https://fortune.com/2024/02/09/gen-z-grad-two-degrees-breaks-down-tears-minimum-wage-employers-resume-in-person/

“I was so upset and disappointed in myself because growing up, I was told that if I get an education, if I go to college, then I’ll be successful,” Santos told Business Insider—and she’s not the first Gen Zer to complain about feeling tricked into pursuing further education.

Just last month, 27-year-old Robbie Scott similarly went viral on TikTok for insisting that Gen Z isn’t any less willing to work than generations before. Instead, he said, they are “getting angry and entitled and whiny” about the prospect of having to work hard for the rest of their adult life, only to “get nothing in return.”

  • FlakesBongler [they/them]@hexbear.net
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    5 months ago

    Yeah, I remember being in high school, unsure of what I wanted to go to college for and being told

    it doesn’t matter, as long as you get a degree in something

    Which, let me tell you, does not help at all

    I’ve gotten all of my jobs because I knew someone

        • FourteenEyes [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          5 months ago

          The only reason I was able to escape grocery is because my brother put in a good word for me at the job he was already a manager at, and for that same reason I might be moving to a different department so I don’t explode from stress

          • DragonBallZinn [he/him]@hexbear.net
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            5 months ago

            MFW I already feel like a loser for mooching off my parents, and it looks like I’m going to have to mooch off my more successful family members just to get the porks to even consider me.

            I hate it here.

        • Xavienth
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          5 months ago

          Wait till next year and you’ll eat your words

    • zifnab25 [he/him, any]@hexbear.net
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      5 months ago

      I’ve gotten all of my jobs because I knew someone

      I’ve landed a jobs because of a recruiter and a couple others from applying online. Good corporate jobs, too. But it’s an enormous slog compared to having someone already in the firm who will vouch.

      That said, college is a big exception to the rule precisely because of how much effort businesses make to hire directly from senior classes.

      The degree matters, but surprisingly less than GPA. If you’ve got a 3.2 or better at a state school or big city college, it’s a ticket to practically any employer in the country.

    • SoyViking [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      5 months ago

      I won’t say I’m bad at my current job, far from it, but I’m ridiculously formally underqualified for it. All my grown-up jobs has come from me knowing guys who knows guys. It is ridiculous. If I hadn’t known any guys I’d be fucked.

      I do have a a bachelor’s degree and almost all of a master’s degree in something totally unrelated to my current career. I had to drop out for mental health reasons and the student debt from back then is still an albatross around my neck. A very radicalising albatross by the way.