?親愛的安妮：再過幾個月，我兒子就要大學畢業了。說實話，我現在對他有一點兒擔心。他在學校主修金融學，輔修商科，成績優異，我覺得他在求職市場上會很有競爭力。他曾做過幾份實習，既有著名的大公司，也有初創公司，但到現在還沒有一家公司給他一份全職工作。

????我知道，現在工作很不好找，雖然我不想變成可怕的“直升機父母”，整天形影不離、喋喋不休地問長問短。但我覺得，他也許需要我的幫助。我和孩子爸爸在各自的工作領域內人脈很廣，我們是否應該托熟人介紹些工作機會給兒子？這是不是個好辦法？你和你的讀者有什么建議嗎？——一位來自明尼蘇達州的母親。

親愛的明尼蘇達州母親：你的想法一點兒都沒錯（我們稍后就會談原因），而且除非你的“幫忙”阻礙了他的成長，否則，你就不是“直升機父母”?！罢夜ぷ鞅緛砭褪呛⒆觽兊氖?，你不應插手，”戴維?德朗說?！傲硪环矫?，父母們十分清楚求職之路上的競爭有多激烈，而象牙塔中的學生們卻知之甚少?！钡吕屎苡邪l言權，他的女兒正在讀大學三年級，但是他確切的身份是麻省理工學院年代實驗室（Age Lab）的職員，也是《畢業不失業：怎樣在求職大軍中脫穎而出》（Graduate to a Great Job: Make Your College Degree Pay Off in Today's Market）一書的作者。這本書中有幾個章節正是專為應屆畢業生的父母所寫，對你來說或許會有幫助。

????的確，2014年畢業的應屆生馬上就要加入浩浩蕩蕩的求職者大軍了。在美國，18至29歲之間年輕人的失業率高達16%，而在無需本科文憑的工作中，同樣年齡段年輕人的失業率接近50%。

????根據芝加哥職業介紹機構Challenger, Gray & Christmas的報告顯示，雖然2013年12月的企業裁員人數同比下降了3%，創下了自2000年以來的新低，但金融類的工作機會卻并不是那么好找。整個2013年，金融行業減少了成千上萬個職位，僅紐約市就減少了8萬個崗位。諷刺的是，由于經濟復蘇，市場對擅長于止贖或沖銷不良貸款專業人士的需求大幅下降，而他們總歸是要找一份工作。你兒子除了要與這些人競爭之外，也還會面對許多經驗豐富的金融從業人員。

????Dear Annie: Now that it's 2014, my son will be graduating from college in just a few months, and I have to admit I'm a little worried. He's gotten good grades as a finance major with a minor in business, which I think makes him pretty marketable. He's also done a couple of internships, one with a big-name company and one with a startup, but neither has yet offered him a regular full-time job.

????I know the job market is still pretty weak, and although I hate to think of myself as the dreaded "helicopter parent" always hovering nearby, I still think he could use some help. My husband and I are both well-connected in our respective fields, so should we be introducing our son to people who might know of job openings, or is that a bad idea? What do you and your readers recommend? ------ Minnesota Mom

????Dear M.M.: It's not a bad idea at all (more about that in a minute), and wanting to help doesn't make you a helicopter parent unless your "help" starts getting in the way. "Getting a job is really your child's job. It's not your fight," notes David DeLong. "On the other hand, parents know how tough it is out there, which college students don't always realize."

????DeLong should know. He has a daughter who's a junior in college, but, more to the point, he's a fellow at MIT's Age Lab and the author of a new book called Graduate to a Great Job: Make Your College Degree Pay Off in Today's Market. You might find it useful, since it has a couple of chapters just for parents of new grads.

????It's certainly true that the class of 2014 will step into a rocky job market. Unemployment among U.S. young people ages 18 to 29 is stuck at about 16%, and underemployment in the same age group -- that is, working at a job that doesn't call for a four-year degree -- stands at roughly half.

????Moreover, although layoffs in December fell by about 3% year to year, to their lowest level since 2000, according to Chicago outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas, finance jobs are not thick on the ground: The financial industry lost hundreds of thousands of jobs -- more than 80,000 in New York City alone -- in 2013, ironically due to an economic recovery that has drastically reduced the need for people who specialize in foreclosures and rewriting troubled loans. All of those people have had to go somewhere, and your son is competing against them, as well as against many other seasoned finance mavens.