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And Jeff Bezos has stepped down from Amazon CEO… [WSW Logo]( [Divider] A note from the Editor: Wall Street Wizardry is dedicated to providing readers like you with unique opportunities. The message below from one of our business associates is one we believe you should take a serious look at. [divider] Some employers look to hire and continually turn over junior employees – sometimes harming young workers’ careers before they’ve even begun. S Sarah had always dreamed of working in the fashion industry. Aged 21, she decided to follow her dream, move to London and find a career she loved. “Like many young people, my passion was fashion,” she says. “But the reality wasn’t quite so glamorous.” After working for less than a year in fashion retail, Sarah secured an e-commerce assistant role in the head office of a global luxury brand. In both jobs, she was surrounded by like-minded twenty-somethings, all of whom wanted to succeed in the fashion world. “It’s like any creative industry: young people always see it as cool to work in,” she says. “And the perks are great, even in sales: we’d get heavily discounted items all the time.” However, Sarah adds that there was always a high office turnover – particularly among low-level staff. “Young employees would quit all the time: an 18-year-old intern only lasted a week after realising her job was essentially unpaid manual labour, and long hours just carrying and packing away clothing returned from shoots. The interns who lasted months would eventually quit from burnout. There was just a steady churn of young, impressionable workers and nothing was ever done about it – it just became a test of who had the thickest skin.” While Sarah lasted in her job for two years, the excitement of working in fashion soon gave way to frustration and tedium: “Admin tasks with long hours and bad pay.” Without management offering her a clear career trajectory or a sense of progress, she says her job eventually ground her down – she quit. “Both management and employees knew it was a competitive workplace to be at – that your job would always be in high demand. If you left, you’d be replaced with another young worker excited to be there.” Experts say there are many employers that specifically hire new graduates looking to pursue their passions – often in competitive, even ‘glamourous’ careers. In some cases, this can be great for these workers, who are looking for a way into an industry of their dreams. Sometimes, however, young employees can get ground down in low-paying, demanding roles, as employers know that vacancies will always be hotly desired. These situations can leave early-career workers, hoping to establish themselves, making them vulnerable to burnout or disillusionment right at the start of their careers. ‘Unclouded by experience’ Many jobs are set up with the expectation that younger workers will grow into them. There are often clear paths for promotion and goals to reach; sometimes companies even offer mentorship and development programmes to guide entry-level employees up the ladder. Even if the climb can be a slog, many employers want to invest in workers to stay with an organisation. Yet experts say there are other companies that take a different tack – setting up infrastructures in which they hire young employees that have little, if any, opportunity for upward trajectory, and then load them up with demanding tasks. In these situations, employers often expect that these young workers will leave the organisation at some point – whether it’s because they’re at a dead-end or they’ve burnt out from the position. Then, they are generally replaced by other young workers, destined for the same fate. There was just a steady churn of young, impressionable workers and nothing was ever done about it – it just became a test of who had the thickest skin – Sarah Of course, young employees are often expected to grind out the early years of their careers by showing ambition, persistence and resilience in the workplace – in some sense, ‘paying their dues’. Not every young worker without an explicit growth path is at a company that intentionally churns through entry-level talent, says Helen Hughes, associate professor at Leeds University Business School, UK. She points to public relations, for instance, where starting, lower-paid roles “fit into a person’s career trajectory: the expectation is that in the early stages, you have to take junior roles before you can progress”. Yet some decide to establish what Hughes calls a “short-sighted model". There are many reasons companies choose to churn through young workers, instead of investing in them. First, there are the financial implications. Fresh grads begin at the bottom of the ladder on starting salaries, and don’t have the same compensation expectations of experienced employees. “Employers often hire graduates because they can pay them less,” says Dominik Raškaj, marketing manager at job listings site Posao.hr, based in Croatia. “It’s effectively a source of cheap, undervalued labour.” Additionally, entry-level workers may be more malleable and willing to accept certain working conditions. “The less experienced the employee is, the more open-minded and generally accepting they are of a work environment,” says Hughes. “They’re unclouded by experience, which brings advantages to an employer – they’re easier to mould.” Some young workers discover that they're assigned to tasks they didn't expect to be doing (Credit: Getty Images) Some young workers discover that they're assigned to tasks they didn't expect to be doing (Credit: Getty Images) However, this can leave young workers looking to break into a career susceptible to mis-sold jobs or toxic working environments. “Graduates can find themselves vulnerable to exploitation where they haven’t acquired the experience to know what’s OK and what’s not,” says Hughes. “Graduates can get a sense that it’s really competitive, so they feel desperate to accept a challenging role that may not have the best conditions.” ‘It can warp someone’s view’ In these situations, the short-term risk is burnout. Workers may find themselves burdened with long hours, massive workloads or menial tasks, and, due to their lack of seniority, unable to advocate for themselves. It can leave workers frustrated at best, or in cases like Sarah’s, under a lot of stress. Many, however, feel like they don’t have a choice but to stick it out, especially if they’re trying to break into certain industries with high barriers to entry. For young workers desperate to establish themselves in a competitive career, faced with long hours and bad working conditions, the effects can be insidious. “Some might decide to stay and burn themselves out because they’re early-career,” says Hughes. “But without past experiences to benchmark against, the risk is they accept this is what the workplace entails, bad conditions become normalised and the young worker ends up thinking this is all they’re worth.” This can have longer-term knock-on effects for these young workers, souring their expectations of what it means to be in the workforce at all. “You see workers begin to withdraw, hold back the effort and display quiet quitting behaviours,” says Jim Harter, chief scientist for workplace management and wellbeing at US analytics-firm Gallup. “It can warp someone’s view of what a career means, and their relationship with work.” Graduates can find themselves vulnerable to exploitation where they haven’t acquired the experience to know what’s OK and what’s not – Helen Hughes “Graduates can be so worried about getting a job that they think any will do,” adds Hughes. But working long, hard hours on bad pay with no end in sight creates long-term consequences. “You adjust to the norm around you – bad norms – right at the beginning of your career.” The good news is the current employee-favourable job market can give young workers options if they find they’re in an exploitative position with no path to advance, or that’s becoming highly taxing. “There are now also more questions being asked about graduate jobs,” says Hughes. “And there’s more calling out of bad work practices on social media, meaning there’s greater pressure for organisations that don’t look after their young employees to change.” However, even in the age of staffing shortages and online reviews, many of these tough environments will endure. This means the burden may fall to entry-level employees to recognise when they’re in a bad position. But identifying this may be easier said than done, since employees with little workforce experience may not know what’s standard in a junior role, versus what may be a step too far. Sarah, for her part, did recognise that her job had pushed her to the breaking point and left. But instead of moving within the industry, she took another path. She now works for a creative agency outside of fashion. She says she's much happier in her new role that offers clear progression, challenging work and varied daily tasks. “[Fashion] may have sounded like an impressive place to work,” she says, “but I realised it’s more important to have a fulfilling job than a cool name on a CV.” There’s a new market segment exploding right before our eyes. I'm not talking about crypto. Not 5G. Not artificial intelligence or electric vehicles. Ironically, the mainstream media is covering it… but the financial news isn’t. It’s [an entirely new sector]( in the market… And Jeff Bezos has stepped down from Amazon CEO… Sold his Amazon shares… To finance THIS new project… This could be your lucky second chance if you missed out on Amazon… [Click here to see the company Jeff Bezos is investing in NOW]( With an influence ranging from music by Kanye West and Nicki Minaj to films starring Jackie Chan and Kylie Minogue, Street Fighter II has a unique cultural reach, writes Arwa Haider, as a new book charts the 1991 video game's history. S Stepping into a video game arcade in the early 1990s, one particular title pulsed through the neon haze: Street Fighter II (SFII). This competitive fighting game from Osaka-based company Capcom debuted in 1991, and drew throngs to its vibrant visuals, distinctive moves and jet-setting playable characters: brooding warrior Ryu (Japan); his tousled buddy/rival Ken (USA); volatile sumo wrestler E Honda (Japan); electrifying Amazonian man-beast Blanka (Brazil); peppy martial artist and Interpol officer Chun-Li (China); fire-breathing yogi Dhalsim (India); combats-clad pilot Guile (USA); and hulking wrestler Zangief (Russia). Its pulse-quickening soundtrack (composed by Yoko Shimomura) cut through any surrounding clamour, and remains instantly evocative decades later. More like this: - Indofuturism in video games - The music most embedded in our psyches? - How gaming became a form of meditation Since its original release, SFII has given rise to copious tie-in merch (spanning collectible figures to clothing and cologne), adaptations and updates. It's also the subject of a new book, Like a Hurricane: An Unofficial Oral History of Street Fighter II, collated by US videogaming writer Matt Leone. In the foreword, SF series commentator James Chen observes that: "SFII wasn't just a popular video game. It was a cultural phenomenon unlike anything we'd seen since Pac-Man. While games like Super Mario Bros and The Legend of Zelda had massive fanbases, they were still considered kids' properties… Adults did not take video games seriously. But SFII appealed to everyone." ADVERTISEMENT Such mass appeal placed SFII coin-op cabinets across everyday settings: at fast-food outlets, shopping malls, video-rental stores, entertainment centres and more. It proved a formative event for countless players of all backgrounds. Leone tells me about an early 90s Californian summer when he spotted a truck delivering a SFII machine, and chased it on his bike to its destination. Seth Killian, a former gaming tournament competitor/commentator who would later become a Capcom senior manager (and have a SFIV boss character named after him), describes discovering SFII at a "hole-in-the-wall" arcade in suburban Illinois. SFII included a range of characters, each with their own distinctive fighting styles (Credit: ArcadeImages/ Alamy Stock Photo) SFII included a range of characters, each with their own distinctive fighting styles (Credit: ArcadeImages/ Alamy Stock Photo) "SFII stood out visually with huge characters and beautiful animations, but what really grabbed me was the crowd around the machine," says Killian. "Competing against a live opponent, in front of strangers, to see who kept their quarter, and who went to the back of the line? The experience was intoxicating." Like a Hurricane charts the creative storm that inspired SFII, as well as industry battles (particularly involving Capcom and rival company SNK), cultural contrasts, pre-internet communication glitches between Capcom's Japan and US offices, and what sound like toxic working environments (gruelling hours; alleged bullying "banter"). The game's predecessor, Street Fighter (1987), had limited reach but bold ambitions, which set the stage for SFII's ground-breaking incarnation. "If you pit a boxer, for example, against a kickboxer or someone who knows bojutso… you get all these very interesting combinations," says SF director Takashi Nishiyama, who conceived the first game with planner Hiroshi Matsumoto. "So Matsumoto and I ended up coming up with these ideas together, to give the game deeper story and character elements." Character-driven fighting For SFII, Capcom's team had shifted (with Nishiyama and Matsumoto departing for SNK), but the game's characters and range were enriched by the vivid artwork of Akira Yasuda, and a six-button/joystick control design that (perhaps accidentally) allowed players to deliver swift combo attacks. Shimomura's poppy melodies and effects – including the cries that heralded different characters' special moves ("Hadouken!"; "Shoryuken!"; "Yoga fire!"; "Sonic boom!") – also heightened the sense of personality. You grew familiar with these characters, and genuinely rooted for your favourites; SFII established a kind of rapport that arguably hadn't existed in gaming before. "It's rare that a game makes such big strides forward in so many different ways," says Leone. "And it all fit together so well — you could look at how Capcom loosened up the control input requirements, which blended well with the game's animation and made players feel like they were more in control, which fed perfectly into the game's competitive elements, which fed perfectly into how arcade games made money." By featuring a two-player mode that requires direct, human-to-human competitive play, SFII gave a boost to the declining video game arcade business (Credit: Alamy Stock Photo) By featuring a two-player mode that requires direct, human-to-human competitive play, SFII gave a boost to the declining video game arcade business (Credit: Alamy Stock Photo) SFII had players not just competing for high scores, but demonstrating fierceness and flair – against the machine, or each other. It bolstered the "fighting-game community", through coin-op arcades, via home consoles (SFII made its multimillion-selling debut on the 16-bit SNES in 1992) and into modern digital realms. It invited hardcore gamers and newbies alike. My intro to SFII was as a schoolgirl visiting the cavernous central London arcade Funland. I was entranced by its sound and style – and thrilled to have the rare option to pick a female fighter. Chun-Li was cool – though her signature moves also exposed her body with a scrutiny that didn't apply to her male peers. At the time, I partly glossed over uneasy details, even SFII's weird opening sequence, where a generic blond/blue-eyed fighter knocked out a naked black opponent, in front of jubilant white crowds. Growing up amid the casual misogyny and racism of '80s/'90s pop culture (where "blackface", "brownface" and "yellowface" were repeatedly played for fun) might have inured me. I'd never seen anyone Arabic like me onscreen – nor would I in other fighting games of that "golden age": Mortal Kombat; King of Fighters; Virtua Fighter; Tekken. Strangely, SFII's main characters seemed both overblown and empathetic; ultimately, I aligned most with the mutant Blanka (whose game narrative also revealed the soppiest ending). "Certainly, the stereotypical character designs and some of the gender/racial elements are not the best," says Leone. "There are complex reasons behind those, some related to culture changing over time, but also relating to cultural differences between Japan and other territories, and the specific tendencies of the people who made the games." SFII was revised several times over the years, including a Champion Edition in 1994 (Credit: ArcadeImages/ Alamy Stock Photo) SFII was revised several times over the years, including a Champion Edition in 1994 (Credit: ArcadeImages/ Alamy Stock Photo) It became increasingly hard to keep apace with SFII's rapid-fire revisions, often created as Capcom's counter-responses to rival titles, bootlegs and hardware surplus. The Champion Edition (1992) extended player choice to the four "boss" characters (including a crooked black boxer who looked like US heavyweight Mike Tyson, and was initially named "M Bison"); Street Fighter II Turbo (1992) accelerated the speed; Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (1993) added additional fighters. Cheat codes and "secret character" rumours amplified SFII's mystique, but eventually, it felt like diminishing returns. Arcades were expiring; home gamers were getting kicks from different genres. By SFIII (1997), the series no longer seemed in its prime – although SFVI is scheduled for release this year. Over time, SFII has sustained a unique cultural reach. Its music is sampled on multi-genre tracks, from a terrible 1994 pop-rap single (which I bought on cassette), to works by Kanye West, the Arctic Monkeys, and Nicki Minaj (whose 2018 single Chun-Li merged empowerment and exotica). Its characters inspired a show-stopping gag in Jackie Chan's Hong Kong action caper City Hunter (1993) as well as the surreally awful Hollywood blockbuster Street Fighter (1994, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Raul Julia and Kylie Minogue). More recently, they've been referenced in movies including Wreck-It Ralph (2012) and Shazam (2019) – and when SF characters became playable within Fortnite's epic Battle Royale (since 2021), it felt like meeting old friends. Despite being a 30-year-old franchise, Street Fighter remains incredibly important to contemporary games and gamers – Emily Theodore-Marlow SFII has become part of gaming legacy, as well as an economic highlight; by 2017, the game had generated a revenue of $10.61billion. At the National Videogame Museum in Sheffield, SFII is on regular arcade rotation, while its archive features toys, memorabilia and manuals. "At the heart of SF is the idea of competition, something that is incredibly intrinsic to video games," says NVM curator Emily Theodore-Marlow. "In SFII, players could choose from a cavalcade of interesting, international characters, many of whom would become larger-than-life cultural figures, endlessly referenced, appearing in cosplay, fan art, film and music… Despite being a 30-year-old franchise, SF remains incredibly important to contemporary games and gamers." SFII lingers in the collective psyche, as Killian adds: "SF showed that games could go beyond obsessive solo pursuits and really bring people together. Victory didn't come from mastering pre-set patterns, it came from deeply understanding another human. The enduring magic of multiplayer set the stage for the nascent internet, and inspired generations of game developers." It's a game with seemingly infinite lives – and an emotional punch that connects. 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