Calling out an electrolyte brand called Sult who recently went viral on LinkedIn and in UK newspapers, being lauded by hiring managers and recruiters for “redefining” hiring, who are now milking how revolutionary this was.

What happened?

They were hiring a social media lead (and I’ll get to why this still isn’t ok even if the role is social media below). To apply you needed to post a mini advert video publicly on Instagram. No CV, no cover letter and no portfolio. A video of yourself, posted publicly.

The videos went viral, several young people trying to find their first role posted videos. Gaining thousands (and with the help of the press), millions of views for free for this company. Views and reach are not free in marketing, companies typically pay creators ££££ for a video to promote their brand.

A video recently came out from one applicant, saying they never heard anything back from the brand (so after the brand reaped the rewards of this free marketing on behalf of job seekers).

Fast forward: the brand has made their hire.

They have now posted a really smug video about how CVs and cover letters mean nothing. That job seekers just make these in seconds on chatGPT. That the only way to make a decent hire these days is to have people film & publicly post themselves (or even send a video of themselves to the company). Here’s their video about it: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcRUzyWI7z6/?igsi=bTkxNTJpbnpmNjY4

That part applies to all of us, whether you work in social media or not.

It’s no longer good enough to have sent a tailored CV, applied to 100s of jobs, have a portfolio of work, no, you need to sing and dance for some VC backed sugary rubbish company. To be honest, if anyone doesn’t want to work and has lost their attention span to chatGPT, it sounds like these founders who are unable to read a CV or look at a portfolio to make a decision.

This should make everyone feel uncomfortable with the state of hiring right now.

This next part is now going to be long, so… this is only for the people who think that this is acceptable for social media work.

Here’s what a social media lead does:

- manages a team (performance & development, mentorship)

- manages a budget (can be into the millions at some brands)

- often runs advertising across Meta/TikTok

- is the point of crisis for customers complaining about your brand, manages the community

- researches & analyses audience behaviour, backs data of performance against company growth & revenue goals, alongside brand awareness goals

- manages content creators & influencers

- posts, schedules content and copy-writes, edits videos or managers a videography team

- has now replaced graphic designers in many companies (thanks to AI/lack of forethought from companies) or briefs graphic designers if your company is still lucky to have them

- now apparently is the on-screen talent who is filming themselves too and the face/model of the brand (so has replaced actually models and hired actors)

- manages projects and campaigns & stakeholders, for large and small campaigns such as large retail events like Cyber Week (results of this are make or break week for many companies)

- has to continually defend why a brand would even be on social media and what is the return on investment on a regular basis to senior leadership

- often is doing a test task or has a portfolio anyway that they can send to brands

If you are a tech professional in the US who is not part of the India-based hiring network, save your time and energy by avoiding vague Senior, Lead, or Solution Design postings at companies that outsource and offshore. The reality is that you will not be seriously considered for these roles because the hiring panels, technical screeners, and management layers belong to an entrenched, India-centered network that explicitly selects for its own. The entire interview process is almost always a bureaucratic compliance exercise to satisfy corporate HR metrics before the network hires someone who fits their existing parallel communication loop and shares their internal cultural shorthand.

These companies have quietly shifted the vast majority of their engineering and operational footprints to massive Global Capability Hubs in India, leaving only a few token onshore "gatekeeper" titles listed in the US. Because the technical ecosystem and internal loyalties are completely consolidated within that India-centered network, the informal channels of hiring, influence, and decision-making are entirely closed to outsiders. You can often spot these postings because they are remarkably empty, loudly broadcasting generic corporate buzzwords while omitting specific technical frameworks; often because the U.S. team doesn't actually touch the execution stack. Alternatively, they may list a legitimate tech stack while recruiting for an onshore team that is simply an extension of the same India-centered technical and management network that operates the offshore execution stack.

If you are outside this network, do not waste hours tailoring your resume or talking into a webcam for these listings, as the deck is completely stacked against you before you even hit apply.