Connections (not necessarily family) do matter. Indeed, many employers pay referral bonuses to employers who refer others to open jobs, if they get hired and stay for some amount of time. I.e. use of connections is encouraged, rather than looked upon with suspicion, although the applicant still has to pass any interview tests after bypassing HR recruiting and screening by being referred.
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I’m with you. My S wouldn’t want my help even if offered. I’m not sure how much, if any, of my advices are taken either. 
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These job referrals are different, IMO. Employers use them to find qualified applicants much more cheaply (instead of paying headhunters or professional recruiting services). The primary benefit goes to these employers.
Yep
When parents are highly established within a company or dept, they can often (though not always) get the kid the interview and also push to get the kid the job. They also might know about a spot before it’s posted and make sure their kid is first in line. I’ve seen it, so has my husband. Often the kids are as qualified as others, sometimes they are not.
This doesn’t only pertain to STEM majors. I also know of it happening in finance, banking and even some academic circles. My kid just completed a program at a well known tech University. She was the only one whose parent didn’t have a connection to the U.
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Who said anything about highly technical jobs? We are talking about entry level jobs. Sure, some might need an ABET engineer. But many jobs in tech companies aren’t technical in nature. Or the skills can be learned on the job ( whether it’s nepotism or someone off the street).
No one in my D’s friend group got their engineering job through family/friend connections.
Actually in one case, a family connection ended up being a huge backfire because the company wasn’t really hiring and just interviewed the student as a favor, but there was no actual job. Worst yet, they strung the student along for months.
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But even for STEM entry level jobs, the qualification requirements are not so high that many, many people are qualified. IMO, it is therefore a huge advantage to get a “lead” on an open position and perhaps bypass the initial screen (computer or human based). In that respect, a STEM entry level job is not different than other skilled entry level jobs. The applicant will have to make the cut on his/her own, but the well connected (parents, professors, employers, or just good networking skills by the applicant ) will have an advantage in more opportunities no matter STEM or any other industry.
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By “STEM entry level jobs”, we probably mean different things. Presumably, a student who majors in CS or engineering in college doesn’t really want a job that can be readily “learned on the job” by another person without such educational background.
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Yes, but there are plenty of CS and engineering students competing for jobs requiring their educational background and skills. As a first job, many are probably similarly qualified. Having “connections”, including parents, IMO yields more opportunities. I agree that there is no assurance of a job on that basis alone unless the employer is somehow beholden to the “connection” that they are willing to employ a suboptimal employee. This applies to sectors beyond STEM in my experience.
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In many areas of finance (perhaps law?), yes (but I don’t consider these “STEM” jobs). As I said earlier, I’ve rarely seen it in high tech or academia. MIT/Caltech don’t give preferences to legacies based on the same logic.
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Maybe I am misunderstanding you. Yes, I am grouping finance, law and other non-STEM jobs requiring real brains and skills being relatively immune to nepotism. But your second sentence, do you think parents with STEM jobs don’t reach out to colleagues at their or other companies when their STEM kids are in job/intern search mode? I am not in the STEM world, but my D is and her friends were working every angle they had, including parents and relatives. I am not saying that the parental connection by itself assures a job, but getting your name in a lot of piles (especially not the initial general pile) is a big advantage in STEM as in any field.
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My spouse is in the STEM field and speaks to dozens of kids each year that are connected to us in some way. Some live/lived in our community, some he coached in sports/STEM, some are friends of friends kids, some he heard from after speaking at a conference, etc.
Each is looking at a different thing for networking. While my kids wouldn’t use “the parents” as an in to a job (at least that’s what they say now). They’d definitely use local, school, community and other connections. And
have in the past to complete projects and research.
STEM connections have been around as long as any other connections to the job market. My high school friend’s first engineering job (back in the 80’s) was at the same company as her Dad and brothers. No way, a new graduate would have gotten a job as an EE right out of college in Japan with a major company.
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Parents who work at a company like Google may tell their STEM kids that they should consider applying to Google. They may direct their kids to forward their resumes directly to the hiring managers, etc. which may lower the barrier for an initial interview. Is that an advantage? Yes. But it’s far from “getting their kids first jobs”. That advantage is also less pronounced in well established tech firms and is rapidly diminishing.
If, on the other hand, a company has lower (or less measurable) bar for qualification, then relationships will likely make a bigger difference. The same is true in college admissions. Legacies become a greater factor in colleges where the minimum bar is lower (or less measurable) and more applicants are deemed qualified.
This article seems very appropriate for this thread.
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I was just about to post this!
The role of educational debt, both undergrad and graduate school, in curtailing these lives is profound.
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Maybe you could cite some of the article or points made since it’s behind a paywall.
My apologies; I wish I could make the paywall disappear. Some of the interviewees regretted the “follow your passion” advice they had pursued. Most found it difficult to establish any form of financial security, due to high housing costs and student debt which took most of even solid salaries. Very few foresaw the ability for homeownership or children in the near term, and were acutely aware their parents had far more settled lives at comparable ages.
Try this
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The very last example I didn’t understand unless there was something i was missing.
Medium COL area, one spouse making 50k+ other was veteran getting 36k+ not including housing and educational benefit from military.
What struck me as I read through this is that the oldest boomers did well not just because of lower COL, debt but extremely frugal lifestyles that are hard to emulate today (unless you are part of the FIRE crowd). My parents were college educated professionals but would never dream of buying drapes, for example. They got old drapes thrown out of my dad’s office and modified to fit our house. Their entire wardrobe fit in 1 suitcase, that kind of thing. I am decluttering right now and sickened by how much junk we have.
Oh, another thing. I think college is great for education of the mind, broadening horizons but a few had jobs that ostensibly did not require a 4 year degree (car sales guy). Is there something i am missing here? Would someone today get that job without an expensive college degree?
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