It's 12 o'clock somewhere

And workers around the world are hungry for lunch

Mar 26, 2025

Last week, my algorithm fed me an onslaught of articles about Gen Z and employment. Everything I’ve observed and heard anecdotally was suddenly validated empirically. In Business Insider,

Delia Cai

wrote about how Gen Z faces an unprecedented scale of rejection in dating, college admissions, and jobs. Today, the average role receives 244 applications, up from 93 in 2019; some young people apply to thousands of postings, and are almost always ghosted. The next day, Bloomberg wrote about how Gen Z faces a “job recession” and is bearing the brunt of the frozen labor market. Just yesterday, Fortune reported that over four million Gen Zers are jobless.

This grim reality is what led me to co-found a career accelerator for Gen Zers in L.A. and to launch Business Casual. I can’t guarantee this newsletter will get you a job, but I do hope it will offer actionable tips and tools, empower you as you explore different paths, and create a positive (rather than daunting) feeling around career discovery. Let me know how I’m doing by leaving a comment or replying to this email.

In today’s letter:

Tools for Job Seekers: Charting a course out of the application abyss with referrals
Photos For Fun: Because we all need a (lunch) break from working

Before we get into the rest: this newsletter has grown faster than I could’ve imagined when I launched it last month, and I’d love to learn more about my readers. Answer this anonymous survey to let me know who you are and what industries you’re interested in (takes less than one minute!). Your answers will help me deliver you the most relevant and worthwhile content.

Tools for Job Seekers: Refer Me

Only one of my friends has gotten a job after applying cold through LinkedIn in recent memory. Today, having a referral at a company is not just an advantage, but a necessity. But for career starters with limited networks, or workers seeking to pivot to a new industry, having a referral may be unlikely. That’s where Refer Me comes in.

Refer Me is the leading job referral platform offering job seekers referrals at over a thousand companies. My friend Dominick Tavitian (no relation, but great last name) founded the company in 2022 and recently sold it after scaling to over half a million users. I texted him to get his thoughts on how people can use Refer Me to secure a job in today’s market.

What’s the best way for job seekers to utilize Refer Me? Are there specific career stages or role types where using Refer Me is particularly advantageous?

The best way to use Refer Me is through the marketplace which is like a classifieds section, where hiring managers can find candidates because job seekers can post their profile and be discovered. Anyone can use Refer Me, but given the current job market, it may be most beneficial to people who are looking for a different job in their mid-career switch because they have a track record already.

Are there certain industries where job seekers experience more success?

Refer Me has two flows: on one, you request a referral and get referred. But if you don't, you can use the second flow — a marketplace to get more inbound and the resume tools to strengthen your candidacy. People should look at Refer Me as a tool in their comprehensive job search toolkit, because it focuses on a different angle than most traditional job searching sites.

Any other tips you have for people navigating today’s job market?

Do some work in your free time that is relevant to roles you want, and showcase this work publicly or when you cold message people.

A Global Lunch Break

In my college creative writing class, I wrote a fictional story about a banker named Brad whose only reprieve from his unhappy, ruthless corporate job is his weekly lunch in New York City’s Chinatown:

Brad relaxed his tie and unbuttoned the top of his white dress shirt. The aromas of roasted duck and ginger wafted through the restaurant, a lively escape from the clinical staleness of his office. He’d ordered his favorite dishes — fish in XO sauce and shrimp fried rice — and anticipation coursed through his fingers as he ripped the top of the chopstick wrapper.

I was reminded of this story when I read

Joe Hovde

’s analysis of Sweetgreen and Chopt last week. There is perhaps no greater unifier of modern, urban office life than the fast casual lunch salad. And for many workers — like fictional Brad the Banker — lunchtime is both a novelty and a lifeline amidst the repetitive demands of their corporate jobs.

Outside of New York — where Sweetgreen reigns supreme — what do workers eat for lunch? And how do they eat it? I texted my friends around the world to find out.

I thought the “jammy egg” trend had run its course (feels very 2019 Alison Roman to me), but apparently I was wrong: in Milan and Copenhagen, eggs are still jammin’. And in Montreal and Milan, half moons are the carrot cut of choice.

Proteinmaxxing seems to be the diet du jour in Beirut, but in Yerevan they still respect their greens, and their leaves. Chicken served over some type of grain makes an appearance on both sides of the pond.

I didn’t plan to illustrate *globalization* in this newsletter, but then I received two pictures that perfectly encapsulated the interconnectedness of the modern world: in New York, my friend eats food normally found in Lebanon (pita, hummus, borek), while in Lebanon, my cousin eats one of New York’s gastronomical emblems (a lox bagel). In Delhi and Brussels, I hope that colleagues who eat together, work better together, too.

One bonus submission: my friend in Paris said she’s currently taking a break from work while applying for her PhD, but offered to send a picture depicting “the atmosphere of French unemployment” instead. Voila.

“Time of lunch: approximately 4:43pm because we decided to go for a late lunch with wine at Bouillon Pigalle. Sitting on their upstairs terrasse, enjoying the view that comprises of a fountain, a nightclub, a cafe, and some shops. I was wrapped up in the moment really ahah (thanks to the Chardonnay).”

If you enjoyed this post, make sure to leave a like and a comment about what you ate for lunch today. And complete the survey if you haven’t already! Thank you :)