It should be an exciting time to be young.
To be a new college grad. To be a kid on the cusp of Gen Alpha who mostly grew up Gen Z.
I’m lucky to know people in both camps: I mentor a recent UNC-Chapel Hill grad and my nieces are in the younger camp.
The looming threat to them, according to the noise, is that AI is coming for them and their job prospects.
But honestly? They don’t seem too worried. Aloof, even.
This is because they’ve already accepted that AI is part of the bigger picture; they’ve spent so much of their lives surrounded by technology that they’re already figuring out how to work with or around it.
Nobody knows how it’ll pan out.
Today’s newsletter: 4 tips to help young people in the workforce. Plus: Zeitgeist-y!
Recently, a piece by Jasmine Sun, who’s in her mid-20s (I think), made the rounds with advice for the class of ‘26:
It’s impressive, albeit a little long-winded and bordering on SF-coded tech speak, but it does pack solid advice for new graduates and younger generations.
Obviously anyone with an interest in tech or an adjacent industry needs to hear it from someone who’s been there and tried that.
But for everyone else outside of the SF bubble, I support Jasmine’s key point, which is to focus on relationships.
This, as an “unc” or older person with real life and professional experience, and who’s generally averse to advice from anyone under 30 unless they’ve done something remarkable or shown real expertise in what they’re yapping about.
Take my mentee.
She’s well positioned because she didn’t pick one lane but two: computer science and biology.
Both/and, not either/or, right?
Her future job will be to analyze huge amounts of data from the hands-on work she’ll be doing in a biotech lab.
She’s contributing to major scientific breakthroughs in human genomic research. I couldn’t be more impressed!
I’m Shindy. I sold my financial content company and now I write this weekly culture, money, and lifestyle Substack. I’m a journalist and bestselling author featured in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, Bankrate, Cheddar TV, and HuffPost. If you haven’t yet, and would like to join more than 7,200 people on the internet who I call my “shin-siders” then tap this button:
Then there’s my nieces.
One’s pursuing becoming a professional ballerina.
The other is attending a summer program at a prestigious art school in Savannah, better known as SCAD.
I don’t think AI will replace a human ballerina anytime soon.
Nor will it replace original artwork anytime soon, either.
And, AI still needs to be told what to do, and how. A power tool can’t build a house on its own; it still needs to be given a blueprint and materials.
In the real world, your humanness are the things that’ll matter most:
How you make people feel. Be kind, sincere, and curious about others. You never know who you’re talking to, and when you’ll meet again.
Whether you’re reliable and accountable. Do your job, and do it well. Be first to own up to mistakes.
Whether you give credit where due. You can hustle without elbowing people out of the way. Praise others loudly. There’s enough for everybody.
Whether you do what you say, and say what you mean. Follow through, avoid flaking, and lead with integrity.
The through-line is that all these are human achievements and capabilities, accomplished not behind a screen but out touching grass and talking to people in the flesh.
A food service job (where you’re forced to interact with others) is a great start.
Relationships are how I landed my first clients when I started my financial content agency, Scribe.
Yes, I’d worked at big name companies among super smart people, but ultimately it came down to the above tenets that got them coming back to me as clients.
What about you?
What work advice do you have for the younger generations?
📺 I’m watching:
Flowers in the Attic, Netflix
This is not the Kristy Swanson as Cathy version but the 2014 one with Heather Graham as the mother and Kiernan Shipka as Cathy. A pretty tame adaptation that only hints at the full horror of the source material, but an easy watch if you’re wanting something unsettling and tawdry.Office Romance, Netflix
Tolerable, but still pretty dreadful with that unique quality of over-acting and not-enough-acting.
📚 I’m reading:
Yesteryear, Caro Claire Burke
Wowza. Finished it, and you bet I have thoughts to write up in an upcoming letter.
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Until next time,
Shindy
On Instagram + TikTok
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I didn't realize there was a Heather Graham "Flowers in the Attic!" Will watch. Thx!