Can you buy your way into a job?

Summary

Business Daily (BBC World Service)

Episode: "Can you buy your way into a job?"

Host: Megan Lawton
Date: October 19, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode tackles the ever-changing landscape of the job market and explores whether spending money on paid services—such as AI-powered job tools, LinkedIn Premium, career coaches, and resume-writing services—genuinely improves one’s chances of getting hired. Megan Lawton speaks with job seekers, recruiters, and career coaches about the pressure to “AI-proof” careers, the rise of pay-to-play job hunting aids, and what really makes a difference when searching for work in a tough, tech-disrupted market.

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Main Discussion Points & Insights

The Changing Reality of the Job Market

• AI & Technological Disruption:

  • Both hiring managers and job seekers are struggling to predict which skills will be valuable in the coming years due to rapid advances in AI and shifting company visions.
  • “Very few [employers] can identify the skills they think they will need in five years.” (Nicole Leader, Senior Recruiter at Adecco, [01:14], [09:04])

• Increased Competition:

  • There are fewer jobs and more candidates, creating a ruthless, employer-driven market.
  • "There are far less opportunities and there are more available talent in the market.” (Nancy Dinaofrio, Director at Randstad, [08:31])

The Cost of Job Hunting

• Experiences from the Field:

  • Job-seekers are investing heavily: People are buying job search subscriptions, paying for resume templates, and engaging coaches.
  • “You could spend money on something without any sort of guarantee of getting a position or even getting your foot in the door.” (Giovanna Ventola, Job Seeker & Community Founder, [05:12])
  • “It ebbs and flows, but it's definitely over 200 applications.” (Caesia Duncan, Job Seeker, [04:13])

• Popular Paid Services:

  • LinkedIn Premium: Direct messaging to employers, increased profile visibility.
  • AI-Powered Resume & Job Search Tools: Automate or enhance applications.
  • Career Coaches: Guidance and accountability, but results can vary—most users in Giovanna Ventola's community did not find them helpful.
    • “I would say a small amount have found them helpful.” (Giovanna Ventola, [07:13])
  • Canva and Design Tools: For building higher-quality resumes and portfolios.

• Skepticism & Financial Strain:

  • No guarantee that paid tools or services lead to jobs, making the return on investment (ROI) uncertain for financially stretched seekers.
  • "Everything that I ended up spending money on…didn't actually help." (Giovanna Ventola, [18:26])

Trends & Insights from Experts

• Rise of Career Reinvention:

  • Both recruiters and coaches emphasize the need for workers to reinvent themselves as roles become obsolete or morph with AI integration.
    • “I believe career reinvention is going to be something that most people are going to be thinking about.” (Nicole Leader, [10:01])

• Upskilling is Essential:

  • Job seekers need to invest in both hard (technical, AI) and soft (communication, adaptability) skills.
    • "There is opportunity to upskill themselves... and also to... best position the soft skills that they have today.” (Nicole Leader, [11:04])

• Networking Still Matters Most:

  • Building authentic relationships, mentorship, and referrals are the most effective pathways, and typically not paywalled.
    • “Truly what has brought me the most professional…stability in the next moves in my life has been investing in relationships and investing in people.” (Giovanna Ventola, [18:26])

• Beware of Scams in Paid Services:

  • With the surge in job search stress, some unscrupulous providers exploit desperate candidates.
    • “I would say be cautious…there could be individuals taking advantage. Just be careful and mindful…” (Nancy Dinaofrio, [18:06])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the volatility of job requirements:
  “Roles are changing as companies' visions are changing and it does have a lot to do with the rapid explosion really of technology.”
  – Nicole Leader, [09:04]

• On the reality of layoffs:
  "It's no longer a possibility or likelihood [for AI to take over jobs]. It's a reality."
  – Nancy Dinaofrio, [13:23]

• On unconventional job search success:
  “What I found truly helped me find my professional path was putting myself out there for conversations, for communications in a vulnerable way, and then asking questions and being curious...”
  – Giovanna Ventola, [18:26]

• On the limits and dangers of paid services:
  “If there is a fee, then obviously I’d be concerned on the agency you’re working with.”
  – Nancy Dinaofrio, [17:38]

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Important Timestamps

• 01:14 – Nicole Leader: Lack of clarity about future skills in demand.
• 03:43 – Caesia Duncan: Describes disheartening job search and high application numbers.
• 04:37 – Caesia Duncan: List of job search tools and paid services used.
• 05:12 – Giovanna Ventola: Costs and concerns about the ROI of paid career services.
• 07:13 – Giovanna Ventola: Community feedback on usefulness of paid tools/coaches.
• 08:31 – Nancy Dinaofrio: Explains market shift from candidate-driven to employer-driven.
• 10:01 – Nicole Leader: Urges career reinvention as a necessity.
• 13:23 – Nancy & Nicole: AI-displaced workers and realities of tech layoffs.
• 15:59 – Aneesh Rahman (LinkedIn): “Best of times and worst of times” and the importance of continuous learning.
• 17:02 – Nancy Dinaofrio: Practical job hunting advice—networking and direct contacts.
• 18:06 – Nancy Dinaofrio: Warning about predatory paid job search services.
• 18:26 – Giovanna Ventola: Argues job success is about relationships, not paywalls.

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Actionable Advice & Takeaways

• Prioritize networking and direct engagement over “spray and pray” applications.
• Invest in upskilling—particularly technical (AI) and soft skills—to remain competitive.
• Be prudent about spending on career services; there are valuable free and low-cost options.
• Avoid predatory services: Credible recruiters and agencies generally do not charge job seekers.
• Understand that disruption is ongoing—career agility and learning are essential for long-term employability.

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Episode Tone & Style

The tone is empathetic yet pragmatic, blending personal struggle with informed, practical guidance. There's a recurring emphasis on community support, adaptability, relationships, and being savvy about where (and if) to invest money in the pursuit of work.

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For more episodes, search “Business Daily BBC” wherever you get your podcasts.

Transcript

[Narrator/Advertiser]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk.

[Megan Lawton]

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[Giovanna Ventola]

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[Megan Lawton]

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[Narrator/Advertiser]

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[Megan Lawton]

Oh, no, you're okay. SAP Concur uses advanced AI so your expense report will practically write itself. Quite the breakthrough. It's like we've been teleported into the future. All right, so just curious, would you give us written permission to convert your matter into energy patterns and reassemble you at, say, random travel destinations?

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Margaret, are you building a teleporter?

[Megan Lawton]

No.

[Miriam Groome]

Yes.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

SAP Concur helps your business move forward faster. Learn [e-mail].

[Megan Lawton]

Hello, and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service. I'm Megan Lawton.

[Nicole Leader]

Today, employers today, very few of them can identify the skills they think they will need in five years.

[Megan Lawton]

As the hunt for a job continues to be difficult, we're investigating a growing industry.

[Giovanna Ventola]

A lot of people have paid for juvenile job search AI tools. A lot of people have paid for.

[Megan Lawton]

Career coaches with what some are calling a growing pressure to AI proof careers.

[Nicole Leader]

Over the next 5, 10 years. I believe career reinvention is going to be something that most people are going.

[Megan Lawton]

To be thinking about in the US right now. Government estimates suggest it can take 24 weeks for candidates to find a new job. And there are similar struggles in the UK and Canada.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

66,000 fewer jobs in the month of August.

[Megan Lawton]

Have you found it hard to get.

[Caesia Duncan]

A job in a bar or pub recently?

[Megan Lawton]

Today, we'll hear from career coaches, recruiters and job seekers learning about the paid tools people are turning to in their search for work. That's coming up on Business Daily. TikTok has many uses, whether that's finding new recipes or discovering places to holiday. But as a journalist, I find it useful for highlighting trends.

[Giovanna Ventola]

Okay, so unemployment and big life transitions can feel really hard because in recent.

[Megan Lawton]

Months I've seen more and more videos about unemployment and the struggles of the current job market. With thousands of likes I just heard.

[Giovanna Ventola]

The best job search tip that I've.

[Megan Lawton]

Probably ever just like this one from Giovanna Ventola. So I arranged a call with her.

[Giovanna Ventola]

So I lost my job three times in three years and at the third time I thought there was something wrong with me, which is what really prompted me to start sharing on social media.

[Megan Lawton]

Giovanna is based in North Carolina in the US and tells me the job search was lonely, hence why she started posting online.

[Giovanna Ventola]

I was at a point where I thought maybe I should shift industries, but I wasn't really sure and there seemed to be a cost either going back to school or getting some sort of credentials if I wanted to get into another industry. And I wasn't really sure what to do or what was going to make sense. So really my sharing on social media was out of my own questions. In trying to problem solve and troubleshoot for myself, I found out very quickly that I wasn't the only person experiencing this.

[Caesia Duncan]

Honestly, it feels disheartening because I feel like I have good credentials and I do have previous work experience and I think that really highlights that it is a tough market that so many people are struggling.

[Megan Lawton]

Caesia Duncan lives in Buckinghamshire in the southeast of England. She's been struggling to find a job in the marketing industry for the last year. So in the meantime has taken on temporary work and launched a YouTube channel while submitting applications.

[Caesia Duncan]

It ebbs and flows, but it's definitely over 200 applications. I originally started tracking my applications to be able to keep up with them in terms of if a recruiter was to call me I would know what job they were referring to. I think when it reached around 180 or so I was just like I can't. I don't even have it in me to keep track. It's just making me sad seeing the.

[Megan Lawton]

Number she's also paid for recruitment services.

[Caesia Duncan]

For me it involves definitely LinkedIn Premium. It allows you to then talk to directly to HR managers, hiring managers and recruiters. And then personally I've got my Canva subscription which can allow me to make more high quality CVS or portfolio work because also branched out in terms of what kind of jobs I'm applying for being a bit more versatile with even within marketing so kind of using those subscription services to get the best high quality documents.

[Megan Lawton]

Here's Giovanna again.

[Giovanna Ventola]

I was doing more than just submitting the application. So yes there were services that I paid for. I paid for job boards. I paid for kind of like the lower end cost of things. I did get a few additional licenses in that time for the industry I was in, that cost money, but it all felt to me very confusing because you could spend money on something without any sort of guarantee of getting a position or even getting your foot in the door to get the right position. And I, by the third time was not in a financial space where I could allocate a significant amount of funds to continuing education or to a certification unless I was very certain that that's the route I wanted to go. So I felt this decision making had to be spot on. And I didn't mind paying here and there for, for certain services, but when it came down to, you know, coaching and resume writing and all these things that people were pitching to me that are not cheap but weren't tied to a potential guarantee of a job, I just couldn't. The ROI didn't match up for me.

[Megan Lawton]

And while Giovanna's search for a job continued, hundreds of people were leaving comments on her TikTok videos describing the same experience.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

I'm 52, I was let go in June of this year from a company I'd worked for for a little over 20 years. I'm terrified, mentally unwell and I have no idea what to do.

[Megan Lawton]

Another says, I'm literally so depressed. I got laid off in February. I just had my 13th interview. I'm trying really hard to get hired. It was the spark for Giovanna to start a not for profit online community. Through her platform rise, job seekers share tips on what has and hasn't worked for them, especially when it comes to paid tools.

[Giovanna Ventola]

A lot of people have tried LinkedIn Premium, a lot of people have paid for job search AI tools that will help them optimize their resume and apply. A lot of people have applied, have paid for career coaches. I would say a small amount have found them helpful.

[Megan Lawton]

Giovanna now has a community of 4,000 people around the world. 80% are in the States and the remaining 20%, she says are mostly in Canada and the UK.

[Giovanna Ventola]

The vast majority of Rise members are people with 10 to 20 years of professional experience who were managers, directors, VPs and their field managing teams. So they have a lot to give and they have a lot to practice while they're in this sort of downtime. So we have a lot of members that volunteer to lead calls so that they can keep sharp on their expertise or teach something or feel like they're providing value.

[Megan Lawton]

So those are some of the services people are paying for. But why is the current job market so tough?

[Nancy Dinaofrio]

Well, we definitely have seen the shift from being a candidate market in the past three years, I would say, to now more of an employer driven market.

[Megan Lawton]

Nancy dinaofrio is a director at Randstad, a multinational human resources and staffing company.

[Nancy Dinaofrio]

And so there are far less opportunities and there are more available talent in the market. And so it's a really competitive job search. Right now we're seeing a lot of roles as well within organizations really change with the introduction of investment in terms of AI and technology. So a lot of the roles are becoming much more elevated, much more niche, and it becomes much more competitive to secure those level of roles as well in the market.

[Megan Lawton]

The impact of technology is something other recruitment agencies are also seeing.

[Nicole Leader]

Roles are changing as companies visions are changing and it does have a lot to do with the rapid explosion really of technology. So I will tell you, employers today, very few of them can identify the skills they think they will need in five years.

[Megan Lawton]

Nicole Leader is a senior recruiter with adecco, one of the world's biggest employment agencies.

[Nicole Leader]

So it is a fluid state and many of the jobs or the roles that were kind of tried and true in the past, those departments are often aided by AI from an efficiency standpoint. So they need fewer of those types of positions. And the company's vision is changing depending on what they can do with technology and what their customer base can do with technology. So again, there's still, there's still the same number of seats, but the seats are different.

[Megan Lawton]

Nicole says this shift is significantly changing businesses and career paths because frankly, over.

[Nicole Leader]

The next five, 10 years, I believe career reinvention is going to be something that most people are going to be thinking about. I can tell you at LHH Career Transition.

[Megan Lawton]

She's talking about a career transition service that companies offer to employees who have been laid off or are otherwise leaving the organization. It's run by adecco.

[Nicole Leader]

People who reinvent themselves have a much faster time securing a new role. So for example, when you talk about AI displaced workers, so these are folks that have been displaced because they did not have the AI skills or the skills that should lead them to be able to have the right AI skills, they were two times as likely to be unemployed 12 months and beyond, as opposed to displaced workers not related to this. So this is a real marker here that AI skills, even outside of tech roles, are no longer optional.

[Megan Lawton]

This, Nicole says, feeds into why some job seekers are paying for training.

[Nicole Leader]

The true challenge for candidates is that they need to work on and invest in the right positioning of themselves today and the right upskilling or reskilling for them for the future. So I think the perception of it being a tough market from a candidate perspective, it is tough because it is different. But there is opportunity to upskill themselves either with their current employer or themselves individually with different technology, and also to figure out how to enhance or best position the soft skills that they have today.

[Megan Lawton]

You're listening to Business Daily from the BBC World Service.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

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[Nancy Dinaofrio]

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[Giovanna Ventola]

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[Nancy Dinaofrio]

It's why he partners with Grainger to stay fully stocked on the products and.

[Giovanna Ventola]

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[Nancy Dinaofrio]

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[Megan Lawton]

I'm Megan Lawton. Today, what is the cost of finding a job? The experts I've spoken to point to a continuity, continuously changing job market where companies are making cuts due to AI.

[Giovanna Ventola]

We're going through an AI disruption phase.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

That's a fresh new report shows more than 10,000 jobs have been cut so far this year due to the rise of generative AI in private companies while.

[Megan Lawton]

Facing financial pressures too.

[Nancy Dinaofrio]

We've been talking for a While now.

[Nicole Leader]

About AI's potential to take over jobs.

[Nancy Dinaofrio]

It's no longer a possibility or likelihood. It's a reality.

[Megan Lawton]

It's not just the us, UK and Canada that have tough job markets. Unemployment has also ticked up in Germany, remains high in Spain, and in India and China, there are problems with youth unemployment.

[Caesia Duncan]

China has a high youth unemployment rate.

[Miriam Groome]

And a lot of young people struggle to find work.

[Megan Lawton]

What does this mean for a highly competitive job market? Those of you on the hunt for a new role are spending money to get there, whether that's job search, subscriptions, career coaching services or resume writing help. A tough job market is something that Miriam Groome has become aware of. Through her line of work, the business has grown exponentially. She's the founder of Mindful Career, a career counseling and career coaching service working across Canada. They use psychologists and career strategists to help clients most.

[Miriam Groome]

What we do is that we specialize in those burnout candidates, the ones who are depressed and anxious and unhappy in their lives and their jobs. So we do the full transformation. So.

[Megan Lawton]

But Miriam explains she's increasingly seeing less clients struggling with career burnout and instead working with those who have lost their jobs.

[Miriam Groome]

That's becoming more. It used to be 70, 30, let's say if we split both now, like it's going up to 50%, almost the job search, because the amount of layoffs that are happening across the board and across Canada.

[Megan Lawton]

She's also seeing a spike in people trying to retrain for roles that won't be taken over by AI. It's what recruitment expert Nicole, who we heard from earlier, calls the market of reinvention. Here's Miriam again.

[Miriam Groome]

What we're seeing on the candidate front is that when we are looking back at their profile, we have to look at jobs. Once we're understanding their skill sets and we're mapping it all out, we have to align them to jobs that are going to be in demand over the next 20 years. And there are specific jobs that we already know about. So as a career strategist, as an organizational psychologist, we know all these things because this is what we specialize in and we know what jobs to stay away from. So in one job may be perfect for them, but it might not be in existence. And we are going to be open and honest about that. But we're also going to say let's focus more on this sector because this is what's going to have more demand.

[Megan Lawton]

As we've heard, not only are some people paying for career coaches, but subscriptions to various job boards. Last month, the BBC spoke to Aneesh Rahman. He's the Chief Economic opportunity officer at LinkedIn, and this is how he described the current job market.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

It's sort of Charles Dickens, the best of times and the worst of times, because I really do think as AI plays out at the other end of it is going to be more options for people as they build careers and I think better work for humans at work. So all you need to do is have a Today plan. And your Today plan is I'm going to learn something new and I'm going to apply that to whatever job I find.

[Megan Lawton]

LinkedIn told us their premium subscriber membership has increased nearly 50% over the past two years and almost 40% of subscribers have already used the platform's AI features to improve their profiles.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

It used to be in the predictable path. I got this degree, now give me that job. That was great if you got the degree. It was not great, by the way, if you couldn't afford to get the degree. If you weren't in a like, privileged community, that gave you a pipeline to get to the degree. Now saying I got the degree doesn't really say much. You've got to say what that means. You're going to be able to do this.

[Megan Lawton]

Advice rings true with Nancy d', Afronio, who we heard from earlier. She's a director at major recruitment firm Randstad and has these tips for job seekers.

[Nancy Dinaofrio]

Be visible, have those conversations. That's going to open up the door for maybe that person knows somebody at a company. They can ensure they can refer you. That's what you're going to need to do because the playing game has elevated and you need to elevate yourself as well by leveraging different strategies in order to secure those opportunities. So what I'm saying is now just applying for job posting and sort of sitting and like waiting for someone to come to you. That's not going to be enough in this job search.

[Megan Lawton]

Her advice? Contact hiring managers directly while building a strong resume, methods that don't necessarily cost money.

[Nancy Dinaofrio]

Make sure that you find some great agencies that you want to partner with and make sure that you're building and sort of investing in that relationship. Right, because they're going to get you faster to the opportunities because they have the relationships already built. So they're going to advocate for your expertise, your experience. And there shouldn't be a fee evolved around that. And if there is a fee, then obviously I'd be concerned on the agency you're working with.

[Megan Lawton]

And if you do want to pay, she warns against falling for scam career coaches or recruiters.

[Nancy Dinaofrio]

I would say be cautious because from what I'm seeing and hearing in the market, there could be individuals taking advantage. Just be careful and mindful is all I'm saying. But investing in yourself is always a good thing.

[Megan Lawton]

For Giovanna, who lost her job three times in three years, she's confident finding a job isn't behind a paywall.

[Giovanna Ventola]

I think everything that I ended up spending money on that was supposed to support support my job search didn't actually help. And what I found truly helped me find my professional path was putting myself out there for conversations, for communications in a vulnerable way, and then asking questions and being curious, which is uncomfortable to do when you feel that you have nothing to bring to the table, which at that time, and I'm still working through it, I didn't feel like I had anything to bring to the table because I wasn't working. I had been struggling professionally for a couple years. So really, what can I add? But truly what has brought me the most professional, I guess support, stability in the next moves in my life has been investing in relationships and investing in people.

[Megan Lawton]

Thank you to Giovanna and to all of my guests. You've been listening to Business Daily on the BBC World Service with me, Megan Lawton. This episode was produced by Sam Gruway. You can find more episodes wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

And Doug, here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds of with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us. Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Very unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates excludes Massachusetts.