Office corridors from Gurugram to Whitefield have been abuzz with whispers of job postings so perfectly optimised that even global consulting firms would feel insecure. These listings feature titles such as “AI Blockchain Cloud Ninja Evangelist”, demand 25 years of experience in technologies invented during the pandemic, and promise exposure to “fast-paced environments” that suspiciously resemble a single laptop and a motivational poster. Candidates rush to apply, dazzled by the buzzwords and reassured by the comforting blue “Easy Apply” button, unaware they are stepping into what one HR insider called “a social media farming initiative”.
The secret sauce lies in a small, innocent-looking checkbox, pre-ticked by default, politely requesting applicants to follow the company page for updates. Nobody unchecks it. Nobody even notices it. Job seekers, already juggling rejection emails, aptitude tests, and WhatsApp forwards from relatives about government exams, simply click through. The result is an overnight spike in followers that would make consumer brands with million-rupee ad budgets weep quietly into their analytics dashboards.
According to multiple professionals who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were technically still following these companies, the job postings typically disappear once a psychologically satisfying follower milestone is reached. The position is then marked as “closed”, “on hold”, or, in more philosophical cases, “role evolved”. Applicants receive no rejection email, no update, not even a “we regret to inform you”. What they do receive is a weekly post from the company page about workplace positivity, complete with stock photos of people laughing at salad.
“This is pure jugadu brilliance,” said an HR consultant quoted by FD Staff, using the respectful tone usually reserved for startup founders who have discovered a loophole in GST rules. “Why spend money on employer branding when unemployed engineers will do it for you for free? Everyone wins. They get hope, we get followers.”
Internal presentations circulating in HR WhatsApp groups reportedly describe the strategy as “organic talent magnetism”. Slides outline the use of top-ranking keywords scraped from trending job boards, combined with aspirational language such as “young dynamic team” and “leadership opportunity regardless of designation”. One slide allegedly reads: “Objective: followers. Constraint: zero headcount approval. Solution: vibes.”
The scale of the practice has surprised even seasoned recruiters. Some companies are said to have posted roles for entire departments that do not exist, including “Metaverse Ethics Compliance Lead” and “Chief Synergy Alignment Officer”. One mid-sized IT firm briefly advertised 300 openings for data scientists, only to close them within 72 hours after gaining 18,000 new followers and a congratulatory comment from a motivational speaker.
Candidates, meanwhile, are beginning to notice patterns. “I applied to seven roles last month,” said a software tester from Pune who now follows more companies than he can remember. “All of them vanished. But my feed is full of posts about team outings and anniversary celebrations. I feel emotionally hired but contractually unemployed.”
Recruitment portals have unintentionally aided the movement by making Easy Apply frictionless. A single click now connects CVs, dreams, and LinkedIn follower metrics in one seamless loop. The act of applying has become less about employment and more about participation in what sociologists are calling “corporate attention theatre”.
LinkedIn itself remains an unwilling stage for this drama. While the platform promotes transparency and opportunity, its design choices have made it the perfect playground for follower-first hiring philosophies. The follow checkbox, defenders say, is optional. Critics argue that expecting desperate job seekers to opt out is like expecting Indians to decline free chai.
“This is behavioural economics at work,” explained a self-styled HR growth hacker who runs webinars on “talent funnel optics”. “Candidates are in scarcity mode. Their brains are busy imagining offer letters. They won’t uncheck anything. We simply respect psychology.”
Some HR managers have gone further, refining the art. Job descriptions are now A/B tested for maximum emotional engagement. Versions with words like “family”, “ownership”, and “impact” reportedly outperform those with mundane details such as salary or location. One company experimented with adding “work-life balance” to a role that required night shifts, weekends, and spiritual detachment. Applications doubled.
The practice has also triggered an arms race among HR teams. Once follower numbers rise, pressure mounts internally to maintain the illusion of momentum. Company pages begin posting more frequently, sometimes hourly, sharing leadership quotes attributed vaguely to “a wise CEO”. Engagement pods form. Employees are gently reminded during town halls to like, comment, and reshare, lest the algorithm suspect stagnation.
Job seekers who comment publicly asking about application status are treated as disruptive elements. Their queries are met with silence or the classic corporate reply: “Please check your inbox.” There is no inbox. There was never an inbox.
Not everyone inside HR is comfortable with the trend. A junior recruiter at a fintech firm described moral confusion after posting a role she knew would never be filled. “My parents think I help people get jobs,” she said. “Yesterday I helped my company get 5,000 followers. I don’t know how to explain this at dinner.”
Labour economists, watching from a safe distance, have compared the phenomenon to speculative bubbles. “Attention has become a currency,” one academic told FD Staff. “These companies are minting it using unpaid emotional labour. Eventually, trust erodes, but until then, dashboards look fantastic.”
The strategy’s defenders insist it is harmless. No money changes hands, they argue, and candidates lose only time, dignity, and the ability to trust job descriptions. Some even claim it prepares applicants for real corporate life, where expectations rarely align with reality.
As word spreads, counter-strategies are emerging. Online forums now advise candidates to immediately unfollow companies after applying, treating the process as a transactional exchange rather than a spiritual commitment. Others suggest applying with burner accounts or fake profiles, triggering a shadow economy of anti-jugad jugad.