Professional and societal expectations can be among of the harshest things to deal with, especially as a young man who may not have found their calling in life just yet. I am ready to bet that your parents have been pressuring you to get a job, no matter which one, since around the end of high school. Although this is not an intrinsically bad thing, since getting a steady income that is not from your parents’ pockets is a huge step towards achieving independence early on, it is very likely that this pushed you into a position that you don’t particularly care for or even downright hate. One of the first things one learns in the job market is that working a job that one has aversion to is an incredibly draining experience that should and must be addressed as early as possible before the situation devolves. Another phenomenon that could have played into your hypothetical dislike of your job could be that managers and supervisors, especially those of the older generation, have very little regard for the pay-to-workload ratio, and may expect you to go above and beyond for what is most probably just above 100$ CAD a week because you likely decided to work part-time because of your class schedule. The answer to this is simply to look for jobs that have managers and bosses closer to your age range that understand your position as a young adult who has just entered the job market and manage their expectations accordingly.
In the past year, it’s been difficult for the unemployed to find jobs due to the pandemic, but that’s not the only reason why young men specifically have been struggling in the workforce recently. In fact, more and more adult men are living in a parent’s home without a job as years go by. Because of this, men will have a lower and lower involvement in the labor force if this trend does not change. We hear you, finding a job can be difficult and stressful, especially when it comes to entry-level jobs which do not provide the best working conditions nor do they provide any low-speed jobs. If you’re trying to find a job with no experience, chances are you’ll end up working at a restaurant where you are expected to always work fast which can take a toll on your mental health. Getting good work is also becoming harder and harder for young men due to the increasing amount of male dropouts in school due to the reasons we touched on in the first entry of this blog. It’s also harder for men to easily accept being ordered around by a boss when society idealizes men that are strong leaders. People can have a hard time fitting into that image when they feel like just another asset being used by a company for their own gain. Because of the expectations thrown at men from a very young age, the pressure to become a leader can be devastating to one’s mental health when said person is always doing their best to overperform, especially when not every man is cut out to be a leader.
As always, if you need anyone to talk to, that’s what we’re here for. You can leave a comment on our blog or contact us on Instagram or Facebook if you are seeking help. Feel free to share this blog post so that we can further spread the word about men’s mental health.
Sources:
Coy, Peter. “Fewer Young Men Are in the Labor Force. More Are Living at Home.” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-11/fewer-young-men-are-in-the-labor-force-more-are-living-at-home.
Boettcher, Nick, et al. “Men's Work-Related Stress and Mental Health: Illustrating the Workings of Masculine Role Norms.” American Journal of Men's Health, SAGE Publications, 2019, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6438430/.
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