After 100 unsuccessful applications: Gen Z graduate lands internship thanks to baseball cap

After numerous applications, a Gen Z graduate uses an unusual method to land a coveted internship. Now she works at Cisco.

Ayala Ossowski, a Gen Z graduate of American University, decided to get creative after more than 100 successful applications, Fortune reports. She worked at a pizzeria in an affluent suburb of Washington, D.C., and wore a baseball cap with her university’s logo. “I need a way to immediately identify myself as a student,” she tells Fortune.

“Someone took me because they valued my persistence and courage”

The cap led to conversations and ultimately an internship. “Someone took me because they valued my tenacity and my courage,” Ossowski told Fortune. From there she gained further experience and is now part of the communications team at Cisco.

Although they are only between the ages of 12 and 27, 38 percent of Gen Z said in a survey that they were experiencing a midlife crisis, Newsweek reported, citing the Arta Finance study. Experts attribute this crisis to increased financial uncertainty. 30 percent of respondents cited financial problems as their biggest source of stress.