Assuming you're asking in good faith, the parent could be referring to the 'market for lemons' in employment, where in lieu of being able to easily determine worker quality, employers start using second- or third-order- proxies for questions about, say, a candidate's likelihood of having a criminal record.

Or, you might just be doing the meme: https://x.com/MillennialWoes/status/1893134391322308918?s=20