The Millenial Way

Indian millenials like juggling several assignments than a single job. (Representational Image)

By: Ajay Kumar

Working a single, 9 to 5 job and building up a career along was the norm of the day. That is now a thing of the past. Millennials have begun creating their own definition of work life. They love juggling multiple jobs across different fields.

Manpreet Kaur, (24) from Bhatinda, Punjab, has tried being a salaried employee and a freelancer juggling multiple projects. She works as the Head of Marketing Operations at Brijraj Fashion in New Delhi. But she also works part-time as a content creator, editor and a digital marketing consultant and enjoys it more. She finds social media and affiliation marketing as fruitful avenues of revenue generation. “There’s a huge scope. You can make good money if you are good at the job”, she said.

Social Media provides a great platform for them, primarily by bringing people closer, opened up new opportunities. Social media marketing, online business applications, digital asset monetization, e-commerce are vistas where these job-hopping millennials find new opportunities in.

But make no mistake. It does not mean that you can just make some quick buck here. “Digital marketing is much more complicated than posting social media content. People have to understand that before trying to pursue this as a career. It is a job that changes every day and you have to stay on track or you lose,” cautions Manpreet.

What, then, is their motivation for taking up various projects? “It’s definitely the money because I like to be independent. The current economic situation across the country makes it little hard on everyone’s pocket and part time opportunities help you as a cushion when you fall back.” Says Arun Kumar, who works in the HR sector, writes for a website and dabbles in ad films.

Many who have settled for more stable jobs cherish the other work life. Sumedha Choudhary, an ICSSR Research Assistant at Central University of Jharkhand still fondly recollects her time being a freelance journalist. “I’m doing fulltime job at CUJ but I enjoyed that phase of my life where I used to do freelance reporting besides writing for blogs,” she said. She was engaged in research as well. “It kept me active round the clock and helped in gaining more knowledge”, remembers she.

For some, a full time job is not a reason for dropping off their passions in life. So they juggle such roles in their free time. Ankur Chakravarty is a Corporate Communication professional with a renowned healthcare company in Ranchi. But in his heart, he is a hardcore film enthusiast and film maker. So he nurtures his passion for filmmaking whenever the full time job throws up an off. “I am an Independent Filmmaker and still pursue it actively despite my fulltime job. I have been associated with Prasar Bharati and academic circles as part of my effort to pursue my film dreams,” says he.

But how do you manage such an ‘unstable’ and ‘insecure’ work life? It may appear ‘foolish’ in the older generations’ idea of work life. But the millenials calls it a ‘professional approach’, which fits their idea of a better lifestyle. Here you are more independent, can do things which you enjoy and get paid for that.

The basic prerequisite is the ability to prioritize things, says Rupesh Sahu (25), from Ranchi who juggled many jobs and presently working as a journalist. Before this, he worked as a call center executive, video editor and a blogger. For him, full time jobs take away all the precious time in your life with their rigid working hours. “I am that guy who always race to finish the assigned work as early as possible so that I can have some quality time myself. That’s why I stick with part time assignments. They save time, make me feel independent and pays too”, says he.