“Go to college, find a job.” This is the formula generations have followed in hopes of success. If you aren’t going to college, you are treated like a leper by your high school classmates, who will soon be studying underwater basketweaving after taking out a six-figure student loan.
Millions of young Americans — recent Gen Z college graduates — are unfortunately now having to grapple with the reality that this formula won’t work out for them the way it did for their parents’ generation.
The New York Post reported that one recent graduate found the answer: When applying for a job, leave off your degree. That is, omit any mention in your application that you ever went to a college or university.
A user on social media platform TikTok named @lliivvyyyyyyyyyy posted a video that soon got hundreds of thousands of views where she spoke about the terrible job market.
“I just got denied by a serving job in a restaurant — with a bachelor’s degree, and I’ve actually worked in two restaurants — for ‘no experience.’
“I’m trying to move in my career, and placement jobs won’t hire me,” she said.
@lliivvyyyyyyyyyy This is dark #college #graduated #help #job ♬ original sound – lliivvyyyyyyyyyy
One user commented about the aforementioned strategy. “Stop putting your degree on the resume …. trust me.
“As someone who’s in tech, the biggest piece of advice I can give you is to tailor your resume to the job you’re applying to.
“If that means you have to go as far as to leave out your bachelor’s, so you seem less qualified, please do it. These jobs don’t want people who are overqualified because they see that as a threat to them.”
Well, that’s one way to do it.
You can’t blame these young people for being frustrated. They aren’t trying to be lazy. They want to work, but are finding roadblocks, despite following the formula given to them in school.
College and universities, however, are to blame. According to the Education Data Initiative, between 1993 and 2023, the number of college graduates in the 25-or-older demographic shot up, with a 74.9 percent increase.
A degree no longer makes an applicant stand out among the many. Further, criticisms of the education system and what these graduates learned likely has not gone unnoticed.
With universities requiring students to receive a heaping dose of wokeness for their degree, employers may be second-guessing whether they’re going to have the right attitude.
All else being equal, would you rather hire someone with a college diploma or someone without?
Do you have data analysis skills or bookkeeping experience? No? Well, knowing every gender and being able to educate your coworkers in white privilege won’t be helpful here.
Certainly, a medical or law degree is going to keep being necessary to be a physician or attorney, and for that, you must go to school.
But experience — work outside of the classroom — may prove more helpful. If anything, these recent graduates do have the experience, but the degree overshadows it.
It might not hurt to take the advice of this user and avoid letting on that you’ve even been to college.
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