👋 Hello!

Welcome to the tenth edition of The Early Impact, the newsletter that provides you with news, updates and resources on how to build your career as an emerging professional.

It feels weird that this newsletter has hit the double digits. When I first created this newsletter in March this year, I was finishing my apprenticeship at PwC and becoming an associate. I thought maybe I’d be able to share the occasional useful content that I had found useful along the way as an apprentice, and now here we are months later, still going at it.

For the December issue of this newsletter (the last of the year), it’s the same old format that you’re used to. However, in 2025, this newsletter may look a bit different, with more personal insights written instead of just regurgitating what others have written.

Let’s get into it!

📰 News & Updates

The monthly roundup of emerging professional news and updates

• Unemployed Gen Zers are having to turn down work because they can’t afford the commute and uniform, report shows: The cost of living is making the youth of today feel anxious about their future and limiting their career aspirations (Fortune).

• The graduate employment boom is over: Big 4 accounting firms have pulled back on graduate recruitment as the pandemic employment boom ends. However, the job market for law graduates hasn’t been hit as badly. Pharmacy, medicine and physiotherapy graduates were the most likely to have a full-time job within six months of completing their qualifications in 2023 (AFR)

• From artificial intelligence engineers to music therapists, these are some of the jobs of the future: The latest report predicts rapid growth in the clean energy workforce, science industry and healthcare and disability sector (ABC).

• Female bosses are paid $159k less than men: Female chief executives and heads of business are paid an average of $158,632 less than their male counterparts, according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (AFR)

• ‘Stealth sackings’ are the new workplace trend: As companies try to rein in costs and restrict initiatives that do not help profits, workers are wary of being quietly laid off for seemingly minor violations (AFR)

• AI now critical for job hunting success, recruiters say: It is becoming acceptable to use the technology to draft letters and CVs — but not to answer assessments (AFR).

• The 10 jobs that landed the biggest pay rises in financial year 2024: Geologists, engineers and trades such as carpenters and electricians were among the occupations that landed the largest salary bumps (AFR)

📑 Publications

Useful references, documents, and sources

• A New Age Of Work: This publication explores Lendlease's research and insights into societal trends and their implications for work. It covers the future of the world, future of business future of work, and future of place (Lendlease)

• The 2024 American Opportunity Index: How well do America’s largest companies drive economic mobility and positive career outcomes for their employees? See the 100s of companies listed, but the top 3? Grainger (Distribution Company), Costco Wholesales (Retail), and Capital One Financial (Finance) (AOI)

• AI Collaboration Report: “Using” AI is not enough – here’s what your organisation is missing. Atlassian’s Teamwork Lab shows that when it comes to getting the most out of working with AI, mindset matters far more than adoption – and is key to maturity (Atlassian).

📢 Opportunities

Limited-time career paths, educational scholarships, and professional growth opportunities that can shape your future

• Devpost: Join the world's best online and in-person hackathons. Multiple hackathons are listed here.

• Tech Council: Virtual Work Experiences for young learners to explore technology careers and jobs for free.

• Kaggle: Grow your data science skills by competing in exciting competitions. Multiple competitions are listed here.

• Career Diary: Find your passion. Join a community. Explore new hobbies. Multiple different opportunities are listed here.

• Hackathons.com.au: a curated list of upcoming hackathons and STEM challenges in Australia, New Zealand, and around the globe. Multiple hackathons and STEM challenges are listed here.

🗓️ Events

Online and In-Person events for progressing your career

• Build Club: A community of AI Engineers, researchers and builders pushing the frontier of AI forward. Join us and build your startup with a community who cares about AI. Multiple events are listed here.

• QPay: Discover university clubs, events, and merch. Multiple events are listed here.

• Sydney AI, Data and Tech Events: The hottest technology and AI events in Sydney! Multiple events are listed here.

• Melbourne AI, Data and Tech Events: The hottest technology and AI events in Melbourne! Multiple events are listed here.

🧠 Thought Leadership

Expertise, insight, opinions and experience in careers

• Five tips to land a job at a unicorn: Want to work at Australia’s most valuable private technology company? You’ll need to pass the ‘Canva challenge’ first. Want to work at any incredible startup? Read this article (AFR).

• 6 Steps To Prevent The ‘Pleasanteeism’ Trend From Stalling Your Career: “Pleasanteeism” combines "pleasant" with "presenteeism" and reflects growing “hush workplace trends” where workers conceal their actions and true emotions to fit in with workplace expectations. Here’s how to stop that (Forbes).

• How Cultivating Your Personal Brand Can Supercharge Your Career: Forbes expert contributors share steps for creating a strong personal brand to help establish yourself as an industry leader and grow your career across platforms (Forbes).

• Your Style Choices Can Boost Or Hinder Work Performance, According To New Research: Dress for the job you want, not the job you have. But may be think twice about it (Forbes)

• Why bosses should stop railing against Gen Z: They may do things differently, but new research suggests younger workers are often the most engaged and motivated segment of a company’s workforce (AFR)

🛠️ Featured Tool

One great career tool you need

Workbaby is executive coaching reimagined for a new generation of Gen Z professionals, helping them accelerate their career growth by offering practical advice, tips, and strategies on various aspects of professional development.

Created by my friend Sophie Hirst 👋, what started as a free 6-edition newsletter, it’s now expanded to more articles and topics, plus a TikTok channel with 50k followers. And it’s still growing! Live online programs, self-study courses, community membership, a mentorship network…it’s all coming soon!

I highly recommend you check it out and subscribe for free!

🃏Quick Extra

A bonus from me

A while back, I rediscovered the educational YouTube channel VSauce. But this isn’t your standard educational channel of “Things I will learn and apply in my everyday life”.

The channel delves into many thought-provoking topics like science, philosophy, and psychology and presents them in a highly entertaining and engaging manner. Topics include “Why Are Things Creepy/Cute?”, “Why Do We Kiss?” and “Why Do We Clap?” are content that maybe isn’t knowledge that you absolutely need but maybe are curious about.

To get you started, here’s some suggestions:
> Where Do Deleted Files Go? (IT)
> How To Count Past Infinity (Math)
> What Is The Greatest Honor? (Anthropology)
> Why Do We Have Two Nostrils? (Rhinology)
> Will We Ever Run Out of Music? (Music):
> What Is The Resolution Of The Eye? (Ophthalmology)

If you wanna learn about some very niche and/or random topic, I highly recommend you check the channel out.

…and that’s all for this month’s edition of The Early Impact. Feel free to hit 'reply' and let me know how I did!

Cheers,

Noah

P.S. I post on LinkedIn biweekly about cybersecurity, emerging technology, careers, and learning & development.