The Student Room Group

How do you put 'depression' as a mitigating circumstance on a job application.

How would I phrase it without it sounding cringey..?
You can't lol
What are you trying to mitigate? Exam results? Dismissal from a previous position? Poor attendance/punctuality? Kind of important to have that information before being able to give you a reasoned answer!
(edited 7 years ago)
Sometimes just writing "personal mental health circumstances" is enough for them to get the picture. Otherwise, there's no way to write it in a good light.
Reply 4
Original post by Reality Check
What are you trying to mitigate? Exam results? Dismissal from a previous position? Poor attendance/punctuality? Kind of important to have that information before being able to give you a reasoned answer!


Exam results
Reply 5
Original post by AlexFam
Sometimes just writing "personal mental health circumstances" is enough for them to get the picture. Otherwise, there's no way to write it in a good light.


Ahh I guess, thank you though :smile:
For exam results, you'd be better off having your referee write it as part of their reference. In that way it carries more weight, doesn't come across as a sob story (that's not to say that I think it is a sob story, just that these things can come across as such) and gets you out of having to be creative about it. That is, of course, if your academic referee knows about your depression.
Reply 7
Your exam results should have already been mitigated by any applicable health issues at the time. There's no point trying to do so later in life and will certainly not aid your application imo.
Very few jobs actually care about exam results. Are you sure that this job is one that will? Because, also, 'mitigating circumstances' are not really something employers think in terms of, so unless you are very sure they will be looking at them, I don't know that I'd go there at all, to be honest.
Is it a job you're hoping to be in for a long time, or "just" a shop job for a bit of extra money while working toward something "better"? If so, exam results don't really matter. If anything, they might think "s/he had time off for being depressed? s/he might let us down!" and give a non-discriminating reason for turning down your application.
Reply 10
Original post by Reue
Your exam results should have already been mitigated by any applicable health issues at the time. There's no point trying to do so later in life and will certainly not aid your application imo.


I wouldn't have said anything about the depression but they specifically asked if anything hindered my grades.

Original post by Persipan
Very few jobs actually care about exam results. Are you sure that this job is one that will? Because, also, 'mitigating circumstances' are not really something employers think in terms of, so unless you are very sure they will be looking at them, I don't know that I'd go there at all, to be honest.


They had a whole section on mitigating circumstances. It's a very big firm so I think it cares about grades lol. But thank you.
I really don't think it would do you any favors to mention it I am autistic and as soon as an employer hears that they hear the R word and start treating me accordingly. Normally among other things literally assuming I can't pack a box and put an address on it and arrange for Fed ex to collect it. Assuming I am incapable of learning new things or that I learn slower. When I try to mitigate this by mentioning My IQ of 144 (if everyone keeps thinking your stupid you start to wonder so I actually had myself tested not online proper official IQ test) they miss out the 100 part and only hear 44. (Btw I think there were problems with that IQ test and I should have scored higher but meh)

The impression the vast majority of employers get when you mention something like autism or depression is that you will do a worse job then others and it will either be because of the autism or depression or that will be blamed. They see you doing the job worse then others and them not been able to do anything about it for legal reasons. In most cases as soon as they hear about it they are trying to get you out the door regardless of how good or bad you have been previously. If you are mentioning this on the application then they want to avoid creating a scenario when they have to figure out how to get rid of you. The best way to do that is find something anything to avoid employing you.

To be clear I am not advocating the position that you will do a worse job due to your profession or that you will be less valuable because of it. I am advocating the position that this is how the employers will think. I know what I am saying is not PC etc but just trying to offer you what I have learned from my experience. If I ever want to get fired from a job I know all I need to do is slip my autism into a conversation in passing and bamm I will be out of there within two months.
Reply 12
Original post by Luke7456
I really don't think it would do you any favors to mention it I am autistic and as soon as an employer hears that they hear the R word and start treating me accordingly. Normally among other things literally assuming I can't pack a box and put an address on it and arrange for Fed ex to collect it. Assuming I am incapable of learning new things or that I learn slower. When I try to mitigate this by mentioning My IQ of 144 (if everyone keeps thinking your stupid you start to wonder so I actually had myself tested not online proper official IQ test) they miss out the 100 part and only hear 44. (Btw I think there were problems with that IQ test and I should have scored higher but meh)

The impression the vast majority of employers get when you mention something like autism or depression is that you will do a worse job then others and it will either be because of the autism or depression or that will be blamed. They see you doing the job worse then others and them not been able to do anything about it for legal reasons. In most cases as soon as they hear about it they are trying to get you out the door regardless of how good or bad you have been previously. If you are mentioning this on the application then they want to avoid creating a scenario when they have to figure out how to get rid of you. The best way to do that is find something anything to avoid employing you.

To be clear I am not advocating the position that you will do a worse job due to your profession or that you will be less valuable because of it. I am advocating the position that this is how the employers will think. I know what I am saying is not PC etc but just trying to offer you what I have learned from my experience. If I ever want to get fired from a job I know all I need to do is slip my autism into a conversation in passing and bamm I will be out of there within two months.


I'm sorry you get treated like that.

Maybe don't mention you're autistic until you've been working for at least 1 year? That way you're educating them by showing them that even autistic people can do things 'normal' people can?

I have to put down my depression because my GCSEs were amazing, AS were amazing but A Levels came out really bad. Luckily my first year grades are excellent so it shows that A Levels are a one off.

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