In the United States, it now takes an average of 24 weeks to secure new employment, a month longer than a year ago. This growing job search duration has given rise to a costly industry of career strategists, networking platforms and AI interview training services, with some jobseekers spending as much as $10,000 (£7,400) to stand out.
Josh Morgan, 45, paid that sum for six months with a career strategist, which included regular meetings, a personal website and access to recruiters. Others are investing in courses to update their skills, premium LinkedIn accounts, job database subscriptions, CV services or AI programmes that coach them for interviews.
The Wall Street Journal reports that jobseekers are finding work so scarce they are being driven to ever-greater expenditure. Without these investments, many fear being lost in the crowd, but as more people pay up, services raise prices to maintain differentiation, creating an upward spiral.
In China, the situation has produced an even more unusual solution. The Pretend to Work Company allows unemployed people to spend the equivalent of £3 a day to visit an office and use computers to search for jobs or start businesses. Some Chinese colleges require graduates to find work within a year or forfeit their diploma, so they pay to send an office picture to tutors to obtain their certificate.
The company's owner told the BBC he was offering “the dignity of not being a useless person”. The phenomenon highlights the extreme lengths to which jobseekers are going in a tough labour market.
