Candidates Accompanied by Parents to Job Interviews Considered a Red Flag

A survey by Career Co-Piloting, a service from the CV-building platform Zety, found that 15 per cent of Generation Z in the United States were accompanied by a parent during face-to-face job interviews. Although similar data is not yet available for Indonesia, the phenomenon is reportedly common in the country. This was stated by Haryo Utomo Suryosumarto, founder of Headhunter Indonesia, who said he quite often sees parents escorting and even accompanying their children into the office or the interview area. Haryo said this parental involvement can be detrimental to the child or job candidate. Recruiters will view the candidate as a ‘red flag’ because they are considered to still be dependent on their parents. ‘In my opinion, this impacts the assessment of the candidate themselves. It cannot be dismissed that from the recruiter’s perspective, this is a red flag,’ Haryo said. He revealed three main aspects that make parental involvement during the interview process viewed negatively by companies. First, it shows that the job candidate is not ready to enter the professional world independently. ‘Because if they are still accompanied by their parents for a job interview, the recruiter will assess that this person is not ready to face the professional world independently,’ Haryo said. Second, a candidate who is still accompanied by their parents potentially lacks initiative. According to Haryo, recruiters will assess them as a vulnerable candidate because they potentially depend on their parents to take important steps or make decisions at work. Third, a candidate accompanied by their parents is considered not yet to have a mature thought process for solving problems independently. ‘This is a huge red flag. In short, the recruiter will consider the candidate to still be dependent on their parents, not yet mature, and not yet ready to enter the working world,’ Haryo said. Haryo stated that parental involvement in a child’s career is not always negative. The boundary considered reasonable in the professional world is for parents to support their child behind the scenes, rather than being directly involved in the recruitment process. This form of support includes giving encouragement, helping to manage anxiety, and being a mental companion for the child. Another form of support that is still reasonable is helping to compile or prepare a CV. According to Haryo, parents can act as an editor to ensure the structure, grammar, and format of the CV meet professional standards. ‘Sometimes Gen Z’s grammar might still be messy, so if the parents have experience and insight, please take on the role of CV editor for their child. Of course, without changing the essence, experience, and achievements of the child themselves,’ he said. Parental involvement crosses the line when they escort and accompany the child to the job interview. According to him, there was even a case where a parent joined in answering and rebutting the recruiter during the interview.