To stand out in a competitive market, one Gen Zer even decided to hit the streets of Wall Street with a sign advertising he\u2019s ready to work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Instead of sticking with a banner on his LinkedIn<\/a> profile and applying to open roles on the platform, hoping for the best\u2014which he says \u201csucks\u201d as a strategy\u201425-year-old Sam Rabinowitz stood out in front of the New York Stock Exchange with a posterboard reading: \u201cTried LinkedIn. Tried Email. Now Trying Wall Street. Looking for a Finance\/Trading Internship or Entry-Level Position. Dedicated. Hungry. Ready to Work.\u201d He spent $136 on the custom board with only $700 left in his checking account.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI ended up thinking, \u2018How do I get my name out there? How can I maybe make this happen in the next week?\u2019 I wasn\u2019t trying to make it happen in a couple months, I was trying to make it happen overnight,\u201d Rabinowitz tells Fortune. \u201cI needed it to happen now\u2014I\u2019m running out of money, it\u2019s the time. When fear and anxiety happens, it just pushes you.\u201d<\/p>\n It had been three years since Rabinowitz graduated with a bachelor\u2019s degree in finance from Florida Atlantic University back in May 2022, but the Gen Zer has had no luck landing his dream job after applying to more than 1,000 roles.\u00a0<\/p>\n Running out of money, he was desperate to finally be given a chance. So he hatched an out-of-the-box plan to finally be seen: he would parade his employment plea around New York\u2019s financial district, when he traveled up from Boca Raton to the city for a wedding over Labor Day weekend this month. And the videos posted<\/a> to his Instagram<\/a> and TikTok<\/a> detailing the stunt have since racked up hundreds of thousands of views.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n At the time, he says most people shot smiles of encouragement, but only a handful of people stopped. However, one businessman actually took the bait; a partner at an undisclosed financial firm spoke with Rabinowitz after being intrigued by his message. The Gen Z hopeful says he was even invited up into the person\u2019s office\u2014surrounded by computer screens and statistics, it was a taste of what his dream career could look like as an equity trader.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI was having fun. Saw the bull\u2014it was a great day. Then a man in a suit walked by. He gave me a little smirk. I said, \u2018Hey, I\u2019ll work for free!\u2026Come on, give a young guy a chance.\u2019 He made his way over, and took my resume,\u201d Rabinowitz explains. Later that day, he got a shot at the company. \u201cHe thankfully came down to get his lunch and grabbed me. We went up, I got the interview, and we had a great interview.\u201d<\/p>\n What came next for the aspirational Gen Z job-seeker<\/p>\n Rabinowitz tells Fortune that the partner ultimately didn\u2019t hire him. However, he says his Wall Street stunt was \u201cmore than worth it,\u201d as other opportunities have since begun pouring in.\u00a0<\/p>\n Just this week alone, he\u2019s had 10 job interviews\u2014and even companies outside of the hedge fund world, including a startup who saw his potential for a marketing role, reached out to connect. Rabinowitz says his success is thanks in part to other social media accounts sharing his stunt, his friends supporting his wild endeavor, and exposure from a profile in the<\/a> New York Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNow, I\u2019ve got a little bit of confidence,\u201d Rabinowitz says. \u201cI had nothing before, and regardless if I get a job right away or not, I know my future is bright, and I\u2019m very proud of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n Other than the professional doors the unusual tactic opened, the 25-year-old says it was gratifying to build new peer connections. Many other people his age are going through the very same conundrum, applying to LinkedIn jobs<\/a> endlessly to no avail. He says his story is reflective of how tough the labor market is, and others resonated with the lengths he went to to finally nail down a chance at a dream career.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt was really inspiring to connect with a lot of people who went through the same thing as me. I think that\u2019s why it popped off, because it\u2019s just so prevalent in today\u2019s age with the job market,\u201d Rabinowitz says. \u201cReally young grads are having a hard time with AI coming out, taking a lot of those roles away. The system is already hard to begin with.\u201d<\/p>\n Young people\u2019s out-of-the-box strategies to land a job<\/p>\n Parading a sign pleading for a job isn\u2019t the only way young professionals are getting crafty to land a job.\u00a0<\/p>\n One millennial marketing specialist, Lukas Yla, was having difficulty landing a Silicon Valley job after uprooting his life from Lithuania to San Francisco. So he hatched a bright idea<\/a>: to sneak his application materials into offices with sweet treats.\u00a0<\/p>\n Donning a delivery uniform, he spent more than a week hand-delivering donuts in disguise to every company he hoped to work for. Inside the boxes, he included a secret memo: \u201cMost resumes end up in trash. Mine\u2014in your belly,\u201d with his resume and link to his LinkedIn profile. He got 10 interviews from the stunt, but ultimately had to return back to his home country to continue working after failing to secure a U.S. work visa.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another Gen Z graduate, Basant Shenouda, spent six months messaging recruiters and applying for jobs online before realizing the strategy wouldn\u2019t lead to an opportunity. So she drummed up a plan of action; she volunteered to clean up<\/a> glasses at an Online Marketing Rockstars conference in Hamburg to gain free entry to the event and network. Shenouda would hand out her CV to 30 to 40 people during her breaks at the event, saying she was hoping for feedback on her materials. She secretly hoped that a recruitment manager would bite\u2014and after a six-month hiring process, it paid off. The Gen Zer ended up landing a sales graduate role at LinkedIn.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re a graduate you think everyone\u2019s going to say yes to you and things are going [to] work out. But it\u2019s a matter of building up resilience,\u201d Shenouda told Fortune last year. \u201cYou need to keep reassessing your process so that every no gets you closer to that next yes.\u201d<\/p>\n Have you resorted to unusual stunts to try and land a job? Fortune wants to hear from you! Email your stories to\u00a0emma.burleigh@fortune.com<\/a><\/p>\n Fortune Global Forum<\/strong> returns Oct. 26\u201327, 2025 in Riyadh. CEOs and global leaders will gather for a dynamic, invitation-only event shaping the future of business. Apply for an invitation.<\/a>