[Infowarrior] - OT: Job Hunting: When Parents Run the Show

[Richard Forno]

(I have seen the same thing happen with parents accompanying their kids to graduate school admissions counselling sessions or following up on their kid's application progress.  -- rick)

SMARTMONEY MAGAZINE
FEBRUARY 27, 2012, 12:10 P.M. ET
Job Hunting: When Parents Run the Show

As 20-somethings struggle in a tough economy, their moms and  dads are writing their resumes, tracking them on LinkedIn, and even going along for the job interview.

By ANNE KADET

Janine Guarino-McKown has every right to feel proud of her daughter Megan's resume. Compared with the clumsy work history presented by your typical recent college grad, it's a polished, professional and effective document: a crisp, beautifully formatted and compelling record of a star student's achievements and aspirations. And then there's the resume's authorship: Janine's the one who wrote it.

Back when Megan was finishing grad school in Dallas, the 25-year-old was busy studying for her boards and preparing for a medical rotation in the Australian outback. Janine, a retired health care administrator, had more free time, not to mention plenty of experience writing resumes for her friends -- why not do the same for her daughter? But she wasn't about to treat this as a pleasant little lark: To produce the two-page CV and cover letter template, Janine interviewed Megan closely over the phone, conducted a talent assessment and crafted a 147-word branding statement. Then she led her daughter through mock interviews and debriefed her after meetings with potential employers. And naturally, there was a little networking involved, as Janine introduced her daughter to a friend who knew the chief ER nurse at a local hospital.

In the end, the work paid off, with Megan landing a coveted job as a physician's assistant that pays more than $70,000 a year. And both mother and daughter say they're satisfied with the division of labor, which had Mom doing much of the legwork. "It wasn't my department," says Megan.

Perhaps it was inevitable, given the track record of the American boomer parent. After coaching their kids through junior hockey, supervising their science projects and cowriting their college applications, a growing number of enthusiastic moms and dads are moving to the next challenge, taking on the job of job hunting. Of course, parents have always played the role of over-the-phone cheerleader before job interviews, and generations of kids have gotten their first job through one of Dad's connections. But employers, job counselors and parents themselves say the help they're offering these days can become a full-blown tactical enterprise, one that includes everything from filling out job applications and combing the want ads to picking up the phone and hounding recruiters who haven't called back.

And yes, some parents even show up at their kid's job interview. Stuart Friedman, president of Chicago consulting firm Progressive Management Associates, will never forget the time he helped a financial-software client interview candidates for an entry-level position. In walked not one but three well-dressed hopefuls -- a fresh-faced college grad and his proud parents. Mom and Dad were on hand, the grad explained, to make sure he got "a fair opportunity to get this job." Friedman says he tried hard to stifle his befuddlement: "You can't sweat. You can't show any reaction."

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