Gen Zers are turning their tassels and sending out hundreds of applications hoping for their first break. Hospitality giant Hilton has seen a tidal wave of young candidates flood its inbox—and in the AI era, getting selected is even rarer than getting into Harvard University.
Hilton’s early career program Launch has become so competitive that landing a spot is harder than getting into an Ivy League college. For its 2026 cycle, it received 5,000 applications over just a few weeks for only 20 open positions, meaning only 0.4% were accepted into the cohort.
