Clark Adams
- Bedding company CEO Scott Tannen says parents regularly ask him to consider their children for jobs.
- He warns that such over-involvement can ruin their child's chances of getting hired.
- The strongest internship candidates advocate for themselves and are eager to learn, said Tannen.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Scott Tannen, cofounder and CEO of Boll & Branch, a luxury bedding company based in Summit, New Jersey. This story has been edited for length and clarity.
My wife and I started Boll & Branch in January of 2014, and we've had interns for about eight or nine years at this point.
Even though we're in a small suburban town 45 minutes outside Manhattan, we have always received a lot of interest from parents who know our business and would like their children to work for us.
I'm a parent myself. I have three college-age girls. We all want the absolute best for our kids, and I recognize the job market is tough. But it blows my mind how many parents think it's appropriate for them to reach out to me on LinkedIn or by email and say, Hey, if you could talk to my child, you'd be able to inspire them to apply.
I'm thinking, dude, I've got thousands of applications for this job, and all you're telling me is that your kid is incapable of working independently.
It would be easier for a parent to say, Hey Jane or Johnny, you should look into this company that offers internships and consider applying. Let me show you how to use LinkedIn to figure out who the hiring manager is. Let me help proofread your cover letter.
All of those things are fully appropriate for a parent to do. But when a parent decides to take the action themselves, it unfortunately has such a negative effect that I might rule out their child right off the bat.
Last year, we had a parent show up at our office demanding we interview their son, who didn't say a word. Therein lies the problem. You've not taught this child how to advocate for himself. It was an incredibly awkward experience.
Just before Thanksgiving, we posted all our 2026 internships on our career site. We have 15 openings across the business, from marketing and product development to merchandising and finance. We'll probably start doing interviews in January.
Parents are more aggressive this year. One called our 1-800 customer service number on Black Friday weekend, asking about internship opportunities for their child. This is a very busy time for a retail business.
Most parents, however, reach out over LinkedIn. They're not even asking for advice. They're actually pitching their kids to me. For example, I got a message from a parent asking me to consider their son for any of our internships. This person said their son is very shy but very bright, and encouraged me to reach out to him.
I wrote a LinkedIn post about how parents shouldn't do this, and someone commented that it was valuable and well-articulated. But then this person asked if it would be okay to send me their son's résumé. I replied by saying that if your son were to reach out and demonstrate his interest, we'd be delighted to review his application.
I think these parents are the ones doing their kids' school assignments because they're so afraid of their child failing. But they're actually robbing their children of great opportunities to learn. When things don't work out, that's the real world. If you don't get a job, it's a chance to learn what went wrong so you know better for next time. There's so much to be gained from failure.
The best thing a parent can do to help their child get a job is to teach them how to stand out in a crowd. In the case of internships, this can mean showing they want to learn and are curious. The college kids who have that attitude are the ones who end up getting hired and then get asked to come back after they graduate and work for us full-time.
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