Help me by providing reality check

My Profile :

OBC Male Engineer

• 10th - 98%
• 12th - 97.4%
• UG - 79.2% - Btech in EE from 2nd gen IIT
• Work Ex - 7 months in consulting

I have some decent academic achievements like merit based scholarships and State ranks <100 in few exams. I had recently quit my job 2 months ago due to very hectic work schedule and toxic environment. I am planning on giving CAT 2025. Recently spoke with some seniors and they fell like my profile is a bit weak and gap year is going make it even worse and will affect me during GDPI process.
Currently my preparation is going well and I am working hard. But after hearing this I got a little demotivated. I can land a job in a month or so but I actively chose not to because it will definetly hamper my preparation. I have to relocate to a new place, adjust there and then again the working hours will be long. Very few have the advantage of working only 8-9hrs a day, majority would have to work atleast 9-10 hours a day and not to mention the travel which even in best case scenario takes atleast 1 hour(30min to and fro). You never know the type of project and the type of boss you will have to deal with. And since I will be joining at an analyst or associate level, I will mostly be dealing with very mundane and grunt work type of assignments as it takes time for your seniors and mangers to trust you with responsibility and give you a chance to create real impact at your workplace. Not to mention that I will again quit that place in less than a year to join my B school. So all in all, there would be minimal to moderate learning but I have to compromise on my CAT preparation by a lot if I take up a job now. I know people would suggest reading RCs in metro, solving LRDI sets in washrooms and that I should stop complaining and should make use the limited time available but I do not think that is practical in the long run for CAT prep and if the preparation itself is so uncertain and distributed, then I do not think this type of preparation will instill any confidence in me for my D Day. So that is why i felt I should focus on CAT and get a very good percentile rather than finding an another job and studying in bits and pieces. I know that there is going to be some bias on my side that is why i am looking forward to a genuine suggestion regarding what i should do.

In my opinion I am actually enjoing my gap becuase I am becoming better person each and every day, I have joined a gym near by and I have lost 10kgs so far, getting back into shape. I am also preparing for CFA level 1 so that i have a better profile. I spend 6-7hrs a day on CAT prep and 2-3hrs for CFA and 2hrs for Gym daily. I am learning new things daily like I am learning about business case studies and other things and there is no longer toxic environment around me. I do not have to deal with a stupid boss who asks me work on a sunday so that she can get some praise in her monday morning meeting by doing nothing or forces me to go for the extra mile so that she does not have to anything. I do not have to deal with judging and toxic collegues who think everything is a race and claim credit for my hardwork and if things go south you will be the first one to be thrown under the bus. I love spending time with my mom and dad. They want me to stay at home (obviously) and prepare for the examination. But post the interaction with my seniors I am scared that what i am doing is going to effect me in the future and there will a alot of grilling on this in my future interviews. Help me please. Thank you in advance.