In yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer:

After decades micromanaging virtually every aspect of their children's lives, baby boomers aren't backing off.

With their kids out of college, companies say, parents are now meddling in the workplace, trying to negotiate salaries or finagle second chances for rejected sons and daughters with bruised self-esteem.

"We were [planning] a phone screen with one candidate, and the parent came in to give us a picture of her child so we would know who we were talking to," said Karen Fox of the Vanguard Group in Malvern.

So many anxious mothers and fathers have called (and visited) that last fall the financial services company began sending letters to the parents of recruits, announcing that an offer had been made and touting the company's virtues as an employer.

The tactic - similar to Army TV ads designed to involve parents whose children want to enlist - has increased the percentage of college students who accept Vanguard offers, Fox said, and decreased annoying phone calls.

"You can't swat them down," Fox said of the hyperinvolved career advisers. "So you might as well embrace them."

Read more here.