How Gen-Z is navigating the challenging job market in India

While most are trying to combat the heatwave there is another heated rivalry not the one you are thinking of that is tiring out Gen Z mdash better known as the ldquointernship warsrdquo During this season fresh LinkedIn pages are born while others are revived and hit with a wave of internship jargon such as ldquofastpaced environmentrdquo and ldquogrowth hacker mindsetrdquo among other fancy words that the job market today demandsAs Gen Z tries to cope with the baffling reality that entrylevel jobs require more than entrylevel qualifications personal branding is an equally overwhelming taskScrolling through the platform takes up two hours for some PiciStockThe first step to landing an internship Diversify mdash but strategically feels 19yearold student Kavya Nair ldquoItrsquos not a question of how many places I have applied to but how many of them would consider hiring me as an intern which is ironic because internships only serve as a temporary glimpse into the careerrdquoHot in the job market 21yearold Aditya Vajandar has over 1600 followers on his LinkedIn page but this has given him no advantage ldquoItrsquos been extremely frustrating for me to keep applying everywhere with no avail in return my LinkedIn connections include a few CMOs of large industriesrdquo Shlok MomayaWhat seems to be rewarded is brand building a ldquovoicerdquo on social media platforms mainly LinkedIn mdash a platform many tend to associate with corporate culture lengthy blogs either sharing projects or random bits of learning and motivationIronically many end up carving out time for working on the platform for some work like 20yearold student Shlok Momaya ldquoIt really depends on the day but on average 30 minutes to an hourrdquo he says21yearold Aditya Makhija works in public relations For him LinkedIn used to be a twohour investment daily ldquo I used to spend at least two hours each day scrolling reading what people are talking about and commenting on their posts I would also write samples of my post editing them until I was satisfied with the final outputrdquoJust like on every social media platform exaggeration on LinkedIn is the name of the gameldquoExaggeration of achievements is a very common almost stereotypical trait that anyone would see on LinkedIn Activities as mundane as watching a movie can be listed on LinkedIn as a moment of great professional learning It is extremely easy to mask your activities with corporate jargon I personally believe this happens because people would much rather present a better version of themselves especially when the people watching could make or break careersrdquo But itrsquos rather easy to get lost in the superficiality of it all Momaya is of the notion that ldquoItrsquos much easier to hide your personality strengths and weaknesses on LinkedIn by using the right language and managing your profile There is always a sense of pompousness that persons with a lsquowelldefinedrsquo profile will have when you talk to themrdquolsquoSubstance left behindrsquoKhushi Shah Admissions Consultant and LinkedIn WriterldquoI have been on the platform since college Irsquove run pages done live sessions written content for other peoplersquos profiles and I know how the algorithm works Irsquove sat with students who have real depth thinking and potential and they get overlooked because their profiles arenrsquot optimised Meanwhile someone with half the substance but twice the confidence is moving aheadrdquolsquoThey donrsquot know what they are sayingrsquoPratik Vaidya Managing Director Karma Management Global Consulting Solutions Pvt LtdMany young applicants now use words such as lsquostrategic thinkerrsquo lsquogrowth mindsetrsquo lsquoimpactdrivenrsquo and ldquocrossfunctional exposurersquo The problem is not the words but that many candidates are unable to explain what they actually mean This is also happening because job descriptions themselves have become full of corporate language A simple internship role is sometimes written as if it were a senior management role Students then copy the same language into resumes and interviews