The term helicopter parents really fits with these over-helpful parents. CNN reports that helicopter parents have becoming commonplace at job fairs and some even try to answer interview questions for their child or make phone calls to see why their daughter or son did not get the job.
Some parents are writing their college-age kids' 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 kids' job search -- 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, Pennsylvania.
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, he 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 experiences like those are now commonplace.
The IWJ has more on the helicopter parent phenomenon from a writing perspective. If your parent is hovering too much is will probably turn off potential employers. If you can't handle your own job search without your parents help then employers might think you won't be able to handle your job by yourself either.
