As the job market continues to evolve amid rapid advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), job seekers are facing increasing challenges, particularly freshers looking to secure their first jobs. Social media is filled with both success stories and accounts of the difficulties faced by job seekers during the hiring process.
A Pune-based Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) Engineer on microblogging site X, formerly Twitter, has shared key suggestions for job seekers, particularly freshers, on how to stand out in the competitive job market.
He highlighted the importance of upskilling and maintaining an online presence to improve job prospects. He also spoke about the demand for tech support jobs, particularly night-shift roles, in Pune.
He said there is a whole world beyond X where people are still learning the MERN stack, a collection of four open-source technologies that work together to simplify full-stack web development, and applying for jobs as they did in 2019.
According to him, many job seekers do not update their skills, maintain an online presence or reach out to potential employers through cold direct messages. He said such candidates are essentially relying on luck to secure jobs.
He also shared that some of his friends had secured night-shift tech support jobs, while others had allegedly been asked to pay HR personnel money to secure employment. He said the demand for such jobs is high in Pune because a large number of young people in the city are college students or freshers looking for employment.
He further described what he called a grim picture of the job market, claiming that some companies themselves are unclear about their requirements. He said they often post senior-level Job Descriptions (JDs) for salaries as low as Rs 2.8 lakh per annum.
The techie also highlighted the importance of maintaining an online presence on platforms such as X and LinkedIn and, most importantly, building and showcasing projects on GitHub.
"I think to get a job today, you need an online presence, including X, articles, and posting your work on LinkedIn. Most importantly, you need to build projects on GitHub, and that too end-to-end," he wrote.
He said job seekers need to develop emerging and in-demand skills to improve their chances of securing opportunities in the field.
"If you don't have emerging and the latest skills, you will never get an opportunity in this field. You need to stand out by developing skills that people generally avoid because they are difficult to learn. Upskilling and maintaining an online presence are the only ways to stay ahead and have different job options," he said.
He also cautioned job seekers against paying money to secure employment.
"And yes, if a company is asking you for money, you better know where you will be working," he said.
Job market in India is completely collapsed today. A friend of mine attending many interviews from Indeed and Naukri. She said, every time I pass the technical round and in the HR round companies are usually asking for money to secure a job. They are asking minimum 5k and they promise that you will get money back in the first salary. What joke is this? There's a whole world like this outside X, where people still learn MERN stack and applying to a job like it's 2019. No skill update, no online presence, no cold DMs. They are totally playing a luck game! Some of my friends got a job as tech support in night shifts and other paying to HR for a job. Demand is too high in Pune because maximum youth are college students or fresher who are looking for a job. Companies on other hand, don't even know what they want. They just dump senior level JD for 2.8LPA. I think to get a job today, you need an online presence. Including X, articles, posting your work on LinkedIn, and most important is building projects on GitHub that too end to end. If you don't have emerging and latest skills, you will never get an opportunity in this field. You need to stand out with the skills where people don't go because it's hard to learn. Up-skilling and online presence is the only way to stay on top with different options for job. And yes, if company is asking a money from you. You better know where you will be working.
— Karan🧋 (@kmeanskaran) October 6, 2026
The techie further claimed that the job market in India has "completely collapsed", citing the experience of a friend who had been attending interviews through job portals such as Indeed and Naukri.
According to him, his friend said she would clear the technical round but was allegedly asked for money during the HR round to secure the job. He claimed that companies were asking for a minimum of Rs 5,000 and promising to return the amount with the candidate's first salary. "What joke is this?" he asked.
"Job market in India is completely collapsed today. A friend of mine has been attending many interviews through Indeed and Naukri. She said that every time she passes the technical round, companies usually ask for money during the HR round to secure the job," he wrote.
