Less Than 1 In 4 Irish Employees Believe Their Parents Understand What They Do For Work

New research from LinkedIn has been released on ‘LinkedIn Bring In Your Parents Day‘ (#BIYP) which has revealed a big knowledge gap when it comes to Irish parents understand of their children’s careers.

It is certainly something I can relate to, ask my parents what I do and it is, “he has a website on the computer.” They wouldn’t be able to tell you what I write about or how I help clients on social media. My mother has started to get a grasp on what I do recently buy my dad is still clueless.

Only 24% of Irish professionals believe that their parents understand what they do for a living. The research revealed that the lack of knowledge ranges from parents not knowing their child’s job title to not being informed about their employer.

The statistics were released on the third annual LinkedIn Bring In Your Parents day. The worldwide event involves workers around the world inviting their parents to go into their workplace and give them an inside view of their working life. The initiative was first piloted in LinkedIn’s EMEA HQ in Dublin before being rolled out globally.

When it came to specific jobs, the research showed that UI Designer (89%), Data Scientist (78%), Sub Editor (68%) were the jobs that parents would feel the least confident about describing. But those jobs were not alone, other jobs that caused confusion were Social Media Manager (68%), Radio Producer (63%) and Actuary (63%).

The opposite end of the scale indicated that 78% of parents were confident in describing what a teacher does.

Wendy Murphy, Senior HR Director for LinkedIn Europe, Middle East & Africa said that:

“We’re proud that what was once a small pilot project in Ireland has become this global phenomenon! Bring In Your Parents Day is a fantastic initiative for Irish parents to better understand their child’s professional life and in turn share what they’ve learned from their own careers.”

 “LinkedIn Bring In Your Parents Day aims to bridge this knowledge gap between workers and their parents when it comes to the world of work, providing parents with the insights and knowledge they need to offer useful advice to their children. It’s also an opportunity for us to acknowledge all the hard work and sacrifices that our parents made to help us on our career paths.”

LinkedIn Bring In Your Parents Day will be held in 17 countries this year including Ireland and the UK. 25,000 people took part in 2014 and more than 130 companies around the world have indicated they will be taking part including; Doro, Samsung, Virgin, Philips and Mars.

People can also participate online using the #BIYP hashtag.