A recruiter was stunned after a Gen Z Aussie brought his mother to a job interview.
Graham Wynn, head of Superior People Recruitment, has worked in the industry for years and was stunned when a 20-year-old brought along her parents.
He had to tell the mother that she could not attend after the mother tried to stay to make sure her daughter “said the right thing.”
“(Parents) are actually taking away the child’s thought process because they’re saying, ‘We see how it should be,’ and they’re making sure the child doesn’t make a mistake,” Mr. Wynn shared. Yahoo.
‘That causes a problem when they enter the labor market, because your parents are not there in the labor market. If you do something wrong, there are consequences.’
He said the mother was just getting in the way by trying to help during the interview and not giving her daughter the skills to stand up for herself.
But Mr. Wynn isn’t the only recruiter who has noticed the trend.
Recruiter Tammie Christofis Ballis called out parents for being too involved in their children’s jobs.
Recruiter Graham Wynn said parents should give children the skills to stand up for themselves
In a TikTok, she said a parent left her “baffled” when she asked why her child hadn’t worked many shifts at her retail job.
“What she asked was, ‘My child is not getting services at Kmart, do you know why that is?’” Ms. Cristofis Ballis said.
‘A few things were going through my head but I said to her, “Why are you asking me that, you need to get your daughter to ask her manager at work” because if they did that they don’t ask me any questions. .’
The recruiter explained that the reason could be anything.
“It could be a work stoppage, maybe the daughter wasn’t performing at work, maybe she’s waiting to be told what to do instead of showing initiative. It could be absolutely anything.
“But it showed me that this parent wasn’t helping her child. She was just trying to find answers through a random internet searcher.
‘Let your child talk to his manager, he needs to get used to uncomfortable conversations. They have to get used to being a little confrontational. You can do it professionally and politely, but it’s not worth it to be passive and wait and never find an answer to something you really want to know.
“Otherwise their trust is broken, they don’t figure out what the problem is and they keep doing the same thing in the next jobs.”
The recruiter said she had been seeing this for “years.”
Social media users said they saw the same thing.
‘I see this so often. Mothers applying on behalf of their children. It’s growing up, we have to do it ourselves,” said one woman.
“Well said, parents need to take responsibility,” agreed another.
Recruiter Tammie Ballis had a mother ask why her young daughter wasn’t receiving services (stock image)
Ms Cristofis Ballis previously told Daily Mail Australia she was tired of seeing job applicants bring their parents to job interviews.
“There’s something new: ‘I have interview anxiety,’” she said. “You have to feel uncomfortable to get anywhere, and there’s no concept of that.
“They say, ‘This doesn’t fit into my safe environment, so I’m not going to do it.’ Then they are angry that they don’t have a job.’
She revealed that many have a crippling fear of picking up the phone to speak to an employer or going to a job interview alone.
‘I’m not a clinical psychologist, but I feel that because the younger generation is more aware of mental health and wellbeing – which is great and how it should be – this is holding them back from moving forward and taking risks, she said.
“And realize that sometimes you will fail.”
Ms Ballis noted that it was not unusual for some applicants to take their parents with them when looking for a job, especially in the hospitality industry.