Job seekers on both sides of the Atlantic are increasingly spending significant amounts of money on various tools and services to improve their chances of securing employment in a highly competitive job market.

• Giovanna Ventola from North Carolina, has spent approximately $6,000 (£4,500) on job hunting, including resume writing software, interview training, and premium job-search website access.
• The average time for an unemployed person to find a new job in the US is now six months, up from five months last year, while the UK saw a decline of 9,000 job vacancies in the three months to September.
• LinkedIn reported that their premium subscriber growth has increased nearly 50% over the past two years, with almost 40% of subscribers using AI features.
• Nancy D’Onofrio, director at Randstad, notes a shift from a candidate-driven market to an employer-driven one, making the job search extremely competitive.