Posting on Reddit, one person said they work in a branch of Tesco, and had been baffled by one trend they'd noticed among people coming in for job interviews. They said it had been most prevalent among young men aged around 18 to 25.
10:39, 16 Jan 2026Updated 10:39, 16 Jan 2026
Job interviews can be daunting, and a little bit of moral support can go a long way. But one person has spoken about a bizarre trend they've noticed with people coming into their workplace for interviews, and people have agreed it's "crazy".
Posting on social media site Reddit, the user said they work in a branch of Tesco, and often see people come in as candidates for vacancies at the store. But they said they had been baffled by one trend they'd noticed, mostly among young men aged around 18 to 25.
They said: "I work in a big Tesco and the amount of times people have had their parents bring them to interviews. Not even just drop them off, literally come in to sit with them and do the interview is so cray cray (crazy) to me.
"Seems to be 18-25 year old boys bringing their Mam into the interview most times. I’d understand if they have some sort of disability but it’s so many people bringing their Mam??? Have some independence??"
People were utterly baffled by the trend. One said: "No... surely not?? Like, bringing them into the actual interview?"
They added: "Why doesn't the person doing the interview say something? They've got to know it's weird. Why aren't they saying 'Err, Mrs Smith, would you mind waiting outside?'"
Replying, the original poster said: "I’m not even joking, it’s crazy the amount of times this happens. Always young men in tracksuits with their mams going in together, how do you expect to get a job when you can’t even go into an interview by yourself??? Is your mammy going to hold your hand when you stock a shelf???"
But, despite people's surprise, this actually may be a more common trend than it appears. According to a study carried out in the USA last year, 77 per cent of people aged 18 to 28 have brought a parent to a job interview with them. Chief career strategist at ResumeTemplates, which carried out the study, Julia Toothacre, said: “Parents can be supportive behind the scenes, but they shouldn’t participate directly.
"It not only undermines the child’s credibility but also risks stunting their professional growth and ability to navigate challenging situations. Additionally, managers and coworkers may interpret this behaviour as a lack of maturity, which can damage the employee’s reputation.”
Another Reddit user wrote: "If I were interviewing, I’d see this as a red flag that they aren’t able to do things without having their hand held. If it’s adults being dropped off by their parents because they had no other way of getting there, sure. But not their parents going into the actual interview with them."
And another said: "Could it be that the mum is so desperate for her adult son to do something with his life that she is coming into the interview to make sure he's actually doing it?"
Others said their own parents had tried to come to job interviews with them. One said: "I'm 25 now, but when I had my first interview at 16 at a Maccies (McDonald's) I had to demand my mum wait outside as she insisted on coming in with me, but then she was always the overbearing type. So could be more the parents thinking they're doing good but not realising it's having the opposite effect."
Someone else said they had witnessed this first-hand. "Reminds me of when I was 19 and applied to work at a high street bank," they said. "I had barely any proper work experience so I came dressed in a white shirt and professional trousers and spent ages preparing.
"When I saw the amount of people in the interview waiting area I panicked, until I saw grown adults wearing tracksuits looking bored and young teenagers with their parents practically holding their hand. I knew I got the job at that point."