Degrees matter less, jobs are scarce, and young people get blamed: The real mental health impact

This blog is part of a series written by Becky, junior designer at Rethink Mental Illness, called ‘5 things damaging young adults’ mental health that aren’t social media’  

When I was at school and college, I was continuously told that getting a university degree would be the thing that sets me apart from others and gets me a good job. 

At 24 years old with a degree behind me, I now know that not to be true. 

There are so many people applying for jobs in the current market, and so many people with degrees competing with one another, that a degree is basically irrelevant in a job search. 

To be honest, I feel as though I would have been better off if I didn’t get a degree and I started working straight after my A Levels. That way I would have had six years of work experience, which employers typically deem more important than my degree. 

And don’t get me started on the concept of being rejected for an entry level job due to a lack of experience. How can someone get experience of a junior role without being given a junior role?!

My partner has been working tirelessly over the past two years to get a job that aligns with his degree, pays enough for us to live, and that he wants to do. He still isn’t there. 

He’s worked other jobs in the meantime, because we can’t afford to live on just my income alone, and he has paid money to do an extra course on top of his degree to stand out in the crowd. Every week he works extra-long hours, comes home and studies for a job he was told he would be able to get if he did his degree. 

We are also fighting with AI to get jobs. And not just because AI is set to replace certain roles. In the job-searching world, AI can now screen, score, and reject applicants before a human ever sees their CV, often rewarding "matched" patterns over human potential.

Trying to get through all that to the backdrop of the nonsense stereotype being pedaled that people of our age don’t want to work, is exhausting, demoralising, and simply dehumanising.

Older generations may claim that no young generation has had as many opportunities us, which may be true, but just because we have more advanced technology, and a more culturally and socially aware society, it doesn’t mean we don’t have to work our arses off.

Certain members of the media and government might claim an “over-diagnosis” of mental health problems these days, but is an increasingly unwell population actually a surprise? I have a diagnosis of severe depression and anxiety and the external pressures I’m under play a huge part in that.

It would pay the government to invest in the future of young people before the mental health crisis gets worse and worse.