Nearly half (46%) of Gen Z between the ages of 18 and 27 depend on financial assistance from their family, according to a 2024 report from Bank of America.
What’s more, even though some parents are willing to help their kids out with cash, those loans don’t always come without strings attached — sometimes in the form of interest.
Financial media company MarketBeat.com‘s new report, which surveyed more than 3,000 parents, found that an increasing number are charging their adult children interest on family loans.
“The Bank of Mom and Dad has always been generous, but even generosity comes with boundaries,” says Matt Paulson, founder of MarketBeat.com. “What’s striking is that while most parents don’t expect repayment — and certainly not at commercial interest rates — inflation and rising costs are starting to reshape how families think about money.”
The average interest rate charged by parents was 5.1%, according to the data. That’s still well below the costs their children might incur elsewhere: The average personal loan rate is 12.49% for customers with a 700 FICO score, $5,000 loan amount and three-year repayment term, per Bankrate.
Only 15% of parents would be comfortable with lending their kids $5,000 or more at one time, according to MarketBeat’s research.
Family loan repayment terms can also vary significantly by location. The top five toughest state lenders based on the interest rates parents charge were Nebraska (6.8%), Oregon (6.8%), Mississippi (6.5%), Georgia (6.4%) and Arkansas (6.3%), the report found.
Parents in Delaware and Maine tended to be the most lenient when it came to charging their children interest on loans, with 2% and 4% rates, respectively, according to the findings.
Many parents who expect repayment also have a fast-tracked timeline in mind. Twenty-one percent anticipated seeing their loan repaid in one month, 15% within one year and just 8% more than a year later, per the survey.
Although 59% of parents reported being happy to help their kids with money, 27% said they would only do it if necessary, and 4% admitted to feeling resentful.
In many cases, family loans don’t just provide financial support — they’re also “emotional transactions that test trust, responsibility and family dynamics,” Paulson notes.
Nearly half (46%) of Gen Z between the ages of 18 and 27 depend on financial assistance from their family, according to a 2024 report from Bank of America.
What’s more, even though some parents are willing to help their kids out with cash, those loans don’t always come without strings attached — sometimes in the form of interest.
Nestlé, the world’s largest consumer goods company, has dismissed its CEO, Laurent Freixe, following revelations of an undisclosed romantic relationship with a subordinate.
According to Reuters, concerns about a possible relationship first surfaced in the spring through the company’s internal reporting channel “Speak Up.” A board-led investigation followed, during which Freixe had denied the relationship.
Staff concerns persisted, prompting another investigation overseen by Chairman Bulcke and Lead Independent Director Isla and independent outside counsel. This time around, investigators found what they believed to be evidence of a romantic relationship with a direct subordinate. Swiss website Inside Paradeplatz reports that Freixe met the unnamed woman in 2022, when he was head of Nestlé’s Latin America business.
This relationship violated Nestlé’s code of business conduct, and as reported by Fox Business News, the breach led to Freixe’s immediate removal after just one year in the role. He was not awarded any exit compensation.
“This was a necessary decision. Nestlé’s values and governance are strong foundations of our company,” Chairman Paul Bulcke said. “I thank Laurent for his years of service at Nestlé.”
Nestlé installed Philipp Navratil, previously head of the Nespresso division, as the new CEO.
This is the second CEO exit in less than a year for Nestlé, adding to its financial troubles. The Swiss food giant’s shares have shed 17% during Freixe’s leadership, per Reuters, and the value has plummeted by almost a third over the past five years.
Nestlé, the world’s largest consumer goods company, has dismissed its CEO, Laurent Freixe, following revelations of an undisclosed romantic relationship with a subordinate.
According to Reuters, concerns about a possible relationship first surfaced in the spring through the company’s internal reporting channel “Speak Up.” A board-led investigation followed, during which Freixe had denied the relationship.
Staff concerns persisted, prompting another investigation overseen by Chairman Bulcke and Lead Independent Director Isla and independent outside counsel. This time around, investigators found what they believed to be evidence of a romantic relationship with a direct subordinate. Swiss website Inside Paradeplatz reports that Freixe met the unnamed woman in 2022, when he was head of Nestlé’s Latin America business.
Moniqueca Sims, owner of SSG Appliance Academy, got her first glimpse into the appliance repair industry while dating a man who worked in the space. “He worked all the time, seven days a week,” Sims recalls, “so I used to go out with him just to spend time with him. I saw how easy it was for him to repair those appliances, and he was repairing them quickly.”
Image Credit: Courtesy of SSG Appliance Academy. Moniqueca Sims.
Sims believes in “working smarter, not harder” and had the idea to hire technicians to help the man she was dating with repair calls. She did, but when he didn’t slow down, she ended up with her own appliance repair company.
However, in running that business, Sims lost a significant amount of money purchasing parts. Many people she hired didn’t actually know how to repair appliances — and would just switch out part after part in search of a fit.
So Sims took matters into her own hands again. She enrolled in an online course to learn about appliance repair and started handling jobs herself, even taking her kids along sometimes.
“When you fix something, it boosts you up, every time you do it.”
Still, Sims knew there had to be a better way to train and hire technicians for business growth, so once more she set out to make it happen: She founded SSG Appliance Academy, which provides hands-on training courses on the fundamentals to have a career in the appliance repair industry, in Atlanta in 2019.
“ I saw how appliance repair was the gift that keeps on giving,” Sims says. “When you go out, when you fix something, it boosts you up, every time you do it. It’s not a grunt job. It’s a feel-good job.”
When Sims went out on jobs with her daughter, she found that many of the clients were stay-at-home moms who breathed a sigh of relief when they realized they wouldn’t be alone with a male worker. Knowing that, and seeing firsthand what a confidence booster appliance repair could be, Sims committed to bringing more women into the industry.
The total appliance repair industry revenue reached an estimated $6.3 billion in 2023, yet women make up less than 3% of home appliance repairers, according to data from ConsumerAffairs.
Sims decided to partner with shelters to grow SSG Appliance Academy and offer a viable career path to the women there. Although there was a lot of interest, the shelters didn’t have the funding to back it. So Sims got approved for grants through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).
The funding helps low-income, under- or unemployed women and men complete SSG Appliance Academy’s program and “turn their life around,” Sims says.
SSG Appliance Academy’s classes typically enroll eight to 10 students. The most recent course had three women in it. In the past, Sims often had to attend events and convince women to come to the class; now, word-of-mouth is helping them find it themselves, she says.
“ You constantly have to prove yourself [as a woman] in this industry.”
Sims looks forward to seeing even more women take advantage of SSG Appliance Academy, despite the challenges that can come with being a woman in the space.
“ You constantly have to prove yourself [as a woman] in this industry, and not just to the customers,” Sims says. “You have to prove yourself to everybody that works in the industry.”
Sims is also excited to see more people across the board jump into the appliance repair industry, noting that learning a trade can help people make more money than they might through earning a four-year college degree.
“Appliance repair can really help change people’s lives,” the founder says.
“You want to learn your craft from the inside out.”
To other women interested in starting their own careers or businesses in the appliance repair industry, Sims has some straightforward but essential advice: Enroll in a program that can help you learn all you need to know about the trade.
“You want to learn your craft from the inside out,” Sims says. “A lot of technicians in the field now learn on the job, so they become part-changers because they don’t learn how to diagnose and troubleshoot the appliances properly. So my advice would definitely be to take a class. It doesn’t have to be my school — any school.”
Sims notes that there will be plenty of obstacles along the way, but she encourages anyone interested in learning appliance repair to stay the course — because “it’s a very rewarding career and business.”
This article is part of our ongoing Women Entrepreneur® series highlighting the stories, challenges and triumphs of running a business as a woman.
Moniqueca Sims, owner of SSG Appliance Academy, got her first glimpse into the appliance repair industry while dating a man who worked in the space. “He worked all the time, seven days a week,” Sims recalls, “so I used to go out with him just to spend time with him. I saw how easy it was for him to repair those appliances, and he was repairing them quickly.”
Image Credit: Courtesy of SSG Appliance Academy. Moniqueca Sims.
We’ve all heard about “quiet quitting,” when employees perform the very bare minimum of their jobs. Now, new research from corporate training platform TalentLMS identifies an early stage of that problem, which can be just as detrimental to worker and employer happiness: “quiet cracking.”
TalentLMS defines quiet cracking as “a persistent feeling of workplace unhappiness that leads to disengagement, poor performance, and an increased desire to quit.” An online survey of 1,000 U.S. employees across industries found that 54% admit to experiencing some degree of quiet cracking.
A combination of a tight job market and an uncertain economy has workers staying put in unhappy situations. That has obvious negative emotional consequences for all involved, and it also comes with a negative financial impact. TalentLMS cites a Gallup report that reveals that low productivity levels from disengaged workers cost the global economy $8.8 trillion every year.
TalentLMS puts this phenomenon squarely on the shoulders of management and offers steps managers can take to reduce quiet cracking among workers:
Increase worker and manager training
In their survey, TalentLMS found that training for workers boosts skills, confidence and makes them feel valued. Managers should also learn how to lead effective one-on-one meetings and create feedback loops.
Offer regular recognition
The survey found that 21% of employees don’t feel valued at work. Recognition is “low-cost, high-impact,” advises TalentLMS, and is “one of the simplest ways to show people that their work matters.”Managers are encouraged to publicly recognize hard work from an employee, and to also point out how those efforts help the overall goals and mission of the business.
Give clarity to expectations and roles
“Clarity combats chaos,” says TalentLMS. Confusion is a big cause of workers feeling overwhelmed and “having too much on their plate.” Regular reviews of job expectations and workloads can significantly reduce employee stress.
We’ve all heard about “quiet quitting,” when employees perform the very bare minimum of their jobs. Now, new research from corporate training platform TalentLMS identifies an early stage of that problem, which can be just as detrimental to worker and employer happiness: “quiet cracking.”
TalentLMS defines quiet cracking as “a persistent feeling of workplace unhappiness that leads to disengagement, poor performance, and an increased desire to quit.” An online survey of 1,000 U.S. employees across industries found that 54% admit to experiencing some degree of quiet cracking.
You may be familiar with the situation: you would actually like to change your job, but there is just wave after wave of redundancies in your sector rather than new job vacancies. Economic uncertainty, inflation, recession and a lack of promising opportunities are all reasons for “quiet quitting”.
And how does this manifest itself? Employees stay in their positions because they can’t afford to simply quit – and unknowingly put their mental health at risk: dissatisfaction, depression and burnout can be the results of “quiet cracking”. You can read everything you need to know about it here.
What is quiet cracking?
“Quiet cracking” means that employees go about their work in silence, withdraw more and more, and actually only do not resign and stay in their jobs due to economic insecurity.
Frank Giampietro, Chief Wellbeing Officer at the management consultancy EY, describes “quiet crackers” as employees who are “present” and dutifully perform their tasks, but who no longer thrive due to a lack of motivation. Hiring freezes and increasing redundancies have led to many people feeling trapped in their situation not by choice, but due to a lack of better alternatives.
Why is quiet cracking on the rise?
According to a study by EY, 28% of employees are reportedly no longer motivated at work, and only 24% of the 2,000 people surveyed are completely satisfied with their work situation – even though 93% are convinced that they make an important contribution to the company’s success.
Quiet cracking could prove to be an increasingly serious problem, especially among younger Gen Z and millennial employees: According to the EY study, only 33 percent of them are still satisfied, compared to over 50 percent in 2023. This shift is alarming and is only confirmed on a global level: According to the analysis and consulting firm Gallup, global employee engagement fell from 23% to 21% in 2024 – the second decline in five years after 2020.
Decreased employee engagement results in production losses of 438 billion US dollars for the global economy – and fuels a vicious cycle: due to economic losses, salary increases and promotions are suspended, training and wellness programs are cut, and employees are exposed to more stress and “quiet hiring”. The result (once again): “quiet cracking” as many cannot simply quit in the current economic climate.
Frank Giampietro sees a need for action on the part of managers in particular: instead of reacting to employees’ sensitivities with mistrust, they should support them before they experience a complete mental breakdown.
But why are people unhappy at work? There are many reasons for this, but the majority of respondents cite a lack of appreciation as the biggest problem. Employees often have the feeling that their work, which they actually really enjoy, is not seen – and that they are unable to develop sustainably due to a lack of positive feedback.
They then increasingly have the feeling that they and their work are irrelevant, their motivation drops accordingly and their attention and willingness to perform noticeably diminishes. However, they don’t show this to the outside world – and not even to their manager: they are much more likely to remain committed and do their work more than satisfactorily, but internally they feel trapped in their unsatisfactory position. Hello, hamster wheel – hello, burnout.
What you can do about it?
Do you have the feeling that, as an employee, you are well on the way to “quiet cracking”? It’s not nice, but it’s not hopeless either. To put a stop to the loss of motivation and dissatisfaction (and avoid having to look for a new job straight away), it’s worth approaching your manager – because they probably won’t even know how you’re quietly struggling.
Ask for a personal meeting and individual feedback. Tell them openly and honestly that the appreciation you have received does not match your work performance. This requires a fair amount of courage – but it can be worth it. Because all too often you can only demand what you have clearly communicated.
At the same time, managers should adopt a new approach to appreciation: it’s not just the big successes that should be praised, but everyday activities are also worthy of (positive) feedback. At the same time, the productivity of the team should be encouraged and emphasised – and in such a way that it reaches everyone. This is the only way to nip “quiet cracking” in the bud: by listening to employees and taking their fears and concerns seriously – and thus indirectly encouraging, motivating and spurring them on to further team and individual successes.
NEW YORK, July 17, 2025 (Newswire.com)
– As cap-and-gown celebrations wind down, a new challenge looms for the class of 2025: a job market that’s tougher than any seen in recent memory. According to the Federal Reserve, unemployment for recent graduates has outpaced the national average for the first time since 1980, with entry-level hiring freezes, AI automation, and economic uncertainty reshaping the traditional path from college to career.
“Many of today’s entry-level roles are disappearing before new grads even have a chance to compete,” said Pamela Skillings, co-founder and chief coach at Big Interview, a job training platform used by hundreds of colleges and universities nationwide. “But that doesn’t mean opportunity is gone-it just means students need to be better prepared, more adaptable, and more strategic in how they present themselves.”
Recent research confirms this, with a 2024 McKinsey report estimating 44% of global job tasks could be automated, with white-collar entry-level roles among the most affected. A LinkedIn survey of executives found that 63% believe AI will replace many entry-level tasks, altering job expectations for new hires.
Skillings, who has coached thousands of job seekers through economic downturns, sees a shift in what employers are hiring for: adaptability, clarity of communication, and the ability to think critically in fast-changing environments.
“AI may have changed the market, but it hasn’t changed what makes people hirable,” she said. “Hiring managers still want to hear your story, understand your strengths, and see how you solve problems. The graduates who learn to communicate that clearly will stand out – even in a flooded market.”
According to Skillings, the students who fare best aren’t always the ones with perfect résumés or the most experience; they’re the ones who know how to position themselves, speak clearly about their strengths, and demonstrate problem-solving skills in real time.
She also stresses that AI isn’t just changing who gets hired, it’s also changing how hiring happens. “AI is already baked into how companies operate, how they review resumes, and how they conduct interviews,” she said. “That means new grads need to learn how to collaborate with AI, not fear it.”
Skillings encourages graduates to take small, strategic steps-even in the face of an overwhelming market. “Pick one thing you can do this week to move forward,” she said. “Sign up for a free AI course. Rework your résumé with a clear story. Explore a career path AI can’t replace. This isn’t just about getting a job-it’s about finding your place in a workforce that’s evolving fast.”
About Pamela Skillings: Pamela Skillings is a nationally recognized career coach and co-founder of Big Interview. A former professor at NYU and former corporate VP, she has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and CNN. She is also the author of Escape from Corporate America and Job Interviewing for Dummies (2024 edition).
About Big Interview: Big Interview is a premier AI-driven job interview training platform with partners including more than 700 higher education institutions, government workforce agencies and businesses, as well as individual clients.
We prepare individuals for all aspects of the interview process with a vast library of video lessons and practice interviews, available in both English and Spanish, tailored to 1100+ job roles. Big Interview also provides real-time AI-powered feedback and personalized coaching to help users refine their skills. On average, Big Interview users secure employment in 4.4 weeks, compared to the national average of 23 weeks.
New collaboration will equip Skill Forward participants with professional interview training to convert new skills into better jobs.
NEW YORK, June 24, 2025 (Newswire.com)
– Big Interview, a leader in job interview training and career readiness, announced today a partnership with Verizon as part of its nationwide Verizon Forward and Skill Forward initiatives. The goal: to ensure that participants-many of whom come from under-resourced backgrounds-have the tools to turn their newly acquired skills into higher-paying, long-term employment.
As part of Verizon’s goal to train 50,000 individuals by 2030 to help them advance their careers, this collaboration brings world-class interview preparation and coaching directly to Skill Forward learners at no cost.
“We’re honored to support Verizon Forward customers and Skill Forward participants as they take the next step toward better jobs and brighter futures,” said Alex Andrei, CEO of Big Interview. “For someone who’s invested time in building new skills, interview prep can be the difference between landing a job or starting over. We’re here to make sure they finish strong.”
Big Interview’s training platform is proven to help job seekers dramatically reduce their time to employment, from the national average of 21.1 weeks (per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) to as few as 4 weeks. The platform is especially effective for individuals facing barriers to employment, including gaps in work history or limited access to traditional career coaching.
“Verizon is pleased to partner with Big Interview to offer Verizon Skill Forward learners a free job readiness resource,” said Carrie Hughes, AVP, Social Innovation. “In today’s highly competitive market, individuals must have both in-demand skills as well as the confidence to effectively present themselves and their abilities. This partnership aims to provide practical, real-world job search preparation that empowers our learners for success in the next phase of their careers.”
Key Features of the Partnership:
● Comprehensive Interview Training: On-demand curriculum covering all major question types, tailored for both entry-level and advanced roles.
● Customized Mock Interviews: Realistic simulations for over 1,100 careers, plus specialized tools for English Language Learners and job seekers with employment gaps or disabilities.
● AI-Powered Feedback and Action Plans: Personalized coaching guidance driven by AI and developed by career experts.
About Big Interview: Big Interview is a trusted career development platform used by more than 1 million job seekers and over 700 organizations, including universities, government agencies, and Fortune 500 companies. The platform provides structured learning, AI-powered mock interviews, and expert-backed tools to help individuals build confidence, improve outcomes, and succeed in today’s competitive job market. Learn more at https://www.biginterview.com.
About Verizon: Verizon Communications Inc. powers and empowers how its millions of customers live, work and play, delivering on their demand for mobility, reliable network connectivity and security. Headquartered in New York City, serving countries worldwide and nearly all of the Fortune 500, Verizon generated revenues of $134.8 billion in 2024. Verizon’s world-class team never stops innovating to meet customers where they are today and equip them for the needs of tomorrow. For more, visit verizon.com or find a retail location at verizon.com/stores.
SHPE and Latino Donor Collaborative released a report with key facts showcasing a 60% increase for Hispanics in AI technical roles and rising STEM degrees for Latinos that help drive the U.S. economy forward.
LOS ANGELES, February 19, 2025 (Newswire.com)
– A groundbreaking report released by SHPE, a national organization representing 20,000+ Hispanics in STEM, and the Latino Donor Collaborative (LDC), a think tank dedicated to producing research that highlights economic opportunities, reveals that Hispanic students and professionals are critical to filling the projected demand in the U.S. for 11.8 million STEM professionals by 2030 to help drive the country’s economy forward.
The “2024 SHPE-LDC U.S. Latinos in Engineering and Tech Report” documents significant progress in Latino representation in engineering education, with undergraduate engineering enrollment increasing by 39% from 2012 to 2022. Engineering degrees awarded to Hispanics rose by 57% during the same period.
“With Hispanics comprising over 25% of America’s youth (under 18 years of age) and nearly 16% of undergraduate engineering students, the talent pipeline is critical to filling the projected need for 11.8 million STEM professionals by 2030,” SHPE CEO Suzanna Valdez Wolfe said. “Empowering Hispanics with resources and opportunities isn’t just an investment in our future – it’s essential to meeting America’s growing technological demands and contributing to a thriving U.S. economy.”
“Latino involvement in engineering and technology is essential for sustaining global competitiveness and driving progress in the U.S. This report offers the most compelling evidence to date that by supporting young people to pursue STEM education, we can effectively eliminate concerns about a shortage of qualified talent,” Ana Valdez, CEO and President of LDC, said.
Key findings include:
22% of Hispanics aged 25-34 now hold bachelor’s degrees or higher, compared to 16% of those aged 50 and older
Master’s degrees in engineering awarded to Latinos increased by 37%, while doctoral engineering enrollment grew by 50% from 2012-2022
Latinos are projected to account for 78% of all net new workers by 2030
Hispanic participation in AI technical roles increased by 59% between 2018 and 2022
SHPE members have a graduation rate of 88%, significantly higher than the national engineering rate of approximately 50%
Latino youth demonstrate strong adaptability and engagement with emerging technologies compared to other groups. Among young Hispanics, 54% use AI for information gathering, while 39% use it for creative applications such as image generation and 27% for music production. This active use of AI lays the foundation for Latinos to transition from users to developers of AI-driven solutions.
Moreover, 64% of respondents are motivated by the opportunity to solve real-world problems, aligning with the values of community and service emphasized in Hispanic culture. For many, earning potential (52%) adds to the appeal, as does the promise of career opportunities (50%) in these fields.
However, challenges remain: The report identifies areas requiring attention, including financial insecurity (affecting 66% of Latino students), housing instability, and the need to increase support and mentorship. The report concludes with recommendations, including expanded mentorship programs, increased STEM funding, and partnerships on internships, career fairs, and initiatives to promote careers in STEM.
The largest gathering of Hispanic STEM talent in the nation, the 2024 SHPE National Convention & Career Fair will welcome a record 15,000+ attendees plus major STEM sponsors including Visionary Sponsor Chevron, Apple, and more, from Oct. 30 to Nov. 3, 2024.
ANAHEIM, Calif., October 30, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– As it celebrates its 50th year, SHPE: Leading Hispanics in STEM, a national organization representing more than 20,000 Hispanic professionals, academics, and college students in STEM, announced its 48th SHPE National Convention held from Oct. 30 through Nov. 3, 2024, in Anaheim, California, is sold out.
By welcoming more than 15,000 attendees, SHPE beats its record from last year by 3,000, a milestone that points to the growing demand from Hispanics for STEM jobs.
“As we celebrate our 50th year, SHPE is honored to see the interest in our convention, which shows that attendees are excited for the future of STEM in our country, and companies are eager to hire quality STEM professionals,” says Suzanna Valdez Wolfe, SHPE CEO. “In SHPE, we are focused on connecting Hispanic professionals, students, and academics to career-making STEM jobs, with 10.9 million projected to be available by 2031.”
The Convention will feature over 350 exhibitors, 700 interview booths, and a growing list of attending sponsors including Visionary Sponsor Chevron, Apple, Bank of America, 3M, Abbott, Amazon, Boston Scientific, Dow, Dupont, HII, Microsoft, Wells Fargo, and many more.
Thousands of jobs will be offered at the two-day Career Fair & Graduate School Expo from Nov. 1-2 by companies like Cummins, Google, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin, to name a few.
According to the Pew Research Center, 81% of U.S. Hispanics believe having role models in STEM can encourage young Hispanics to pursue careers in these fields. Encouraging this shift is important because only 8% of STEM jobs are filled by Hispanic professionals, and only 2% hold jobs in tech. SHPE believes the STEM industry’s most pressing problem is that the workforce has yet to reflect the diversity of our nation. We are bridging the gap between Hispanics and STEM.
In addition to connecting members with many of the top recruiters and leaders in STEM, the Convention is one of the most powerful tools to prepare Hispanic students and professionals to be top talent and leaders in their field. The four-day gathering will offer attendees professional and leadership development opportunities through sessions and workshops, speaker presentations, networking, and competitions.
The Convention will also include the presentation of the prestigious STAR (SHPE Technical Achievement and Recognition) Awards, spotlighting key individuals, corporations, government agencies, and academic institutions that have contributed significantly to support Hispanics in STEM.
Kavi Vu, 33, moved to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in August 2023.
Courtesy of Kavi Vu.
When Kavi Vu was 3 year old, her family fled to the United States, following a decades-long war in their home country, Vietnam. After 30 years, she has returned to her motherland to “slow down” and experience her native country.
Vu moved to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, last year, where she currently works remotely as a freelance creative consultant and videographer, bringing in about $11,000 a month, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. She just needs to work about 8 to 15 hours a week.
“I was able to significantly lessen my workload — way less than if I were living in the States,” she said. “I am very privileged in that, in Vietnam, I get to say how many hours a week I work, which I know is insane. Coming from the States … I worked like 10 hours a day.”
“I primarily came here to work less and observe more,” Vu said. “I feel like the U.S. is a lot of doing, and here, it’s a lot of being, being present [and] just like existing, and that’s really nice, because sometimes you just need that space to untangle a lot of knots in your head.”
Vu and her family fled Vietnam for the United States in the 1990s to escape the fallout of the Vietnam War, which is also known as the “American War” in Vietnam.
“My sisters actually were boat people (refugees who fled Vietnam by boat), so they were in refugee camps in the Philippines. [They] came to the States and were able to sponsor my parents and me over from Vietnam,” she said.
Kavi Vu and her family during Christmas 2021.
Courtesy of Kavi Vu.
Vu’s family landed in Florida, where they spent 10 years before moving to Georgia where they lived on a small chicken farm. Growing up as a minority in the U.S., she never felt a sense of belonging, she told CNBC Make It.
“We were living the refugee experience,” she said. “I mean, we were the only Asians living there, so it was really — I guess — jarring,” she said. “You’re always feeling like a foreigner.”
Her feelings of being an outsider grew as she became more involved in politics in 2016. For about six years, Vu worked as a freelance videographer on projects that aimed at engaging minority voters in the Southern states, but she began to burn out.
Vu said she was exhausted from juggling “a million different things at once” and feeling like her brain is “constantly churning.” “The American dream just started feeling like it was dwindling … and I just felt like I needed a break from America.”
In August 2023, she took the leap of faith and left the U.S. for Vietnam.
Now, Vu lives in a luxury 1-bedroom apartment, for $950 a month. Her apartment is located in the Bình Thạnh district, a central location in Ho Chi Minh City.
Inside Vu’s 1-bed, 1-bath apartment in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Courtesy of Kavi Vu.
Vu’s apartment complex offers several amenities including community pools, a gym, a restaurant, a bar and a spa.
“I feel so privileged, like it literally feels like I’m on vacation every single day,” she said. “When I talk to people every day, I definitely have … a fancier, nicer lifestyle, and when I actually talk about how much I pay for rent, among different groups, I definitely pay like some of the highest rents.”
Vu pays about $950 a month for her luxury apartment in Vietnam.
Vu pays about $950 a month for her luxury apartment in Vietnam.
In total, Vu spends about $1,500 a month on her living expenses, including food, transportation and rent, according to documents reviewed.
For transportation, she uses ride-hailing app Grab to get around the city which usually costs 50 cents to $4 per ride. She usually opts to eat at local food stalls and restaurants, which cost an average of $2 to $5 per meal.
“My money goes really far here,” she said. “Budgeting was easy, especially if I’m going to make American dollars in Vietnam … It’s like the best life hack.”
Besides freelancing as a creative consultant, Vu is also a content creator and enjoys documenting her life in Vietnam. Nowadays, she also has more time to work on her passion for poetry.
“Everything was moving at like, two times speed in the States, and I never knew it, because … I was constantly in it,” she said.
While living in the U.S., Vu was always preoccupied with paying her bills and realizing the “American dream,” so she was constantly in a hurry and felt like she had to continually optimize her time, she said.
After moving to Vietnam, “life feels slow,” said Vu. “Even though Saigon is very hustle bustle, folks are just sitting [in coffee shops] for hours at a time and I don’t remember the last time I did that in the States for even minutes at a time,” she said.
Kavi Vu with her mom on a motorbike in Vietnam.
Courtesy of Kavi Vu.
“It feels just so luxurious to be able to just sit there and ponder life and write it down. I just never felt like I truly had the time or like an empty enough mind to actually do it,” she said.
Not only has Vu’s move back to Vietnam given her a sense of freedom to slow down, but it’s also given her the mental capacity and air space to unpack and make sense of her family’s history and her own heritage.
“One of the biggest things that I’m untangling over here is just like feeling a lot closer to my family, even though I’m farther away,” she said. “I’m just understanding my parents a lot more [by] seeing how they lived over here,” she said.
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Gen Z are increasingly ditching corporate careers to take up traditional trades like welding, plumbing, and carpentry. But despite the appeal of working far from a desk, they should be warned that it might not actually make them happier than a 9-to-5 office job.
That’s because the recruitment firm Bubblegum Search has analyzed over 2,000 Reddit comments, as well as wages and working hours, to rank the happiest (and unhappiest) workers in the U.K.—and topping the list for being the least happy are electricians.
According to the study, the physically demanding nature of the job and 40+ hour workweeks didn’t make up for the “decent” £25,000 to £40,000 salary.
Construction workers, warehouse managers and construction project managers also made the list of unhappiest jobs for having “unpredictable hours,” topped with being stressful and taxing.
Perhaps surprisingly, not a single trade job made the list of happiest jobs.
Gen Z could be in for a rude awakening
The survey results could be a big wake-up call for Gen Z, who are increasingly shunning the corporate rat race and picking up the tools instead.
The same data shows a 23% surge in students studying construction trades in 2023 compared to the year before, and a 7% increase in HVAC and vehicle maintenance and repair programs.
What’s more, according to the LinkedIn’s analysis of millions of member profiles and job postings, utilities, oil, gas and mining, and construction are all among the top five fastest-growing industries right now for graduates.
Why the shift? A handful of Gen Zers told Fortune they went down the traditional trades route because it’s a path to solid earnings, the freedom of being your own boss, and the ability to work remotely (or at least, not chained to a desk.)
However, as Bubblegum Search research highlights, those freedoms come at a cost: Long hours and as you’d assume, tiresome manual work.
The top 10 unhappiest jobs, as per the study
1. Electrician 2. Psychiatric aide 3. Social worker 4. Construction worker 5. Warehouse manager 6. Night cleaner 7. Video game quality tester 8. Hospital security 9. Surgical coordinator 10. Construction project manager
The top 10 happiest jobs
1. Car designer 2. Animator 3. Game developer 4. IT support specialist 5. Cybersecurity specialist 6. Dog photographer 7. Developmental biologist 8. Occupational therapist 9. UX designer 10. System administrator
Trade workers: Fortune wants to hear from you. What does Gen Z need to know about the realities of the job? Email orianna.royle@fortune.com
This article was originally published on December 22, 2023. Emma Stone has since won her second Oscar for the leading role in Poor Thingsand reportedly shaved her head for her fourth collaboration with director Yorgos Lanthimos, set to release in 2025.
The quintessential Emma Stone acting choice comes near the end of Battle of the Sexes, a solid but unremarkable 2017 tennis bio-drama in which she plays Billie Jean King to Steve Carell’s Bobby Riggs. King is all nerves before their famous match; as attendants carry her down a hallway on a garish throne, preparing for a grand entrance, she is visibly fretful over the reputational damage of agreeing to this in the first place. She ducks her head as she enters the stadium — and looks up as she emerges into the light, smiling like a superstar.
It’s a split-second reveal of the machinery behind preternatural charisma. Stone has always known how to let you in on a metamorphosis. Her best roles are those in which her character transforms and ascends: an unknown actress becomes a movie star, a newcomer to the queen’s court acquires power, a talented tennis player turns icon. She doesn’t disappear into her roles; she makes you aware of the games her characters are playing. In All About Eve terms, she’s Bette Davis and she’s Anne Baxter. With her giant eyes — which can project vulnerability or shift into unearthly confidence — and her raspy voice, Stone locates the star inside the striver and vice versa.
More recently, though, she has expanded into roles that distort these tropes. This winter, she stars in both the Showtime series The Curse, as a deluded house flipper who yearns for basic-cable celebrity, and Yorgos Lanthimos’s film Poor Things, as a woman implanted with the brain of an infant who goes on a journey of steampunk self-discovery. In both, the actress seems to be winking at the narratives that defined her earlier work — and it’s clear that she is hitting a new, more experimental high.
Stone, 35, made her name with a distinctly millennial kind of role: the sardonic yet earnest girl next door. For a while, her go-to interview anecdote was about how, as a teenager, she had made a PowerPoint to try to convince her parents she needed to move to L.A. to pursue acting. (As she later explained it, “I make presentations because when I feel strongly about something, I cry.”) After scattered roles in comedies like Superbad, her star-is-born moment was Will Gluck’s 2010 film Easy A, a twee teen update of The Scarlet Letter, in which her character, Olive, pretends to have sex with her gay classmate to help him convince everyone he’s straight. Then she pretends to do it with a bunch more people, too, for the social cachet and just for the hell of it. On paper, it’s an impossible role; she has to be an outcast and a smart aleck and a vlogger as well as charming enough that we believe her classmates believe she could hook up with half the school. That’s where Stone excels. When Olive decides to embrace her identity as a woman of ill repute, strutting down a walkway in Ray-Bans while she mugs and blows kisses, she’s doing an uncool person’s imitation of “cool and hot” in addition to being actually cool and hot. Stone makes Olive relatable: You get that she thinks high-school popularity is dumb and that she wants it anyway.
With Nathan Fielder in The Curse. Photo: Richard Foreman Jr./SHOWTIME/Richard Foreman Jr./A24/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME
Easy A took Stone to a new echelon. She was nominated for a Golden Globe (they love an ingénue), won an MTV Movie Award, and hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time. For a while, her career looked like an attempt to follow the path of early-’90s Julia Roberts, another star with megawatt charisma who knows how to let you in on the joke. Stone kept on doing comedies. She took a tiny role in Gluck’s next movie, Friends With Benefits. She starred opposite Ryan Gosling in Crazy, Stupid, Love. She was Gwen Stacy in the rom-comish The Amazing Spider-Man. Her role as the protagonist’s daughter in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, from 2014, earned Stone her first Oscar nomination, but the performance, like a lot of that film, is pitched to 11, manic and attention-grabbing without being artful. Her most infamous role may be that of Allison Ng — whose father is supposed to be half-Chinese and half-Hawaiian — in Cameron Crowe’s directionless 2015 comedy, Aloha. (Stone has apologized for this informally: When Sandra Oh made a joke about it onstage at the 2019 Golden Globes, Stone shouted from her seat, “I’m sorry!”)
After Aloha, Stone’s prospects looked uncertain. Studio comedies were on the wane. She wasn’t an obvious choice for dramas, nor was she an indie darling. But Stone picked up a part in La La Land,Damien Chazelle’s reconstructed Hollywood love-story musical. As Mia, a barista and wannabe actress, Stone portrayed the apotheosis of a striver. Mia may cloak her ambition in wry self-deprecation, especially when she flirts with Gosling’s Über-serious jazz musician, but the movie depends on the idea that she deserves to be discovered. Stone’s Oscar win for the role seemed almost inevitable from the scene in which Mia auditions for a big Hollywood film. Over the course of one song, she goes from a shrinking unknown — who cites her aunt who “used to live in Paris” as the dreamer who imparted her love of art — to a star and back, her voice gaining power as she builds through the bridge. In a long take, Chazelle brings us close to Stone as emotion overtakes her face, her eyes glimmering; the camera circles her, and when it comes back around she’s suddenly someone else. Maybe it’s a trick of eyeline: A novice looks down and away from the camera; the star, just above and beyond it.
Stone had her Oscar, but where do you go from there? She did Battle of the Sexes and Netflix’s Maniac, a curio of a series quickly buried by algorithmic churn. But it was during her first collaboration with Lanthimos, in 2018’s The Favourite, when she uncovered a fruitful new valence for her career. She played Abigail, the new girl in the 18th-century court of Olivia Colman’s Queen Anne, who uses her natural star power to scheme her way into the queen’s affections while trying to outflank Anne’s standby, Rachel Weisz. In her most memorable gambit, Stone monologues about her plans while jerking off a young nobleman played by Joe Alwyn. Lanthimos pushes the camera toward Stone’s face, the candlelight bringing out its shadows. Abigail thinks of herself as a victim — “My life is like a maze I continually think I’ve gotten out of,” she mutters — but it’s clear she’s also seizing control of her situation and, literally, of Alwyn.
The Favourite unlocked a darkness in Stone’s performances. While she had always made her characters self-aware, she began to lean harder into deviousness and delusion. On repeat visits to SNL, Stone explored fully unleashed defensiveness as the mother of a sensitive boy in 2016 and, in 2019, as an actress obsessed with finding the truth of her minor character in a gay porno. When she announces, as the star of 2021’s Cruella, that she was “born brilliant, born bad, and a little bit mad,” she plays it cocky, comedic, and entirely heartfelt, pointing herself in a different, possibly freeing, direction: The dreamer becomes a villain. In an interview about that film — a 101 Dalmatians prequel that barely justifies its existence outside Stone’s go-for-broke performance — she admitted that she had been “asking myself a lot of questions about that charm offensive or ingénue idea in my own life.” She was excited by “this phase of playing these women who are much less concerned with what people think about them.”
Now when she plays a woman obsessed with likability, Stone knows she can treat it like a joke — or a trap. In The Curse, her character Whitney’s belief in her own charm is just one of her many self-deceptions. She is the daughter of slumlords who, along with her husband, Asher (Nathan Fielder), runs a house-flipping operation in New Mexico. They build “passive homes” that are obvious rip-offs of other people’s designs and that Whitney tries to fill with work by a Native artist who finds her cringe-inducing. Whitney wants her show to be called Green Queen. She is convinced that she deserves what would amount to HGTV stardom.
It’s a self-immolating role — not least because Stone is from Arizona and played a white savior in The Help. Whitney has all the obliviousness of someone who would take that part in Aloha. In a defining scene, she and Asher stumble into a genuinely sweet moment when he tries to help her out of a sweater and it gets stuck around her head. They collapse into giggles. “This is us, Ash,” Whitney says, then adds, “I wish the network could see this.” She scurries across the room, grabs her phone, and tries to get him to re-create the scene on-camera.
In Poor Things. Photo: Searchlight Pictures
In Poor Things, Stone performs the most literal kind of becoming. She is Bella Baxter, a once-dead woman who has been zapped back to life but with the brain of a baby and must now grow into a worldly, self-actualized individual. The film has its surreal and twisted qualities as well as its obvious ones; the script and direction tend to overemphasize their points about misogyny. As Bella, though, Stone progresses through this strange personal growth without judgment in a performance that has made her an Oscar front-runner. She works with technical precision: As Bella’s brain ages inside her adult body, her gait changes from stilted lumbering to a posture of confidence and control. Her face, which she can spread open with wonder, scrambles with confusion and interest at new ideas and experiences, especially once she heads out to traipse across Europe in search of enlightenment. She’s gloriously uninhibited in the bedroom or while scarfing down her first pastel de nata. On the dance floor with Mark Ruffalo, she cavorts like a Victorian Raggedy Ann. Although Stone has always been good in close-up — and she’s especially good here, those watery irises offset by that jet-black hair — Bella’s discovery comes through her whole physical being.
The film invites allegorical readings. You could interpret it as a comment on what it can be like to chart your own way as a woman in Hollywood or how to find some sense of self even when forced into a role. But it’s also, of all Stone’s metamorphoses, one of the simplest — and the most internal. Olive, Mia, Abigail, and even Whitney long for social acceptance. Bella’s hunger, in the end, isn’t social. What she wants from life is pleasure and knowledge, especially of her body’s forgotten history. She’s trying to become herself.
Sometimes, just one slip-up at work can make me second-guess my entire career. Am I even qualified? Why was I hired in the first place? Any minute now my colleagues will realise I don’t belong.
You may know this type of self-doubt as “imposter syndrome,” and it usually has nothing to do with your actual skills, says Melissa Robinson-Brown, PhD, a licensed psychologist.
In fact, research shows that highly accomplished people tend to question their competency the most. That’s because imposter syndrome is about how you feel (not the reality of your abilities), Dr. Robinson-Brown explains: You might think that unless you were perfect, you could’ve done better, or that any success you have is simply luck – not a reflection of your hard work and talent.
While imposter syndrome isn’t an official diagnosis, constantly feeling inadequate can lead to serious mental health struggles, like anxiety and depression. Not to mention, it can trigger unhealthy habits, like negative self-talk, toxic comparisons, and overworking in an effort to “prove” your worth.
You don’t have to be stuck with these insecurities forever, though. Developing full-blown confidence takes time, but the expert tips below can make it easier to quiet the harsh voice in your head.
1. Fight your doubts with facts
Not feeling good enough, smart enough, or experienced enough are just that: Feelings. “They’re not facts,” says Carolyn Rubenstein, PhD, a clinical psychologist and the author of Perseverance: How Young People Turn Fear into Hope, which is why it’s more productive to consider any actual evidence you have about your work performance.
For instance, keep a running list of your biggest accomplishments (remember how you nailed last week’s presentation?) on your desk. Or dedicate a folder in your inbox to all the positive emails from your manager (like the one where they praised you for jumping on an assignment). “We tend to magnify the negatives and overlook our successes,” Dr. Rubenstein explains. So by challenging self-critical thoughts with hard facts about your achievements, it becomes easier to give yourself the credit you deserve.
2. Get a reality check from a trusted coworker or friend
When nagging doubts creep in, getting a fresh, outside perspective – one that isn’t tainted by your exaggerated, biased thoughts – can keep you grounded.
“Don’t dump your innermost insecurities on just anyone,” Dr. Rubenstein says—meaning, think twice before going to a boss who increases your anxiety or a colleague who just started last week. Instead, “confide in someone you’ve worked well with and trust on a personal level,” she says. You could say something like, “This past week has been so overwhelming. Have you felt that way too?” And if your coworker agrees (“Oh my God, I thought I was the only one!”), their similar experience might reassure you that you’re not the only one struggling.
Outside of the office, chatting with a close friend or family member can also pull you out of your head and remind you that you’re not a phony. Irrational beliefs tend to fester when they’re bottled up, Dr. Robinson-Brown explains: “So, lean on the people who you know will support you, listen without judgement, and affirm you the next time you’re feeling less-than.”
3. Remember who you’re comparing yourself to
Chances are, you’re not measuring yourself against a new intern who’s still learning the ropes. You’re probably trying to be like that impressive senior-level manager with more than a decade of experience under their belt, say, or someone else with a proven track record of success.
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) uses an important distinction when evaluating a relationship between a worker and a business: the difference is between a contract for “services” and a “contract of service.”
What is a contract for services?
A contract for services is a business relationship, like when you hire a contractor to renovate your bathroom or a snow removal company to clear your driveway. Neither the general contractor nor the snowplow driver is your employee. They do not work for you. They provide work for you.
What is a contract of services?
If you own a restaurant and hire a cook, or you own a store and hire a cashier, this is a contract of service. You set the shifts and the terms of employment, so it’s a different type of relationship.
How to determine if you are employed or self employed
When in doubt about your employment status, the CRA considers six primary factors, Elza.
Control: When the payer dictates when and how work is done, it’s more likely that the person being paid is an employee.
Tools and equipment: An employer is more likely to provide equipment and tools to an employee compared to a self-employed contractor who provides their own.
Subcontracting work or hiring assistants: An employee is unlikely to be permitted to subcontract their work or hire others, whereas a self-employed person can make decisions like this without permission.
Financial risk: Employees typically do not have to pay for expenses to earn their income—or they are reimbursed when they do—whereas a self-employed person is responsible for their own expenses and business profitability.
Responsibility for investment and management: A worker generally does not have to invest their own capital to earn their living, and they don’t typically have a discernible business presence.
Opportunity for profit: An employee’s income may vary depending on their hours, bonus or commissions, but a worker cannot generally control their proceeds and expenses nor incur a loss, like a self-employed person.
It’s also more likely that you’re an employee if you’re only providing services to a single payer. Someone who is self-employed tends to have multiple clients or customers.
Should you incorporate if you’re self-employed?
If you’re self-employed and run a business that has a significant amount of risk, Elza, you may want to consider incorporating. This can limit your liability.
If you have business partners, incorporation can also be a more efficient way to involve shareholders or raise capital.
One of the main tax advantages of incorporating is the ability to retain savings within the corporation. You may benefit from a corporate small business tax rate that’s around 40% lower than the top personal tax rate.
The largest gathering of Hispanic STEM talent in the nation, the 2024 SHPE National Convention will draw thousands of students, industry leaders, and academics.
LOS ANGELES, September 16, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– As it celebrates its 50th year, SHPE: Leading Hispanics in STEM, a national organization representing more than 20,000 Hispanic professionals and college students in STEM, will host the 48th SHPE National Convention in Anaheim, California. Held at the Anaheim Convention Center from October 30 through November 3, 2024, the Convention is the largest gathering of Hispanic STEM talent in the nation, drawing an expected 15,000 students, professionals, industry leaders, and academics.
The Convention will feature over 350 exhibitors, 700 interview booths, and a growing list of attending sponsors including Visionary Sponsor Chevron, Apple, Bank of America, 3M, Abbott, Amazon, Boston Scientific, Dow, Dupont, HII, Microsoft, Wells Fargo, and many more.
According to the Pew Research Center, 81% of U.S. Hispanics believe having role models in STEM can encourage young Hispanics to pursue careers in these fields. Encouraging this shift is important because only 8% of STEM jobs are filled by Hispanic professionals, and only 2% hold jobs in tech. SHPE believes the STEM industry’s most pressing problem is that the workforce has yet to reflect the diversity of our nation. We are bridging the gap between Hispanics and STEM.
In addition to connecting members with many of the top recruiters and leaders in STEM, the Convention is one of the most powerful tools to prepare Hispanic students and professionals to be top talent and leaders in their field.
“The importance of STEM fields cannot be overstated, with projections indicating a staggering 10.9 million job openings by 2031, representing a substantial 10.8% growth trajectory,” says Suzanna Valdez Wolfe, CEO of SHPE. “SHPE is honored in its 50th year to continue to support students and professionals from the Hispanic community who will work to position the US as the top STEM innovator in the world.”
The four-day gathering will offer attendees professional and leadership development opportunities through sessions and workshops, speaker presentations, networking, competitions, and award ceremonies. Additionally, there will be a two-day Career Fair & Graduate School Expo where thousands of jobs will be offered by companies like Cummins, Google, Apple, Northrop Grumman, Bank of America, 3M, Lockheed Martin, and over 350 other leading companies in STEM.
The Convention will also include the presentation of the prestigious STAR (SHPE Technical Achievement And Recognition) Awards, spotlighting key individuals, corporations, government agencies, and academic institutions that have contributed significantly to support Hispanics in STEM.
In a late-stage economy dominated by established players, opportunity for new economic entrants can be bleak. So we went our own way. In the fall of 2022, at 19 and 22, we dropped out of Vanderbilt to establish Movement Labs. A year later, in the fall of 2023, we secured $3.4 million in pre-seed funding to kickstart our vision. Fast forward to April 2024, and we’ve just closed a $38 Million Series A round. Our journey isn’t just about reshaping the future of technology and finance with a next-gen coding language, it’s about the realities of navigating life as Gen Z starting from scratch.
The Gen Z advantage in a fast-moving space
Being young and flexible has been our secret weapon in the rapidly evolving world of blockchain and Web3. Our ability to adapt quickly, think outside the box, and challenge conventional wisdom has allowed us to identify and solve problems that others might overlook.
As digital natives, we grew up in a world where technology evolves at breakneck speed. This has instilled in us a natural ability to navigate and innovate in fast-moving spaces like blockchain. We’re not weighed down by legacy thinking or outdated practices—instead, we’re driven by a vision of what the future could be.
Breaking free from traditional paths
College helped us mature and develop into capable new economic entrants and entrepreneurs. But benefits to being in college eventually diminished, and we found rare opportunities that existed in the moment. College has been shaped as a path to finding a job and starting a career. Once we found a more stable and streamlined path, it only made sense to go all in.
Our generation understands that paths we’re told to follow don’t lead where they used to. We’re not afraid to take calculated risks and go off the path. This mindset has allowed us to move decisively, pivoting our focus to the Move programming language when we recognized its potential to revolutionize the blockchain industry.
Solving real problems in the blockchain space
Our goal at Movement Labs is to create a unified blockchain ecosystem where developers can build secure applications that interact seamlessly across different networks, and users can confidently manage their digital assets without fear of hacks or incompatibility issues.
The Move programming language was originally created by Meta (formerly Facebook) with the goal of building a foundation for a world where digital information is smart and programmable. While many in the tech world moved on when Meta’s project changed direction, we saw hidden potential that others missed.
Move is like a super-secure and efficient language for the digital age. It’s designed to handle information and digital assets more safely and effectively than older systems, making it ideal for businesses and financial applications.
This potential inspired us to make a bold move—we quit our internships and dropped out of college to go all in on Move. We’re swimming against the current, but that’s where we see the biggest opportunity. In most industries, large corporations have already claimed the lion’s share of the market. They’ve become like well-oiled machines, making it hard for newcomers to break in.
By focusing on Move when others have overlooked it, we’re creating a new playing field. It’s our chance to build something groundbreaking and carve out our own space in the fast-moving world of technology and finance.
Building a community-driven future
One of the most exciting aspects of being Gen Z entrepreneurs in the Web3 space is the emphasis on community. We are fostering a vibrant ecosystem of innovative builders and community contributors who share our vision. We build our seats at the table together.
This community-driven approach is second nature to our generation. We’ve grown up in a world of social media, open-source software, and collaborative online spaces. We understand that the best innovations often come from diverse groups working together toward a common goal. And we understand that breaking the mold requires collaboration between a number of diverse skill sets.
Our vision for the Move language is to make it accessible and decentralized. We want to level the playing field, opening doors for a new wave of innovation. This approach gives Gen Z around the world the chance to freely create and collaborate, building their own futures without traditional gatekeepers. It’s about empowering our generation to shape the digital economy, together.
The future is now
To those who might doubt the ability of young entrepreneurs to lead in such a complex industry, we say: The future is already here, and we’re building it. Our $38 million funding round isn’t just a validation of our technology—it’s a testament to the power of fresh perspectives and bold ideas.
We believe that the next wave of technological revolution will be led by those who are willing to question everything and reimagine what’s possible. That’s what we’re doing at Movement Labs, and that’s what we believe our generation brings to the table.
So, to our fellow Zoomers, we say: Don’t be afraid to take risks and challenge the status quo. Your unique perspective and skills are needed in the tech industry and beyond. And to the generations prior, we say: Embrace the energy and innovation that young entrepreneurs bring to the table. We can build a better future together.
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University City District’s West Philadelphia Skills Initiative (WPSI) and
PIDC’s Navy Yard Skills Initiative (NYSI) are launching a collaborative
professional development program to train Philadelphia residents for
full-time, quality-wage careers with employer partner Naval Surface Warfare
Center, Philadelphia Division (NSWCPD).
NSWCPD is located at the historic Navy Yard and will offer opportunities for
program graduates to connect to Management Assistant roles starting at
$26/hour. Applications are being accepted for the training program through
August 23rd, with the program running September 19th through October 11th.
Interested applicants can
visit navyyard.org/skills to learn more about the program, training
dates, and to submit an application.
PIDC is hosting a
virtual information session on Thursday, August 15
to provide an overview of the program and recruitment process. Attendees
will be able to hear the employer partner, Naval Surface Warfare Center,
Philadelphia Division and ask questions.
Registration is now open.
The Management Assistant Program, custom-designed in collaboration with the
West Philadelphia Skills Initiative (WPSI) for the Naval Surface Warfare
Center, Philadelphia Division (NSWCPD), connects participants to the tools
and supports needed to build meaningful careers as federal employees. This
full-time role, earning $26.36 per hour, provides administrative support to
the managers and project teams responsible for naval machinery functionality
at the Navy Yard.
Who should apply?
The program seeks organized office professionals with experience
coordinating schedules, greeting guests, preparing travel arrangements, and
using Microsoft Office products. Submit an application by Friday, August 23 at 5 p.m.
NEW YORK — The retirement wave is about to hit. A whopping four million Americans are expected to turn 65 every year for the next four years, and that can mean opportunity if you’re in the job market.
This wave of retirements will have ripple effects across the economy, and a big part of what’s at play here is demographics.
The Alliance for Lifetime Income found that 11,200 Americans will turn 65 every day through 2027.
That’s a record number, up from 10,000 per day over the past decade.
Some economists are calling it “Peak 65.”
Of course, not everyone who turns 65 retires right away. We know many households are working for longer as the cost of living has gone up.
But the big picture is there are more older Americans leaving the workforce than there are younger workers, like recent high school or college grads, getting in.
People who are on the job hunt might find that they have more options.
Right now, employers nationwide have posted a total of 8 million jobs they’re trying to fill, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That number of job postings is actually higher than the number of people who are looking for work, and it could stay that way for the next couple of years.
The other important dynamic for workers is this could help boost their salaries. If employers are competing to fill open jobs, they might offer to pay higher wages.
One industry that will be especially hit as baby boomers retire is health care; think doctors, nurses, and home aides.
Almost one out of every four health care workers is over the age of 55, so as those workers retire, their jobs will need to be filled.
Plus, our aging population means there will be more people who need critical health care services.
Other industries that have a big share of older workers are government and education.
This is a time for younger workers to think about how to maximize their opportunities and earnings in their careers.
The biggest share of workers under the age of 40 is in retail and hospitality. They might want to consider how their skills from those jobs can translate into more in-demand industries like health care in this changing workforce.
“Think about what constitutes performance in [your] job,” he says. In some fields and industries, like marketing or financial consulting, performance is typically tied to a specific project rather than the number of hours an employee spends on the clock. Many freelancers do this by charging flat fees: The amount of time they spend on a project doesn’t matter, so long as they get it done.
In those cases, Friedman says, you might be able to arrange for a four-day workweek or flexible hours. “If the job is amenable, it has nothing to do with time, it’s not client-facing, you don’t have meetings—then absolutely, you should go and ask for it,” he says. “But you’ve got to have a plan.”
4. Start with a discussion—not a negotiation
After all your reflection and research, it may be tempting to rush into your boss’s office and lay out your terms. Kaila-Gambhir advises against that—at least initially. Instead, she says, talk to your boss about the possibility of working less. That way, “you’re not committing to anything. You’re not giving them what your optimal, ideal scenario is just yet,” she says. “You just want to have a discussion—to explore options and see what may be possible.”
This phase isn’t just about gathering more information for your proposal. It also lets your boss see that you understand their position as an employer, one who needs to consider their own business needs alongside your request. Then you can book a follow-up conversation to ensure you keep the conversation going, Kaila-Gambhir says.
If your boss isn’t open to the idea of a hard-and-fast change to your work schedule, this is also a good time to suggest a trial run of your proposal. A conversation, rather than an ultimatum-driven negotiation, can feel less intimidating for an employer.
5. Be prepared to walk away
While it’s tempting to imagine that absolutely everything about a job is negotiable, that isn’t always true. For instance, it would be very difficult for an intensive care unit nurse to convince an employer to allow remote work. Same goes for the manager of a community centre or a barista.
In fact, most Canadian jobs have never been worked remotely. In April 2020, at the height of the first wave of COVID-19, it felt like everyone was at home. But the Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey reported that 40% of Canadian workers were mostly clocking in from home. As of last November, it dropped to 20%.
To Friedman, asking for flexibility when your job cannot easily be done through alternate arrangements is a bad strategy. It won’t convince employers, he says, and might come off as entitled. If all else fails, finding a new job that will accommodate your desire to work less might be the best option. Some job postings include information on working from home, flexible hours, part-time status, etc.
“Do you want a flexible job? Then maybe you ought to apply for another position that has more flexibility,” he says. “I’m not telling you that’s right or wrong—I’m just saying that’s what an employer will say.”
Understand what you’re up against
You may have to accept the reality: a request to work remotely or outside of office hours may not be a possibility in your current job, or your boss may not see your working less as good for their bottom line.
But in his experience in coaching executives, Friedman says many are open to changing the ways their employees work. Negotiating a four-day week, a flexible work arrangement, or the ability to disconnect from email at the end of the day is totally possible, so long as you do your homework and know how to ask.
Employees often receive other considerations such as benefits and health insurance, said Cindy Marques, a certified financial planner and co-founder of MakeCents.
“That will result in dollars saved,” she said. “And essentially, dollars in your pocket when you think about not having to outlay that money yourself.”
People often forget what’s included in their package or don’t keep up with changes to group plans, Marques said.
Make use of company perks and benefits
Jillian Climie, a compensation expert and co-founder of Vancouver-based consulting company The Thoughtful Co., said employees should take time to research and read up on what the company has to offer in perks and benefits before seeing a human resources representative.
“They’re not the most exciting to read but they have a huge value—doing that pre-work yourself,” Climie said. Especially as employees get promoted, she said it’s important to take stock of benefits as new ones roll in, such as funding for professional development and coaching allowances.
Fitness allowances such as gym memberships or coverage for at-home workout gear like yoga mats or even treadmills could be included in benefits. Other underutilized unofficial perks could include at-home ergonomic setups, monthly phone bill payments, paid parking spots and travel expenses, Climie said.
Marques said even the most common benefits such as vacation and health care go underutilized, with workers “not realizing that there’s actually a fair amount of value that they can extract from their workplace.”
She said people often don’t fully use their paid time off because they can’t afford to travel. “You can still get paid your full wage to just stay at home and relax and give yourself a break,” she said.
