them, it's quite willing to make as much use of them as possible.

So says self-appointed spokesman for the "new breed of worker", Ryan Healy, who wants his boomer-hippie parents to negotiate his salary just as an agent would for a young, inexperienced, star quarterback.

Thanks to his years of extensive networking and corporate climbing at a well respected non-profit, my father helped me get an internship at Merrill Lynch one summer and a local accounting firm the next.

I had to create a resume (with a lot of help from my parents), set up an interview, and go through the entire process like everyone else. But I never would have had the chance if my parents hadn’t intervened.

Companies are worried that all of this parental hovering may cost them money. The majority of entry-level workers are probably underpaid. It’s easy to make a 22-year-old an offer and say, “Take it or leave it.” Most young workers will end up accepting because they don’t know what they are really worth.

If an experienced parent acts as an agent and coaches their kid through the process or even involves themselves in the process, that entry-level worker just may get the offer they deserve.

I guess that's kind of different. In the past, we would have called someone who got his mommy to deal with his employer a sissy.

If you're young, it is not wise to have your parents call an interviewer or recruiter on your behalf. I've heard of this happening from several HR sources, and nothing can make you look worse on the job market. If you're used to having your parents intervene for you, now is a great time to break that habit. (Al Levit)

Why on earth do parents call me on behalf of their children? Do they not understand that I’m not interested in working with anyone who lacks initiative to the point that Mommy or Daddy have to call me? (Magic Pot of Jobs)

But not everyone is so harsh. Here's a Gen Y booster:

that parents are meddling in interviews also strikes me as not so bad.... The very rich, very well connected people have been shepherding their kids through their first jobs forever.... Helicopter parents simply bring these rich-kid practices out into the open and into the ranks of the middle-class.

Seems like a great turn of events to me.... (And, by the way, I am not alone — many companies, and colleges, allow this to go on without holding it against the candidate.)

The Brazen Careerist