The One Question Everyone Dreads From Friends and Family

Hello, and welcome back.

In this edition, we take a look at the best way to handle that dreaded question: How's work? Plus, how the white-collar downturn is affecting bonuses and why fathers are leaving money on the table when they don't take paternity leave.

This is a short version of The Wall Street Journal’s Careers & Leadership newsletter. Sign up here to get the full edition in your inbox every week.

How to Brag About Work, Even If It's Not Going Great

You know the question is coming when you see family and friends this holiday season: How’s work? Few questions are higher stakes when it comes to how everyone thinks you’re doing, and what they’ll gossip about after getting together. Luckily, these questions are easy to fudge or finesse. Tell the truth, though not necessarily the whole truth, and change the subject as soon as you can.?

Remember to be firm and project positive energy .

A Skimpy Bonus Season Awaits Some White-Collar Workers

A downturn in the white-collar job market is showing up in an obvious but still painful place for millions of workers: lower bonuses. A survey of more than 200 small, mid-sized and large companies found that 34% wouldn’t give bonuses this year, up from 27% last year, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the outplacement firm that conducted the poll. That was the highest number of companies not giving bonuses since 2019.

Clark Griswold isn't the only one getting jelly-of-the-month club this year .

The Race Is On to Hire Interns for 2025. Really.

The starter pistol has sounded for college internship applications—for the summer of 2025. Companies in finance and accounting are now recruiting for interns nearly 18 months before college students would be expected to start. Many summer 2024 internship slots are already filled, several companies say. The advanced timeline means that college students who may have taken just one business class are trying to prove their mettle in competitive application processes that can launch careers after graduation.

If you’re not extremely early, you’re late .

Elsewhere in The Wall Street Journal

Check out some of the Journal’s other best-read stories on work life and the office over the past week:

• Why Giving Up Paternity Leave Costs You Money. (Read )
• This Year’s Office Holiday Party Is Downsized (Read )
• One Executive’s Ridiculously Busy Week, and How She Thinks the Rest of Us Can Pull It Off Too (Read )

?? For the next two weeks, Careers and Leadership will be taking a break. We hope you all have some time to rest and enjoy the holiday season. We'll see you in 2024!

This is a condensed version of WSJ’s Careers & Leadership newsletter. Sign up here to get the WSJ’s comprehensive work coverage in your inbox each week.

This newsletter was curated by Gretchen Tarrant Gulla , WSJ Audience Editor. Let us know what you think by dropping us a note at [email protected] .?