Trend Alert: Gen Z on Wall Street

Voxburner Content Team

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Trend Alert introduces you to the latest trends that are impacting the daily lives of 16-24s.

Polished recruitment videos from Wall Street businesses are no longer enough to impress the new generation of graduates. Instead, as the oldest members of Gen Z leave education and start work in some of these firms themselves, they’re taking on the responsibility to tell their peers what life is really like working for some of the biggest and toughest employers in America: the good, the bad and everything in between.

One of the outcomes of TikTok’s democratisation of the ability to make quality video content is that the social platform has become the place where you can get a real insight into what life is like for people living almost any lifestyle you can think of. In the case of the TikTokers documenting life as a young Wall Street worker, the audience could be students considering pursuing a career in finance themselves, or people who simply want to live vicariously through the creator and feel better about their own job – which is probably less well paid but also much less stressful and intense than the work of those who star in these videos.

@naechenina

a bloomberg feature! besties we’re big time! 🤩 also #newjob // full article in bio! #bloombergnews

♬ original sound – naeche

24-year-old creator Naeche Vincent, who has gained millions of views on videos sharing her experience at a Wall Street investment bank, was recently profiled in Bloomberg. By declining to name her employer, she was able to give an honest account of her job, without breaching company rules about what workers can share online. This included revealing (in a now-deleted video) that she worked a 19-hour day, and felt pressure to taper her personal style to fit in with workmates.

The videos show a realistic, multi-faceted view of what it’s like to work on Wall Street as a young person – not only the early mornings and late nights, but the company socials and the friendships made along the way. They aren’t intended to warn potential employees off this career path, but to ensure they approach it with appropriate expectations. As Gen Z enter the workforce, they’re making career decisions based on their values: they are ambitious and financially driven, but they also value their mental health and expect employers to offer a good work-life balance. These priorities could reshape industries like banking that are known for their “work hard, play hard” culture as Gen Z become an increasing percentage of the workforce and gain more of a voice within the relevant companies.

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