In my neck of the woods, southeasterm Europe, PhD students are the ones that are looking for an easy gig, usually less paid, with most of them having no ambition for academia and lecturing and yet without having any industrial plan with their thesis.
Not really the cream of the crop, I’d say about 70% of them have no place teaching or grading papera, per my and my former colleagues’ opinion. They’re just looking to extend their student era. They’re generally happy, some are aware of their lack of plan for the future and thus just a tiny bit anxious, but still optimistic.
Of course some are simply gifted and simply born for research and teaching, but those are as rare as a good project manager.
Funny.