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I think the applicant's wording was misfortunate, but I'm willing to give the benefit of a doubt and suggest that possibly there's factors other than 'helicopter parents'. It could be her parents were thinking of moving once she got a job, and maybe where she is, $15/hr wouldn't be enough for her to live on her own. There could be family health issues. Transportation may have recently become an issue (family has one car, and is too far from public transportation.
She definitely shouldn't have said she wanted to talk to her parents, but she could have been rattled by something and not thinking at the moment.
I was thinking the same thing: What if her parents are trying to relocate and she has to negotiate with them over whether they can subsidize the difference between $15 per hour and what it will actually cost her to live in her current town for however long it takes for her to start earning more money so she can afford it all on her own? That's certainly a valid reason for needing to discuss her decision with her parents.
Her filter probably malfunctioned :-D Or, she hasn't learned how to use a filter yet. I talked about my first job offer with my parents 13 years ago! I think it's normal for most 20-somethings to do so. (oh! the glory days!)
I think it's good that a recent college grad is NOT making a rash and indecisive, on the spot decision.
FWIW, the last time I got a promotion offer the boss said something along the lines of "I'm sure you have to run this by your SO/wife before giving me an answer? I didn't but I used the 'out' to get more number crunching time. Only on City-Data could a forum entitled "Work and Employment" become completely co-opted by management and HR types endlessly be-littling, bashing and bemoaning the sad state of (un)employable humanity. People just can't win for losing. Even when they are hooked up to polygraph machines you would belittle job seekers for telling the truth.
I was thinking the same thing: What if her parents are trying to relocate and she has to negotiate with them over whether they can subsidize the difference between $15 per hour and what it will actually cost her to live in her current town for however long it takes for her to start earning more money so she can afford it all on her own? That's certainly a valid reason for needing to discuss her decision with her parents.
Indeed. It could be that since this'll be her first 'adult' job, where perhaps her parents are expecting she'll move out and become self-supporting (or may have given her a timeline as to when they expect her to move out), they may have sat down with her and helped her put together what they felt was a reasonable way of living and budget. (I wouldn't call this 'helicoptering' so much as 'offering guidance'.) Perhaps they researched web sites, asked around, and found that most positions like this pay $18/hr, and worked everything around that estimate. The job offer comes, and it's $3/hr less--which doesn't sound like much at first, but you add it up over a year, it's around a $6000 difference. Applicant may be sitting there thinking, "Oh crud--that might be the best they can do, but can I afford to move out and pay my bills on this, that's less than what I expected." She's young, doesn't have much experience, and figures the smart thing to do might be to go to her folks and say, "This is what they offered, help me figure out a way to manage on that." And blurted it out to the hiring manager as, "I need to talk to my parents."
To be honest, I think that could be a likely scenario.
My niece is 22/23, very smart and working on a criminal justice degree. I can totally see her doing that as she still lives at home and both her parents have been very involved parents. All 3 of them (nieces), were also State High School champions at Volleyball (the youngest just got State in her senior year). All 3 of them still live at home, it might be dumb to tell you that, but appreciate that there are some parents and kids who have a lot of respect for each other, especially these days when you hear mostly the opposite.
That's wonderful. But you don't go to a job interview(or at least it didn't use to be that way) at age 22/23 and say you need to run it by your parents. You can say I would like a day to think it over.
Asking you parents is fine for a 14yr old girl who is being asked to babysit the neighbor's children for the first time. Not someone who has completed a four year degree.
One poster listed some articles and I posted early "60 Minutes" did a segment on a lack of maturity in the workplace by twenty somethings. Mommy and daddy shouldn't be calling up the boss because Susan got some critical comments on her performance review.
How do you get from the idea that she's going to her parents for guidance to the assumption that her parents are going to involve themselves with her boss?
People making leaps of this magnitude should probably wear safety equipment. Just sayin'.
It could also be that she was quickly looking for an excuse not to say no right off the bat, and that was the first thing that came to her mind. But anything at this point is pure speculation.
In the broader discussion, I think we are going to have to get used to a generation that has a completely different viewpoint on the division between work and life, and how they interact with friends, coworkers, employers, and family. There are some young adults out there now who see themselves as their own business - they aren't just employees, they are managing their own careers. And their parents, spouses, and children are just as much a part of their own personal "company" as anyone else. Employers no longer come before anything else, they are going to consider their long term interests including the impact on the life they want to lead. We may criticize them according to the norms we have developed for our generation, but maybe they have a better understanding of what is important in their lives than we do.
Location: Prince Georges County, MD (formerly Long Island, NY)
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Can I be honest?
I think people are overanalyzing the situation here. The applicant wanted to talk about the offer to her parents (who doesn't do that at 23?), but exhibited a lapse in judgement in how she worded it. It's pretty much that simple.
I think it's a bit reaching to surmise that her parents did a bad job, or that she's sheltered. I do, however, understand the concern about her committing a faux pas on the job when you're supposed to be on your best behavior during the hiring process.
Yes of course, there was never a question of rescinding the offer. Some posters just like to put words in other peoples mouths apparently. That was just something that I think would make anyone raise an eyebrow and in all my years of employment, being involved with hiring people, etc, I've never once heard a person say that.
She accepted the offer, she starts 2/3 pending a background check
I'm so glad
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