Anxious Parents Are Spending More Than $50,000 to Land Their Kid a Job
Business is booming for the career coaches of the very young.
The old parental anxiety over getting the kids into college has been followed by a new one: getting the kids a job after graduation. Facing a job market that’s downright hostile to fresh grads, parents with means are paying thousands of dollars—and in some cases tens of thousands—to pair their college-age children with career coaches years before their careers will begin.
Business is brisk for coaches like Beth Hendler-Grunt, whose New Jersey-based counseling company Next Great Step offers small-group programs and private advising to give students the polish they need to land a job. When she started more than a decade ago, Hendler-Grunt had to sell parents on her value. Now she employs a growing team that fields referrals and works with students as early as freshman year so they can secure those ever-more important internships and build résumés to compete in an increasingly cutthroat environment.