<p>I don’t see a problem with shooting your kid the occasional email with job listings relevant to what they’re looking for. And I guess I don’t see the problem with using your connections either… I’m a bit jaded about that but I guess it’s fine.</p>
<p>I just have a problem with parents who apparently call in and try to handle the whole application process.</p>
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<p>I think you’re right–there have always been helicopter parents. My question is: are more helicopter parents now than 25 years ago or do they just get more attention from the media and we hear more about them.</p>
<p>I too agree with Marian and calmons approach…rodney summed up the dilemma for many of us non connected parents.</p>
<p>Several of Ds classmates have parents that have used their connections and influence to get their kids very plum internship positions for the summer .in the next few years Im sure they will use those same connections to get their kiddos very plum jobs.</p>
<p>TutuTaxi…I’m sure my kids know kids who got jobs and internships through connections of their parents. The way I look at it is that I am proud my kids got their jobs entirely on their own. It just is the way it is.</p>
<p>IMO, I don’t see how anyone could have a problem with a parent working their network to open doors for their kid, especially with the economy being the way it is.</p>
<p>It’s the kid’s job to step through the door and make it work though, and if the parent tries to step through the door as well, that’s crossing the line.</p>
<p>Not to mention that I’m pretty sure my kids would be horrified beyond measure if I called their boss to talk about their job performance or salary.</p>
<p>“I think it can be tough when a kid don’t seem to “get” the idea of networking. I see many students who are more comfortable applying to jobs online and not sticking their necks out.”…
that only works until June 1st when there has been no “bite”; it takes some kids (mine, in particular) some time to realize the “way of the world”…</p>
<p>“I call this the saturation bombing approach to job or internship hunting”…haha…that works to the point your kid says to you “enough with the internship emails, Mom…”</p>
<p>I guess I can joke now that she found one…</p>
<p>I have used my connections to get D1 jobs, and her friends have asked me for help also. I just do the introduction and they do the rest. There is no shame to have someone to help you find a job, but it is up to you to keep a job. Kids whose parents do not have any connections, should tap into their friends’ parents. When D1 was a freshman in college, most of her friends from high school (a very tight knit private school) got their jobs with each other’s parents. Of course, no one would be able to tell from their resumes that they got the jobs through personal connection.</p>
<p>“Wouldn’t that be a turnoff to potential employers?”</p>
<p>YES.</p>
<p>Opinions please. As I’m here helping my DD with her resume (she graduates this summer), should she include a major award she received in high school? Here is the description:</p>
<p>Recipient of the 20xx Rensselaer Paul and Kathleen Severino Future Leader Award
This award is given to fifteen female high school seniors across the country in recognition of their academic excellence in mathematics and science.</p>
<p>I was thinking she should take out anything in her resume that she did in high school, but she does have her job experience that she did in high school on it, so I wasn’t sure about this. Opinions? Sorry if I’m being a heliocoptor mom!</p>
<p>daughter has been instructed to take out any awards from high school; only leave any relevant work experience</p>
<p>Is it relevant to whatever position she’s applying for? If she’s trying to get a job in something math or science-related then I can’t see why it’d hurt. If she’s trying to get a job as an accountant then it just seems like fluff.</p>
<p>Lord, I just reviewed a college freshman’s resume and it had quite a few things from HS on it. Did not look good at all.</p>
<p>This is really strange. I’ve been left to my own devices for the 4 years of my high school and, granted, I didn’t make it to an ivy. But I did make it pretty far and am going to college. I haven’t thought of a time in recent history where my parents weren’t more than just people who paid for my living expenses. 
Maybe that’s a bit unusual in itself in that most parents are most involved in their childrens’ lives, but that’s my two cents and a look into my parents’ style.</p>
<p>^^^ I wonder if your parents see it differently.</p>
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<p>Indeed it is and it’s an idea that did not occur to me. Luckly PMKjr checked it out on his own. </p>
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<p>Journalists have to make a living like the rest of us. The vast majority of articles about parents are proof that there is nothing new under the sun. </p>
<p>When I was researching colleges for PMKjr, yes I would pass on information to him but I also passed it on to others who might find it helpful. Here at CC when someone is looking for possible colleges for their kid, if I have an idea I’ll post that. How odd that taking an interest in and sharing information with ones child is being cast as negative but is a positive when shared with others. Further proof that parents cannot win. </p>
<p>Finally, my husband is a real helicopter parent. He’s a Dad who flys helicopters for a living. Although since the term took on it’s current meaning, I like to imagine him hovering above PMKjr walking to school and using the audio system to yell out things like, “You look cold! Did you bring a sweater?” or “I want you to check out College X when you get home and tell me what you think!”</p>
<p>congrats cocoa</p>
<p>I think young women who get merit awards at RPI are the finest young people on the planet ;)</p>
<p>“Lord, I just reviewed a college freshman’s resume and it had quite a few things from HS on it. Did not look good at all”</p>
<p>Really? how much room can freshman year in college fill, even with part-time jobs, activities etc? I havent reviewes a resume in some time, and never a college freshmans, but I would expect to see HS stuff on it.</p>
<p>I have one thing from high school on my resume: that I was in the “Jeopardy!” Teen Tournament. If you have something like that – something everyone will have heard of, and be interested in chatting about – I’d leave it on. Put it under activities and interests, rather than experience. Anything that requires explanation, I would probably cut.</p>
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<p>Hanna, that’s terrific! That would definitely catch an employer’s eye. I’m auditioning (not as a teen, obviously…) on Friday. :D</p>
<p>Post 28:
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<p>“Connections” is a loose term – you can find & make your own. </p>
<p>My daughter learned from a friend that his uncle worked in a high position at an international agency that she very much wanted to work for (in an unpaid internship), and asked the friend for the uncle’s email address. She then emailed the uncle to ask for a position. His initial response was kind of a brush off, but she persisted in reiterating her interest – and she ended up with an amazing and uniquely structured 2-part internship. During the first part she was with a group of interns who participated in an internal survey, and well over half had used “connections” to get the job – as did my daughter – but the point is, a “connection” doesn’t have to be a family friend.</p>
<p>I’d note that although my d. was attending an elite college at the time, the friend with the uncle was a friend from her public high school – so a “connection” can be found in many ways.</p>