Gone are the days when every Tom, Dick and Harry wanted to become either an engineer, doctor or lawyer. With awareness among students and the parents about the gold mine of opportunities in sectors other than the ones mentioned above and the rising trend of allowing children to follow their passion, we identified a few off-beat jobs that today’s youth is opting for.
- Social Media Influencers [YouTube content creators, Podcaster]:
If you either have a penchant for entertainment and story-telling or possess expertise in a certain domain (Digital Marketing, Mentoring, Gadgets, Finance), starting a YouTube channel is the foremost activity you should take. With famous Indian YouTubers earning millions annually, much of the youth leverage the platform to showcase their talent and knowledge despite stiff competition.
A second and a less known but growing category of social media influencers are podcasters who share their content and viewpoints via episodic audio files via channels such as Spotify, Gaana, and Khabri.
- Fitness Trainers and Yoga Instructors:
According to a report by McKinsey on Consumer sentiment in India during the COVID-19 crisis, an increase in the spending for fitness and wellness products was observed, with a 60% user growth of online fitness and 71% of users having the intent to continue.
Apart from COVID, there has always been a demand for personal trainers and Yoga instructors due to the soar in lifestyle diseases. Today, most clients choose a trainer meeting basic requirements rather than a newbie and do not hesitate to pay more for satisfactory service.
Thus, many of today’s boys and girls with a passion for fitness seek to build a career as a Trainer or a Yoga Instructor and pursue certifications and freelance experience in the domain before starting on their own.
- Political Consultant/Campaign Manager:
Gone are the days where politics was either thought of as a family business or a 40+-year-old’s work. With the GoI engaging youth in politics by way of prestigious fellowships such as Legislative Assistants to Members of Parliament (LAMP) and Rajya Sabha Research and Study Scheme (RSRS) as well with the increasing use of social media, political campaigns and the underlying data analytics, many students are discovering a new-found interest in political strategy.
Political consultants help a candidate or a party win elections by data-driven targeted campaigns and positively influence public perception. The main tasks of a political consultant or strategist are public relations, spearheading and monitoring digital media campaigns, conducting business intelligence of pre-polls survey data and customising campaigns accordingly and audit and expenditure management.
- Animator and VFX Artist:
According to Statista, India’s VFX and postproduction industry have almost doubled, from ₹39 billion in 2016 to ₹68 billion in 2019. The same report estimates that the industry will be worth almost ₹147 billion by 2024. The data should be unsurprising, considering the increased demand for animation and visual effects in video games, movies and television and the more recent use cases in creating virtual tours of workspaces, advertising and any field which focuses on visual representation.
The role entails conceptualising based on client requirements and budget, designing the required effects and coordinating and collaborating with various teams to gain direction and feedback. Though the salary in India is not quite lucrative, with values ranging anywhere from ₹4–8 lakhs per annum for beginners, there is a huge scope for Animators and VFX artists in cities like Tokyo, Paris, Madrid and Seoul. Students with artistic and creative mind and technical skills have a splendid opportunity to excel in this field.
- Tour Guides:
Tour guides are responsible for planning the accommodation arrangements and travel plans for a tourist group. Becoming one is a wonderful career option for those who are a wanderlust at heart and possess decent communication and interpersonal skills to effectively communicate the history of a location of significance and establish a rapport with the clients.
Knowing multiple languages, Indian as well as foreign, is an added advantage. There is no essential qualification as such. However, candidates with a certificate or experience in travel and tourism are generally preferred. India is one of the world’s emerging tourist destinations, with the travel and tourism sector contributing $250 billion to the country’s GDP, which is estimated to double in the coming years.
Though currently, domestic tourists hold the maximum share in terms of visit and revenue, marketing and awareness initiatives like the Incredible India campaign and e-visa options are helping to make India achieve more accessibility for international tourists. A larger influx of international tourists would translate to an increased demand for local tour guides in the future. Otherwise, you can always settle overseas in cities such as Prague, Paris, Marrakesh etc., where there are tourists round the clock.
Though the list provided is non-exhaustive, we tried to cover jobs from diverse sectors while excluding the usual roles such as data scientist, entrepreneur, web developer, digital marketer, etc. Let us know in the comments section in case we have missed covering similarly interesting avenues in our article.
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