When a job no longer guarantees security, relying on one source becomes risky.
I’ve been writing about Gen Z, Millennials and internet careers since launching Lucky Attitude in 2013, one of the UK’s first Millennial and Gen Z blogs. I’ve also built multiple online income streams myself, so I don’t see portfolio careers as a trend. I see them as a very practical response to a world where one job is no longer enough.
A portfolio career, also called a slash career or poly-employment, is a way of working where someone earns money from multiple roles, projects, clients or income streams instead of relying on one traditional full-time job.
As full-time jobs become less secure, entry-level opportunities shrink and AI disrupts junior roles, many young workers are building portfolio careers: a mix of jobs, freelance work, side hustles, creative projects and online income streams.
The unemployment rate of recent college graduates has surpassed that of all workers, according to New York Federal Reserve Bank data (USA) . The situation is the same in the UK – according to the UK parliament, unemployment among Gen Z in the UK (aged 16–24) currently sits at 16.2%, its highest level in over a decade. Across the country, roughly 729,000 young people are actively unemployed, and nearly 1 million are classified as NEET (not in education, employment, or training).
And yet, even when Gen Z does land a role, keeping it has proven difficult. A recent study from Intelligent.com found that 6 in 10 bosses have fired Gen Z employees just months after hiring them, citing a lack of initiative, unprofessional behavior, poor organization, and weak communication skills.
That pattern is feeding a cycle that pushes more young workers away from traditional employment and toward the patchwork arrangements of poly-employment.
A study from Deputy found that poly-employment or portfolio careers or slash careers— working multiple jobs at the same time — has hit its highest point in over a decade, with Gen Z making up 55% of people doing it.
More studies that confirm this sentiment:
✍🏼 Gen Z are more likely than older workers to have independent jobs or multiple jobs. 62% of Gen Zers say they have started—or intend to start—their own business (Mckinsey)
✍🏼 A study by Harris Poll research confirms this sentiment – 57% of Gen Z Americans have a side hustle (compared with 21% among Boomers).
The study, drawing from more than 41 million shifts and 268 million hours worked—finds Gen Z is leading the way in slash careers.
While many workers are turning to slash careers to supplement their income among economic uncertainty and rising cost-of-living pressures, the data reveal a growing divide between those forced into it and those choosing independence, as more workers are intentionally seeking multiple roles to gain the flexible and self-directed work they increasingly prioritize.
A lot of jobs are boring, let’s be honest. Gen Z start side hustles not just for money, but for aliveness.
A side hustle can give you something a job often can’t: a sense of ownership.
When you make something and someone pays you directly for it, it hits different.
I’ve written about this before, but making independent internet money is weirdly addictive.
A salary lands, and you think, “Oh good, rent.” But when your phone goes cha-ching because something you created made money while you were doing something else? That’s a spiritual experience.
This is why a Gen Z might work in a shop during the day and draw commissions at night. The shop pays the bills. The art gives them a sense of self.
A main job plus freelance work. A part-time job plus content creation. Shift work plus an Etsy shop. A corporate role plus a podcast. A retail job plus illustration commissions.
This is the slash career approach.
It looks chaotic from the outside, but from the inside, it can feel like freedom.
A side hustle is usually one extra income stream you build alongside your main job. It might be a creative outlet, a passion project, a way to make extra cash, or a safety net in case your main income disappears.
A portfolio career is bigger than that. It is a whole working life made from multiple income streams, projects, roles, clients or businesses. Instead of having one “real job” and one thing on the side, your career becomes a collection of connected or semi-connected pieces.
So, for example:
A side hustle is when you have a full-time job and sell digital templates at the weekend.
A portfolio career is when you earn through templates, freelance work, consulting, content creation, workshops and brand partnerships.
The key difference is that a side hustle is usually an addition to your career, while a portfolio career is the career structure itself.
Smart Gen Z use AI to their advantage when it comes to building portfolio careers.
They use AI to write faster, research quicker, organise schedules, create marketing copy, summarise notes, plan content, analyse ideas, and generally act like they have a tiny unpaid intern living inside your laptop.
A one-person business suddenly has more leverage. A side hustler can do things that used to require a whole team.
A VistaPrint-commissioned survey of 610 U.S. small-business owners found that AI use is already mainstream among entrepreneurs: 74% said they used AI tools at least monthly, while 54% used them daily or weekly. The most common uses were writing and documentation, marketing, analysis, problem-solving and communication. The report also suggests that younger founders, especially Gen Z entrepreneurs, are helping normalise this shift, with AI adoption linked to higher optimism, growth confidence and workplace happiness.
Some are embracing AI to become more independent. Others are resisting it because they can feel it coming for the very jobs they were told would make them safe.
What’s your reaction?
Find your Golden Thread and build a web of work opportunites from what you do well.
Your Golden Thread is something that is uniquely you… It’s not a single job title, career path or life role. It’s an evolutionary purpose that changes as you grow.
Diversifying skills early, resisting over-identification with a single professional label, and building optionality before disruption forces is what smart people do now.
Gen Z don’t think in job titles or CVs, they think in skills, projects, income streams.
A powerful personal brand can become leverage that gets you the next job opportunity.
A person with an audience has options. A person with proof of work has options.
A person who can write, sell, design, film, edit, teach, code, organise, entertain or explain things online has options.
This is why the portfolio career feels natural to Gen Z. The ability to hold identity lightly and evolve deliberately may be the defining competence of Gen Z.
That mindset is entrepreneurial even when they still have jobs.
Gen Z are choosing portfolio careers because one job no longer feels secure. Side hustles give young workers extra income, creative identity and control.
AI is making it easier for one-person businesses to move faster. Personal brands, proof of work, and multiple income streams are becoming career insurance.
But on a more psychological note:
We don’t want to perform fake enthusiasm for jobs that give them no freedom, no meaning, and no realistic path to the life they were promised.
We want: money, freedom, flexibility, creative expression, control over our time, and a sense of identity outside a job title
A full-time job can give you money. But it often takes the other five things away.
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