A decade ago, when surveys tried to determine which careers made for the least desirable partners, it was pretty easy to tell who’d make the list. No one wanted to date or marry a chef, an airline pilot or a flight attendant. Sure, they earned a decent living, but their hours were so erratic – when would you ever see them?
In 2025, like everything else, that list has been turned upside down. Every job demands long, ridiculous hours. Everyone’s hustling 24/7. Everyone’s pivoting to new paths. So, there are new flavours of crazy in the mix. Among dating and matrimonial services, software engineers are no longer cool (Were they ever, guys?), the ring-light is fading on online influencers. If you’re wondering why your Bumble likes have plateaued (and why no one’s sent you a Raya invite yet), maybe it’s not you, it’s the field you’re in. Is your job a red flag? Let’s do a quick meeting in Conference Room B.
Hard pass
Ravi Mittal, founder of dating site QuackQuack, says that people with high-pressure jobs (the ones that scream overtime and no flexibility) suggest emotional unavailability and fail to score with potential dates. So, sales and investment banking are filtered out fast. “Startup founders might get matches quickly,” says Mittal. “But things fizzle out when the other person realises that the startup is still in its early stages.” Most founders don’t seem to have an off button, and it’s tough to date a person who’s already tethered to their dream venture. On the dating scene, no one wants to hear about your burn rates or QBRs. They want you to touch grass.
{{/usCountry}}Ravi Mittal, founder of dating site QuackQuack, says that people with high-pressure jobs (the ones that scream overtime and no flexibility) suggest emotional unavailability and fail to score with potential dates. So, sales and investment banking are filtered out fast. “Startup founders might get matches quickly,” says Mittal. “But things fizzle out when the other person realises that the startup is still in its early stages.” Most founders don’t seem to have an off button, and it’s tough to date a person who’s already tethered to their dream venture. On the dating scene, no one wants to hear about your burn rates or QBRs. They want you to touch grass.
{{/usCountry}}The constant layoffs in IT, and the industry’s obsession with 70-hour work weeks means they’ve lost major aura points in the dating world. There’s growing resentment toward rigid 9-to-5ers too. “The belief is that people who are tied to their desks aren’t really living,” says Arouba Kabir, psychologist and founder of Enso Wellness, who co-hosts the dating podcast Aisle Talks. In a world where both partners make their own money, your date doesn’t care how much value you create for shareholders. They want to know how much value you’ll bring to their lives.
Stale mates
Professions that were once matrimonial gold are now giving people the ick. Family businesses are squarely in the line of fire. “There’s a perception that it comes with too much parental control,” says Kabir. “Clients say, ‘He works with his family, so he probably doesn’t have his own life’.”
Some careers are still victims of old cliches. “The nightlife industry, event managers and models included, is viewed with suspicion, mostly because of possible substance use at parties, and the odd hours,” says Tanya Bakshi, a 30-year-old clinical psychologist, who counsels several single clients. Journalists aren’t considered worth the stress either. They are seen as constantly under pressure and get paid peanuts (Newsflash: We’re still nice people, though!).
Lawyers, once at the top of the food chain, are mostly a Swipe Left – there’s a growing sense that they might bring their argumentative skills to the bedroom. And people tend to assume that therapists might gaslight and subtly manipulate their partners so they’re left on the shelf. But sales gets the worst rep, says Bakshi. “They’re seen as slimy. The type who will lie to get what they want.”
Slow burn
So, who’s winning in 2025? Finally, it’s the creatives. “Photographers, artists and designers are seeing more matches,” says Mittal. The starving-artist trope is so 2010. Now, choosing your passion isn’t just sexy, it’s a viable career too.
“Gen Z wants a partner who goes to the gym, plays a sport like Pickleball or Padel,” says Bakshi. It’s why fitness instructors are a big draw now too. Anyone with a remote or hybrid job is a green flag — it suggests that they have more time for leisure, travel and you. “It also means more time for therapy. And emotional intelligence is high up on everyone’s list,” says Kabir. “My clients, especially those in their 20s, list ‘Must go to therapy’ as a requirement on their dating bios.”
And never mind what you saw on Materialists, the viral 2024 track — “I’m looking for a man in finance, trust fund, 6’5”, blue eyes” — still holds true. Both women and men are seeking partners who aren’t scrounging financially, and can afford some kind of freedom. “They all believe that their partners should be able to support them if they want to take a week off for their mental health,” says Kabir.
Swipe right
Few jobs have managed to maintain their siren-like allure over the years. Doctors, public-sector employees, and marketing people still give off the sense of stability, which seems attractive in a volatile economy. In the last decade, they’ve been joined by startup folks (minus the founders), says Jasveer Singh, CEO of Knot.Dating, an AI-driven matchmaking service. App engineers and developers, many in their early 30s, earn up to ₹70 lakh annually. “There are only a handful of professions that match that bracket. And the skillset has currency across the market. If the startup tanks, they’ll land on their feet,” Singh says.
Other new arrivals are still suss. A 2025 survey in the US tabloid New York Post found that “being an influencer” was a red flag for one in five respondents. “I haven’t heard anybody tell me that their aspiration is to marry an influencer,” says Radhika Mohta, a matchmaker and relationship coach. “If someone’s built a career doing something incredible, and now has a huge Insta following because of it, that’s different. But someone who just posts videos all day isn’t really a top pick.”
Romcoms made me do it: Hollywood has had some strange ideas about which jobs are sexy
Journalist. The rom-comiest career of all. Who didn’t want to be a fashion mag girlie, breezing into the office in stilettos with a disposable coffee cup in the early 2000s? (13 Going On 30, The Devil Wears Prada, Hitch) Imagine going undercover, only to meet the love of your life? (Never Been Kissed, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days). Ana meets Christian in 50 Shades of Grey by standing in for a journalist. It wasn’t just women. James Marsden was a wedding columnist in 27 Dresses. Dermot Mulroney was a sportswriter in My Best Friend’s Wedding (and Julia Roberts had enough free time in her job as a food critic to try to break up said wedding).
Architect. Second only to journalists. Tom Hanks was one in Sleepless In Seattle, Keanu Reeves was one in The Lake House, Steve Martin played one in It’s Complicated. Didn’t Mark Ruffalo’s character design gardens or something in Just Like Heaven? It’s the perfect career for a leading man. White collar yet rugged. Practical yet dreamy. Scientific, yet artistic. Rich, but with loads of time to spare. It’s giving “men written by women”.
Lawyer. In Legally Blonde, Elle Woods showed us that courtrooms were spaces to slay. What, like it’s hard? In Two Weeks’ Notice, Sandra Bullock somehow convinced us that she was a hippie lawyer. Honourable mention: About Time’s Tim, who can travel back into his own past, and uses it to be a kinder colleague.
Bookshop owner. Meg Ryan (You’ve Got Mail) and Hugh Grant (Notting Hill) both owned cozy indie bookstores, allowing for endless meet-cute possibilities. And if you need a high-strung corporate type, just make Sandra Bullock a book publisher (The Proposal).
Wedding planner. A career so romantic, they named a whole movie after it. Jennifer Lopez played a woman who organises dream weddings for everyone but herself. *Pity party alert!
From HT Brunch, July 19, 2025
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