Ujwal Mantha, a 27-year-old graphic designer originally from India and now based in Toronto, graduated in 2021 and has had a few full-time roles since. But after a recent layoff, he’s now back on the job market, and his search for work since graduation has come with more pressure than simply paying bills and gaining experience: certain pathways to permanent residency require Canadian work experience, and self-employed or freelance work doesn't count.
“I had to get a full-time job, otherwise I wouldn’t have been eligible to immigrate,” he says.
Mantha isn’t alone. Youth unemployment in Canada is at its worst level in decades, jumping 57% in three years. With the odds stacked that badly, it’s no wonder Gen Z is looking for any edge it can get, including online.
Enter aura farming: the Gen Z and Gen Alpha term for deliberately building an effortlessly cool, confident, charismatic image. There's just one problem: The second it starts to look like effort, it stops being aura.
No amount of charisma, real or manufactured, can overcome a weak job economy. But when qualified candidates are fighting over the same shrinking pool of jobs, small advantages do matter. Your confidence, communication, and public image have long been a way to get ahead at work – Gen Z simply gave the concept a trendy new name. The result? A growing industry to help people project the qualities employers claim to value. From hiring a personal stylist to taking improv classes, people are investing in their vibe, believing (or at least hoping) it will lead to interviews, jobs, promotions, and a higher paycheque. A charismatic leader can even boost investors’ confidence and a company’s stock price (though that bump usually disappears once the charisma halo fades and reality sets in).
Jon Evans, an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business in Vancouver, doesn't believe charisma is something you're born with.
"We've thought about charismatic people as being kind of naturally born, kind of a God-given gift," Evans says. But, he adds, research from John Antonakis at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland suggests the opposite: "We've been able to identify and study ways in which a person can communicate a message that makes the [idea] and delivery more charismatic."
There's just one problem: The second it starts to look like effort, it stops being aura.
So charisma isn't fixed; it's a skill that can be learned. And there's further research that suggests that warmth beats competence. Susan T. Fiske’s 2018 study on how coworkers perceive each other found that someone who comes across as highly competent but low in warmth, what Evans describes as "positive intentions toward others," is seen as less desirable than someone who's the reverse, as in they're high in warmth but low in competence. Being brilliant is great, but being easy to work with is even better.
Of course, none of that matters much if you don't know where to start. Leah Gust does this for a living.
“I definitely have seen, especially in the last six months, young professionals that have come to me and were – in a couple of cases – up for promotion. And they themselves could recognize that they weren’t dressing for that next phase,” says Gust, a personal stylist based in Durham Region, Ont. According to Gust, a lot of these clients are still dressing the way they did in their entry-level roles, and they're really asking for a wardrobe that reads as ready for more responsibility: more structure, more polish.
Her clients aren’t the only ones looking for an edge. The global coaching industry – everything from executive coaching to career coaching – brought in US$5.34 billion in 2025, up from $4.564 billion in 2023. Add in stylists, speaking coaches, and image consultants, and you get a whole industry built around helping people look like they deserve a promotion. (Let’s just hope no one notices the effort.)
Part of the surge in demand for these services can be attributed to the return-to-office mandates that have swept the country since the pandemic. Plenty of younger workers who began their careers remotely never got the experience of watching how their manager dresses, picking up office norms by osmosis, or practicing a pitch in front of an actual room of people. People also lost and changed jobs during those years, so some are walking into new workplaces or industries without knowing the unwritten rules. Whatever remote work did for productivity, it absolutely did not prepare anyone for “how do I dress like a functioning adult in fluorescent lighting without looking like a try-hard?!”
So, is aura farming worth the investment? The actual price tag can be surprisingly low, especially compared to a degree: the average undergraduate tuition in Canada is now $7,734 a year, according to Statistics Canada. Gust charges anywhere between $229 to $1,249 depending on the styling service, while a seven-week improv class at Toronto’s Second City is $395, and the public speaking fundamentals class at the University of Prince Edward Island will run you $720.
Even if you try thinking outside the box: therapy costs between $125 to $225 per hour in Canada (work through that criticism anxiety), a trip to the hair or nail salon could set you back a couple hundred dollars, and a pro photographer to level up your LinkedIn profile could charge around the same. And getting a tattoo might run you a few hundred to over a thousand, depending on the size.
Compared to a degree or to other career-boosting extras like continuing education courses, conference admissions, or association dues, the price of aura farming holds up shockingly well.
“For the longest time, tech workers were similar to the rare skilled workers of the past. Now with the rise of AI, you’re returning to this idea that ‘I need to be sociable to get a job because my skills aren’t enough anymore.’”
Mantha hasn’t hired a stylist or tried an improv class himself, but he's keenly aware of how important charisma and likeability are professionally. “For the longest time, tech workers were similar to the rare skilled workers of the past,” he says. “Now with the rise of AI … you’re returning to this idea that ‘I need to be sociable to get a job because my skills aren’t enough anymore.’”
However, he doesn't actually believe the solution is a manufactured, 'let me create this' performance; he thinks it's built organically over time, through relationships and community. Mantha and his friends have mostly landed jobs after “many, many months of looking,” thanks to referrals or networking.
“I wouldn’t say that their skills were irrelevant. I think they’re all very accomplished people. And I’m sure that [referral] sort of set them apart,” he says. “What is charisma and aura farming apart from the idea that you are liked by people? ... That’s where friendships come in. That’s where robust communities come in.”
Aura farming may sound like an easy shortcut to cool, but the research suggests the actual advantages come from what's underneath the performance: being perceived as warm, competent, and as someone others genuinely want to support.
As Evans puts it: “If you take these classes with the intention of, ‘This is how I’m gonna get ahead, this is how I’m gonna outdo my peers, this is how I’m going to be better than others,’ I think that becomes very instrumental and kind of sleazy and it doesn’t meet its purpose. But if the intention is ‘Listen, I really care about good positive relationships with others. And I know that to be good at that, I’ve got to improve how I communicate, how I present myself, how I react to others. And right now, I’m kind of clumsy at those things.’ ... Then it’s a genuine act and has a completely different effect.”
"If the intention is ‘I really care about positive relationships with others. And I know that to be good at that, I’ve got to improve how I communicate, how I present myself, how I react to others,' then it’s a genuine act and has a completely different effect."
While aura farming might be little more than an internet meme, the qualities behind it – confidence, warmth, and relationship building – have always been important. You can’t style, improv, or headshot your way out of a bad job market, but when opportunities are scarce and employers have a sea of candidates to choose from, how you communicate and show up can be a bigger advantage than you think.
Remember, though: intention matters. You can hire a stylist, go to improv classes, find a therapist, and make new connections, but do it because it actually makes you better at your job and better to be around, not because you're trying to hack your way into being likeable. After all, nothing tanks your aura faster than looking like you’re desperately trying to have one.
