Thomas Greifenberger did everything the conventional playbook recommended. He graduated from the University of Delaware in three years instead of four, double-majoring in finance and marketing with a minor in economics. Solid grades, clear ambition, a resume that should have opened doors in the financial services industry. Instead, he found himself sending applications into what felt like a void.
A few companies invited him to do asynchronous video interviews, but nothing came of them, Greifenberger told The New York Times, "Hvylya" reports. He described the experience as "super discouraging." Eventually, he concluded the search was futile and went home to Long Island, where he now works for his family's tree service business - often the guy up in the bucket, pruning branches.
Greifenberger enjoys the physical work and the tangible results it produces. But he admits it is not the future he had planned. "I still go on LinkedIn from time to time, but I think that ship has sailed for me," he said. Just a few years ago, an entry-level role at a bank or asset management firm might have been his for the asking.
His story is not unique. A growing number of white-collar workers and recent graduates are reportedly looking at skilled trades as a potential fallback. One employee at Hadrian, a manufacturing startup that relies heavily on automation and AI to produce parts for planes, rockets and satellites, had previously worked for a commercial real estate brokerage. He traded a desk job for a factory floor - but in a high-tech setting where all employees receive equity compensation.
Tech executives who have not personally performed manual labor in years have taken to extolling the virtues of becoming an electrician or a plumber - advice that strikes many as tone-deaf coming from people whose own wealth continues to grow as AI reshapes the economy. Still, the rise of what some call "new-collar" jobs, which blur the line between white-collar and blue-collar work, appears to be a real trend rather than mere rhetoric.
The deeper concern is scale. If AI proves to be the job killer that some predict and several million professionals are culled from the white-collar workforce, there are only so many Hadrians to absorb them. The college wage premium - more than 70 percent over high school graduates, by most estimates - has been the backbone of American social mobility for decades. A generation that invested in education expecting office careers may find that the investment no longer pays off the way it once did.
"Hvylya" earlier reported on how OpenAI's chief scientist described a workplace revolution where nobody really edits code anymore.