Gen Z college grad Brielle Asero – who went viral after complaining about working a nine-to-five job – reveals she has been LAID OFF from startup and is now broke

The Gen Z student who made headlines after tearfully sharing her struggles adjusting to a nine-to-five job at TikTok was recently laid off with no emergency fund.

Brielle Asero, who lives in New Jersey, revealed that she lost her first post-doctoral job, one that took her five months to secure, in a recent video that has been viewed more than 500,000 times.

“I got fired from my first post-doctoral job — the job that took me five months to find, and for which I moved to New York City,” she said, adding that it wasn't her fault.

The University of South Carolina alumnus said she doesn't have an emergency fund because “everything goes towards living expenses, commuting and everything else.”

The resignation comes after she broke down in tears in October and shared her struggles to find time for a life outside her four-hour commute and long workdays.

Brielle, 21, got her role at a startup after five months of searching every day and sending out “hundreds” of applications.

The young woman insisted that she had done nothing wrong, as her boss had previously called her “one of the smartest people he has ever had working under him.”

“It's not my fault before we start,” she said. “They didn't have the workload or the bandwidth they needed to train me and give me work.”

The recent graduate said the interview process would not begin until January 2 and it was expected to take at least two to three weeks to get her on board.

'I can't wait that long. I need a job immediately,” the 21-year-old said with visible stress as she clenched her fists for the camera.

She continued: 'With the job where I worked from nine to five, I didn't earn enough to live on. Because of that job I have no savings.'

“We're working so hard,” she said. “And I still don't have an emergency fund. I don't do that because I didn't make enough money to save anything.'

She tearfully exclaimed, “It all went towards living expenses, commuting and everything else.”

She covered her face as she burst into tears and said, “If I have to go through the whole interview process again, I'm going to die.”

She said the application process was 'so disappointing, so disappointing and so on' [her] feel like [she] is not good enough.'

'I know I am. I know I am a hard worker,” she said, talking about her portfolio and freelancing experience in college.

“I've done everything I can, and it's still not enough,” she said, disappointed.

Her followers flocked to comments sharing their experiences with redundancy and expressing their empathy.

One person wrote: 'Don't panic, I've been made redundant three times and last year and two years ago was just before Christmas and two of them were start-ups, I advised as a 27 year old.'

Another social media user said: 'I've been made redundant twice this year, it's awful! I feel you. I have done part-time jobs/unemployment. Get rid of unemployment as quickly as possible!'

The video has been viewed more than 500,000 times and amassed thousands of likes and comments on TikTok, where Asero has amassed nearly 200,000 followers.

She previously gained attention when she complained about her nine-to-five job, which left her with no work-life balance.

The young woman explained in a viral video that she had no choice but to move to New Jersey for her job in New York because she couldn't afford the sky-high rents in the city.

The teary-eyed woman revealed it took 'f****ng forever' to get to and from her workplace, admitting it would be easier if she lived within walking distance.

Brielle continues: 'I leave here and get on the train at half past six and won't be home until 6:15 p.m. at the earliest. I don't have time to do anything.'

In a later video, she told her TikTok followers that sometimes she doesn't get home until 7:30 p.m.

'I want to shower, eat and go to sleep. I also don't have the time or energy to cook,” says Brielle.

'I don't have the energy to exercise, like that's out of the window. I'm so upset. Oh my God.'

Thinking it “could be worse,” she said, “I know I could work longer, but I get out and it's literally pitch black, like I have no energy.”

The stressed-out woman branded herself “emotional” and “dramatic” because she worried about how she would make time for her personal life, such as dating and maintaining friendships, outside of her first job.

According to the graduate, it would be easier to balance work and private life if she worked from home.

She spoke to later Rolling stone in her own defense, she told the magazine, “I don't even understand how this turned into a political argument when all I was trying to do was open a conversation.”

“Several news outlets picked up my video and portrayed postgraduate students as entitled and lazy, which is far from the case,” Brielle explains. who also made it clear that she considers herself 'lucky' to have found a full-time job in her dream field.

“My student debt would make me feel guilty for not using my degree right after college,” she said.

'I knew it would be difficult for me to get used to the schedule as most of my studying was online due to Covid, but once I was offered this job I took it as an opportunity to get my foot in the door and gain experience.'

“I didn't expect it to create a media frenzy,” she continued about the controversial TikTok. “I was just trying to be recognizable to my followers, who also have to have a job with long hours.”

She went on to describe “haters” “flooding” her personal social media accounts with “terrible comments.”

She took a stand on behalf of her generation.

'[Gen-Z] working just as hard as the people before us, with lower salaries and higher costs of living,” she argued.