A recent study indicates that as much as 25% of Generation Z job applicants have brought a parent with them to a job interview in the past year.
Let’s start with employers saying younger applicants are unprepared. That should not be altogether surprising given the havoc the pandemic played on the world’s education system and the lives of young people during formative years. The ramifications stemming from years of interruption in learning and social development are beginning to show up in the workforce.
Last fall, when I started teaching a college class, it took weeks for me to get my students to make eye contact and speak in class to one another — and some of them want a career in communication. I’ve spoken to friends who are also educators, and they have seen the same.
Which is why some young people would opt to bring a familiar face into an unfamiliar setting. And in some cases, they’ll choose the only adults they interacted with in person while we were sheltered in place: their parents. The image doesn’t seem so ridiculous when you think about it like that. Because of the applicant’s understandable social awkwardness — anxiety, avoiding eye contact — the presence of a parent can bring reassurance. That doesn’t mean the young person can’t do the job without Mom or Dad. It means that job interviews are stressful. It means the pandemic’s full toll is still becoming apparent.
