The CQ | The Millennial Mid-Life Crisis and Prevalence of "Selling Out"
The Forerunner Team's Must-Reads of the Week
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By Forerunner
What We’re Talking About on Slack:
The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the loneliness of the American worker—and interestingly, it’s affecting all types of workers whether remote, hybrid or fully on-site. A new Cigna poll showed that the number of U.S. adults who call themselves lonely has climbed to 58% from 46% in 2018. A different survey revealed that those who described themselves as “very lonely” usually attended more meetings than less-lonely staffers.
Companies want fewer grad hires this year. Employers are expected to hire 5.8% fewer new graduates than they did last year. In regards to entry-level positions they are hiring for, they are now looking for three to five years of experience and artificial-intelligence skills—and in some cases, AI is taking over some of the entry-level work. Since the market is already crowded with recently laid-off younger workers, this means many grads will have to meet a higher bar in order to get hired.
Related: Among students at some of the most elite universities, “selling out” is an increasingly popular and acceptable goal — AKA, getting a lucrative job at a big investment or consulting firm. The New York Times looks at how Goldman Sachs has had six times as many applicants for summer internships as it did 10 years ago, and how JP Morgan also saw a huge jump in internship applications this year. “What they learn at Harvard is that actually doing anything meaningful is too hard. People give up on their dreams and decide they might as well make money. Someone else told me it was common at parties to hear their peers say they just want to sell out.”
A new survey reveals that 63% of Gen Z consumers are more loyal to their credit cards than retailers. Nearly half of all shoppers would switch to a different retailer if they offered a card-linked installment plan at checkout—and 33% said they didn’t know that BNPL is considered a loan. “Gen Z shoppers are the highest share of consumers that use pay later plans and are the least concerned with the impact traditional BNPL programs can have on their credit scores. However, even though many of the legacy pay later players remind their consumers to never miss a payment, the fact remains that more than one-third of all shoppers have no idea that they are initiating a new loan.”
In The Cut: Welcome to the millennial midlife crisis. “For as long as there have been ‘trend stories’ about millennials loving pricey avocado toast, there have been actual millennials sounding the alarm bell about how crippling student-loan debt, a punishing job market, and rapidly rising housing costs have diminished our ability to get a secure footing in our lives and actually start to plan for our futures. And now, we’re not exactly staring out the window of our country house fondly remembering our salad days. We’re still grinding it out, perennially worried about losing it all.”
Gen Z drives a teen-job comeback with 38% working or looking for work—the highest percentage in 14 years. These teens may be looking to take advantage of young workers’ wages that have been rising faster than that of other age groups, plus demand for labor at restaurants and shops is still high. Another factor for the increase may have to do with young people who are finding work in order to help pitch in on family expenses to offset ever-rising inflation.
The working woman’s newest life hack: magic mushrooms. The Wall Street Journal looks at how a growing number of women with high-profile jobs are microdosing psilocybin as a treatment for everything from depression, menopause, and anxiety to better deal with the pressures of their careers and improve focus. “It’s totally packaged for the 40-year-old woman who is risk-averse. It’s the new glass of wine.”
What will it take to get Gen Z watching sports? While 75% of those 55+ watch live sports, only 31% of sports fans ages 18-24 do. Just 53% of Gen Z call themselves sports fans, compared to 69% of millennials. Rising ticket and TV streaming costs, a preference for shorter content, and a plethora of entertainment choices may be reasons for this change. Investors and executives are trying all sorts of new strategies to attract a younger audience to live sports (the NFL aired the Super Bowl on Nickelodeon this year) to tapping into online gaming (Wimbledon’s collabs with Roblox and Fortnite) and even changing the game format (MLB introduced a time limit to get pitchers to throw the ball quicker).
Google is playing a dangerous game with AI Search. The Atlantic put Google’s new AI search tool to the test, asking over 100 health-related queries, and discovered that the AI overview would often appear even for sensitive topics, and alarmingly, the AI overview would sum up health answers inaccurately. “The bigger concern is smaller sourcing and reasoning errors—especially when someone is Googling for an immediate answer, and might be more likely to read nothing more than the AI overview.”
Hate chatbots? You aren’t the only one. According to a 2023 survey, only 16% of consumers said that they often used chatbots, and over a third never used them. And yet, 71% of 4,500+ employees in different industries report that their companies are experimenting with or implementing conversational AI and chatbots, betting on the upward potential instead of the current functionality and reception.
Portfolio Highlights:
Chime CEO and Co-founder Chris Britt visits CNBC’s Mad Money and explains how the brand is disrupting the banking industry.
MedCity News, Longevity Technology and HIT Consultant all cover Fay’s $20M series A round.
Prose CMO Megan Streeter joined the Glossy Beauty Podcast to discuss what the brand is doing next in beauty tech.
Forbes looks at how wholesaling to indie retail through a company like Faire can be the secret to emerging brand growth.
Business of Fashion discusses the beauty’s opportunities in women’s sports, highlighting Glossier’s success with partnering with the WNBA, with quotes from Kleo Mack, chief marketing officer.
Also, WWD reports on Glossier’s new Las Vegas store.
CNBC reports how digital health companies, including Hims&Hers, are capitalizing on the GLP-1 boom.
CNET says Oura is leading tech's pursuit of the menstrual cycle.
Vogue names The Inside the best online furniture store for custom everything.
There are ~590 open jobs at Forerunner portfolio companies, check them out.