Why is Marketing Management attracting the interest of young Indians?

With the average age of the Indian population being below 30 years and more than 50% of Indians being younger than 25 years, India is a youthful country. If guided properly, this young population would be the much-required fuel in the growth engine of the Indian economy. Buzzing with energy, having sky-high ambitions, the Indian youth are determined and working hard to make their mark in the world. The millennial generations are perceived to be mature, practical and have an attitude of an enterprising person. These people want to work in a dynamic environment where their hard work is adequately rewarded. This is one of the primary reasons why Indian youth are attracted to a career in Marketing.

Marketing a Social Science

Marketing is one of the core areas of Management, which itself has its roots in social sciences. A fundamental difference between pure science and social science is that the laws ascertained by the former when applied in varied environments, produce the same result. For example, applying Newton’s laws would give the same result across various regions of the world. However, in social science, we deal with human beings, and the environmental factors significantly influence them. Hence, the application of social science varies from environment to environment. For example, the languages that the people communicate in, the cultures they follow, their leisure activities, and their daily rituals all differ from place to place. This phenomenon makes applying social science principles in the real world environments a complex and challenging task. Thus, being a manager and trying to manage things is not easy. A manager must work in a dynamic and uncertain environment, with varied people and under stringent deadlines. Marketing being part of the management domain is no different. Interestingly it is this challenging scenario and a hyper-competitive environment that ends up attracting the youth towards Marketing. 

Requisite Skill-Sets for Marketing

What does a career in Marketing demands from today’s youth? The answer to this question is essential as it would enable the youth to understand the skill-sets required for a career in Marketing. The marketing domain wants outgoing professionals, who can work under stress and challenges, have an attitude to learn and explore, and have a positive mindset. Interestingly most of the youth today possess a majority of the qualities listed here. Let me explain this in the subsequent paragraphs.

Today’s youth are out-going and people-oriented. With the passage of time, technology has made interactions among people hassle-free and convenient. Presence of various social media platforms and applications that enable communications and the spread of mobile and internet has brought more and more people in each other’s contacts. Information or news from any part of the world is accessible at the click of a mouse. Young people are aware of what is happening in which part of the world; this has made them more involved in world affairs. Access to knowledge has made youngsters more confident about themselves, and they are able to articulate their opinions lucidly. All these factors make them go out, explore the world, be less hesitant to contact people and be more socially inter-twinned. Though sceptics also point out to the social isolation that the virtual world of the technology has brought, more and more people understand the threat of being limited to one’s shell and are putting more efforts in being social.

This out-going approach of the youth makes them highly suitable for a career in marketing. This is because marketing is a people-oriented job. The more you interact with people, the more marketing prospects you are expected to get. Hence, having a flair for interacting with people and being a people-oriented person is an important skill set for a career in marketing and the youth who possess these qualities want a career in marketing.

With the dynamism in the business and economic environment increasing day by day, the frequency of change has become more prominent. This has made the work environment of the people very uncertain and challenging. The continuous change brings with it the stress of adjusting with alternation and makes the future seem ambiguous. Since the past two decades, technology change has been so rapid that our way of working shifts every few years. The millennial youth having grown up in this environment and know fully-well how to cope up with frequent changes it brings. This makes them ideally suitable to deal with the stress and challenges that this continuous change brings. Hence, today’s youth is more open and receptive to the stress and challenges a marketing job brings.

As mentioned earlier in this article, a wealth of information is available today at a click of a mouse. That’s the reason why many strategic thinkers have called these times as information age. Such times favour people who have the requisite attitude to learn and explore. Being surrounded by multiple avenues of information and entertainment, today’s youth is abreast with the capability of being inquisitive and having the ability to quickly assimilate new information. These things come naturally to the millennial kids and hence fulfils their suitability for being in the marketing job. Being quite knowledgeable, the youth knows about this factor and therefore are keen to make a career in marketing.

Finally, we come to the last, but under no means, the least important skill set of having a positive bent of mind. The increasing pace of today’s life and the uncertainties of a dynamic environment can overwhelm anyone. This is the reason why today’s youth also lays emphasis on having a positive mindset. Having a positive perspective towards the things happening around provides one with the required mental strength to deal with life eventualities. With the increased prominence of various meditation and yoga techniques, the youngsters are equipping themselves to deal with the contingencies they might have to face in the future. By following this path to have a positive mental orientation, the youth is making themselves amply suited for a career in marketing wherein the pressure and stress brought in by imposing demands of deadlines and targets keep professionals on their toes. Overall, today’s youth’s skill-sets make them quite suitable for a career in marketing, and they know about it.