There’s a trendy new headline about Gen Z at work going around: data from one survey is fueling a story that they’re bringing their parents to job interviews. According to the survey, 77% of Gen Z say they’ve brought a parent along to a job interview when they were job searching. Naturally, these shocking stats sparked a wave of headlines—everything from “Gen Z is bringing parents to job interviews with them,” to “Gen Z Are Bringing Their Parents to Job Interviews—and Letting Them Talk,” and even Kevin O’ Leary calling the behavior a “horrific signal.” But like so many headlines on Gen Z at work, these claims aren’t capturing what’s actually happening or why. These viral takes are once again painting Gen Z as overly dependent or unwilling to engage with traditional work norms, feeding into a broader narrative that they’re always looking for shortcuts—even before landing the job. And based on our years of Gen Z research, we suspected that this extreme stat about young people was simply...
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