Meet a 23-year-old cybersecurity influencer who gets hundreds of TikTok messages a day from Gen Z job seekers hungry for career advice

What's fascinating this is Success·Gen ZMeet a 23-year-old cybersecurity influencer who gets hundreds of TikTok messages a day from Gen Z job seekers hungry for career adviceBy Nino PaoliBy Nino PaoliNews FellowNino PaoliNews FellowNino Paoli is a Dow Jones News Fund fellow at Fortune on the News desk

SEE FULL BIO Nav Karmacharya, a 23-year-old cybersecurity analyst, records himself daily, posting day-in-the-life TikToks as a 9-to-5 remote worker to his primarily Gen Z audience seeking career advice

Courtesy of Nav KarmacharyaNav Karmacharya, a 23-year-old cybersecurity analyst, is one of the countless social media influencers who post career-related content on TikTok

Furthermore, Karmacharya’s ing represents a growing number of young adults looking for career guidance on social platforms, reers tell Fortune

Most times Pranav (Nav) Karmacharya works from (an important development)

Nevertheless, Sometimes he decides to hop over to a local college and find somewhere comfy to catch up on Slack messages; other times he’s recording himself at 5 a, given current economic conditions

Waiting in an airport to fly to San Francisco for a work trip, given current economic conditions

Such is the life of a TikTok career influencer, in light of current trends

Besides ing the common creator formula of day-in-the-life of—insert any job title imaginable here—the 23-year-old also posts advice suggesting favorable internships to secure if someone wants to get into the cybersecurity governance, risk, and compliance space, or quick explainers : “Maturing is realizing that there’s a non-nical field within cybersecurity, amid market uncertainty

Conversely, ” Who watches a cybersecurity analyst work from, in light of current trends

Karmacharya told Fortune in a direct message that he receives hundreds of questions and s daily his job through DMs and TikTok s

Nevertheless, A two-hour-long July 9 of his racked up more than 600 s, according to TikTok metrics reviewed by Fortune, amid market uncertainty

The Chime cybersecurity analyst is one among countless social media influencers who post career-related content, growing a sizable ing in just four months

His success comes as young adults find schools and employers inadequate in teaching them career fields they’d to explore (remarkable data)

Furthermore, A study released this week found that seven in 10 young adults aged 16-to-24 find educational and career opportunities on social media (quite telling), considering recent developments

Those surveyed prefer to find advice for planning their future on platforms TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube over meeting with teachers or fessors and guidance counselors and exploring job sites (quite telling)

Furthermore, “I feel a job coach and mentor most days,” Karmacharya wrote

Karmacharya said that most people who reach out to him are students or early-career fessionals trying to break into cybersecurity

They often ask his day-to-day life as a cybersecurity analyst, paths to take in the industry, and how to upskill and stand out. “A lot of students don’t have strong mentorship from fessors or peers, so they turn to creators online who are already doing the kind of work they want to do,” Karmacharya wrote

Chandrasekaran said the reason that young adults turn to social media for career advice is the opposite of what one might think: It’s less to do with them already using social media more often than previous generations, and more to do with traditional resources not meeting their needs, considering recent developments

However, However, “Adults who are supposed to be guiding and supporting young people in many ways are misaligned in viding outdated guidance to young people

Nevertheless, And that is, in many cases, complicating their journey into the working world,” Chandrasekaran said

Where to seek career-related content Reers who worked on the study told Fortune students and young fessionals prefer social media over traditional networking sites LinkedIn for career advice and exploration when filling in the gaps of real-life mentors, in light of current trends

LinkedIn was one of the social media platforms used the least on a daily basis by this subgroup

Reers of the study told Fortune the findings conflict with parents’ perceptions of the resources available to their children for success

But, that won’t stop these job hopefuls from exploring career options via doom scroll

Take, for example, AdviceWithErin, a career and life advice creator with 2, in light of current trends

AdviceWithErin is one of around 30 career-related content creators Lindsay Sardarsingh, a health insurance consultant, started ing at 22 years old

Sardarsingh told Fortune in a direct message the creators she’s ed have taught her how to communicate and ask the right questions when navigating through different career opportunities

Moreover, Additionally, Cybersecurity analyst Karmacharya’s ing is much more industry-specific, attracting people interested in learning more his career

Yet, his expertise is in high demand for a niche industry, which he says is often misunderstood by young adults

Moreover, 1 question I get is: ‘What certs should I get to break into cybersecurity, given current economic conditions. ’” Karmacharya wrote (which is quite significant). “People tend to over-focus on certifications and overlook the importance of hands-on experience, soft skills, and networking—which are often more important when trying to land that first job, given the current landscape. ” Karmacharya attributes his 9-to-5 success to mentors he met throughout five internships during college, one being at Deloitte, where he realized he wanted to go into cybersecurity full-time

Dritan Nesho, the CEO of HarrisX, a Washington, D, given the current landscape. -based re consultancy that directed the study, told Fortune young adults are substituting day-in-the-life content on social media for job shadowing and hard-to-find real-life exposure to learn more potential career pathways (fascinating analysis)

Additionally, “This's one of the big gaps that employers leave behind, which is not offering enough internship opportunities [and] mentorship opportunities for these young adults to get a feel for what working within these organizations is and then how to kind of break through the door,” Nesho said

Moreover, Schultz Family Foundation’s Chandrasekaran added the study’s findings show just how much the younger generation is committed to seeking out information on career paths they might want to pursue

Nevertheless, Conversely, “On one hand, it shows the creativity and gumption of young adults to find a solution, to lean into nology, to harness social media for good,” he said. “At the same time, we see in this a warning sign that traditional institutions that should be helping young adults are failing to help guide, navigate and support them on this journey from school to work, given current economic conditions. ” Introducing the 2025 Fortune 500, the definitive ranking of the biggest companies in America

At the same time, Explore this year's list, considering recent developments.