Shocking Number Of Gen Z’ers Are Bringing Mommy & Daddy To Job Interviews

If you thought Gen Z arriving was the long-awaited antidote to the famously coddled Millennials, you might want to rethink that theory.

A new survey from career site Zety polled 1,000 Gen Z workers and found that a whopping 44% of these young workers had Mom or Dad help write or edit their resumes, while 20% admitted that a parent had joined them during a job interview (15% in-person, 5% virtually).

“Some in Gen Z feel having parental involvement when looking and applying for jobs is important, and I would certainly advocate for taking advice from parents and other mentors who have experience gaining employment,” a financial literacy instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin said in an interview with Newsweek. “However, there are limits to this engagement, and they almost always end poorly for the applicant.”

If you thought those figures were grim, the hand-holding extends even after the job offer letter arrives. Roughly 28% of Gen Z professionals admitted that parents assisted with pay or benefits negotiations, and 32% cited parents as their main influence for career choices.

“There’s a lingering distrust between workers and corporations. While it’s not widespread, some Gen Z candidates are leaning on their parents for interview support – presentation, tone, even responses,” 9i Capital Group CEO Kevin Thompson told Newsweek. “A lot of that comes down to inexperience with professional settings and discomfort with contract language and expectations.”

The trend has rightfully drawn scorn from critics, including “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary, who warned that any candidate arriving with a parental escort would be shown the door immediately.

“First question I’d have to the son or daughter, I’d say, ‘Do you want me to hire your mother or you? What’s she doing here?’” O’Leary told Fox Business. “That resume goes right into the garbage in one of my operations.” He recounted a recent virtual interview where the phenomenon played out in real time.

“It happened to me on a Zoom call, and I just said, this isn’t going to work… Your mom is not gonna be part of this discussion,” the businessman added. “It means you can’t do this on your own. It’s a horrific signal,”