Match Group CEO Explains Tinder's Need for Younger Talent

Spencer Rascoff – CEO of Tinder and Hinge parent company Match Group – has explained why he decided to bring back Tinder’s internship programme. 

In an interview with Fortune, Spencer shared that, shortly after becoming CEO in February 2025, he discovered that the internship programme had been closed by former CEO Bernard Kim.

“Two or three months after I started, I called my head of HR and said, ‘I’m just curious about the summer intern program. When do the interns arrive?’” He said. “And he’s like, ‘Oh, no, we can’t. The last CEO canceled the internship program last year to save money.’”

This, Spencer said, was “the craziest thing I’ve ever heard”.

“We build apps for Gen Z. Our main demographic audience is 18 to 22-year-olds – of course, we need as many of these folks around our halls as possible.”

Hiring AI native talent

According to Spencer, one of the key benefits to hiring younger talent is their ability to use AI. 

“There is a trend in especially in technology – but really in corporate America – to hire fewer early-career people,” Spencer said. “The thinking goes, ‘AI can do much of the work of an early career professional.’ Match Group has a very contrarian approach on that topic.”

He told Fortune that he intends to hire “more early-career people who are coming out of college as AI natives,” as this batch of prospective talent is “using AI for everything”.

“I’d much rather have an early career person without fully-formed habits of being in the workplace for a long time without AI tools,” he continued. 

Despite having just 27 open internship roles for its ‘Tindership’ programme – which allows interns to work alongside a range of teams from the beginning of June to the end of August – more than 30,000 candidates applied. This, Spencer believes, may be partially due to the “resonance,” of the Tinder brand in young people. 

“It probably speaks a little bit to the challenges of job seeking among early career people, I’m sure,” he said. “But I’d like to believe that it mostly speaks to the quality of the company that we’re at. I’m so excited.”

A direct line to employees

Alongside this internship, Spencer has always taken an active role in the working lives of his employees.

In a LinkedIn post, he shared that the company has decided to introduce an internal feedback loop called “DM Me If..” which allows employees to message Spencer directly with feedback, questions or concerns. 

“I read every message,” Spencer shared. “If someone includes their name, I follow up directly. If they choose to stay anonymous, I share responses more broadly with the company. 

“Some of the most valuable insights I’ve received as CEO have come through this channel.”

These insights include a request from an employee, asking if the company’s Gen Z employee resource group could be more involved in company-wide decision-making. 

Since then, Spencer has introduced monthly meetings with the group, which he said “quickly became one of the most robust product strategy discussions I’ve had in months”.

The choice to develop this direct line was made as part of a wider push across Match Group to build a ‘culture of transparency,’ to improve operational focus and collaboration– which Spencer has championed since becoming CEO.