How much does it cost to get a job?

I've heard people say that getting a job costs nothing: all you need to do is find a vacancy online, send your CV, attend a few interviews and receive a job offer. But if you look at the bigger picture, you'll realise that you start "paying" for your future job long before you even open a job search website. In this article, I'll explain how much it really costs to become a professional employers want to hire.

We make our first investment in our future career while we're still at school. Mathematics, languages, the ability to read and analyse information, work with texts, explain our thoughts and find relevant data — these are skills that later become the foundation for a wide range of professions.

Of course, a schoolchild learning percentages, writing an essay or memorising a poem is unlikely to think about how it might help them succeed in a job interview ten years later. But this is exactly how a professional foundation is built: first, you learn how to learn, and only then do you add a specific profession to that foundation.

So the first investment in your career is learning how to learn.

Then, after getting into your dream university, it's easy to fall into another trap: seeing your future degree as the finish line, after which an employer is supposed to say, "Wonderful, I'll hire you because you've graduated from university." In reality, a degree is just one part of your professional journey. And it's no longer the only proof of professional competence. I've already written about this in the article Who will employers need tomorrow?. I'll add that the job market is gradually shifting from asking "Where did you study and where have you worked?" to asking "What can you do?"

I'm not downplaying the fact that university provides specialised knowledge, a professional environment, your first industry contacts and opportunities to explore different fields. But what you do alongside your studies is becoming particularly valuable.

Part-time jobs, internships, student projects, freelancing, volunteering and participation in professional communities all help turn classroom theory into practical experience. According to LinkedIn, companies that make the most active use of skills-based candidate searches are 12% more likely to make a quality hire. What does that mean? It means companies choose employees who are a strong fit for the role, bring real value to the business, adapt quickly and share the company's values.

This is good news for anyone without a "perfect" career path. If you don't have a degree in the exact field you're applying for, but you have real skills, projects and results, you should showcase them.

For example: "I have experience managing a customer database and exceeding sales targets by a certain percentage," or "I automated a monthly report, reducing preparation time from two days to just a few hours." Let me repeat: specific examples demonstrate your value.

And remember, your first part-time job doesn't have to be prestigious or highly paid, and your first project can be very small. Every experience, even working as a barista during the holidays, adds to your professional capital.

Speaking from personal experience, the longest part of the bill only begins after university. A course costing several thousand hryvnias is just the most obvious expense. Time becomes a much more valuable resource.

An evening after work that you could have spent with your family but instead devoted to learning a foreign language. Weekends spent studying rather than relaxing. Several months spent mastering new software.

But here's what matters: the question isn't so much how much training costs, but whether it helps you become a better professional. A certificate alone doesn't create professional value — that comes from a skill you can apply and quantify, making yourself a more valuable specialist.

Just a few years ago, knowing how to use a particular professional software programme was enough to make you look competitive. Today, it's becoming increasingly important to know how to work alongside technology.

No, I don't mean everyone needs to become a programmer or an artificial intelligence specialist. But we live in a time when basic AI literacy is gradually becoming part of many professions.

According to LinkedIn, in 2025, 37% of recruitment teams were actively integrating or experimenting with generative artificial intelligence. Those already using such tools reported saving around 20% of their working time on average.

Artificial intelligence is also changing what employers expect from candidates: using it to work with documents and analyse information, research audiences and prepare content options, search for and structure information, analyse data or create presentations.

That's why today it's important not just to write "proficient in ChatGPT" on your CV, but, for example, "I use AI for a specific task and have reduced the time it takes from X to Y."

Because artificial intelligence, like any technology, becomes valuable when it delivers measurable results.

There's another investment that's difficult to measure in hryvnias — professional connections.

It's quite simple. Your schoolmates or university classmates. Colleagues from your first job. A lecturer. An internship supervisor. Someone you meet at a professional event. A colleague of a colleague. A member of an industry community.

You can comment on professional posts on social media, ask questions, share your own case studies, take part in discussions and keep in touch with former colleagues.

The point isn't to message hundreds of random people asking, "Do you have any vacancies?" It's far more useful to gradually build a professional reputation. That way, when an opportunity arises in your field, people will remember you and understand who you are and what you can do.

Today, employers can learn about candidates before the interview. A CV on a professional platform, a portfolio, professional posts and recommendations all help create an impression of you.

And the number of certificates you have isn't the most important thing. If you've written ten times that you're communicative, responsible and stress-resistant, a recruiter will be much more interested in specific examples: what exactly did you do, and what results did you achieve?

Even without extensive professional experience, you can demonstrate this through academic or personal projects.

By the time you reach the interview stage, you've already invested quite a lot: time spent studying, gaining practical experience, preparing your CV and searching for vacancies.

But there's one more investment — preparing for the conversation with your potential employer.

Remember: a job interview isn't an exam where the employer asks questions and you try to guess the correct answers. An interview is about assessing whether you're a good fit for each other.

The employer wants to understand whether you can do the job. And you need to understand whether the job is right for you.

So it's perfectly normal to ask about your main responsibilities, how performance will be assessed, what the onboarding process looks like, whether training is available, and how salaries and bonuses are calculated.

This is the simplest way to understand what you're being offered and how much you'll be paid for it.

So before an interview, read the job description just as carefully as the employer reads your CV.

I'll be frank: the most costly mistake is thinking that your career must begin with the perfect job.

That's not how it works.

Your first job might turn out to be in the wrong field. Your first position might be below your expectations. Your first manager might teach you a great deal — even if the company itself isn't the right fit for you.

Only later do you gain a new skill, take on a new project and assume new responsibilities. That's how your professional journey gradually takes shape.

So you reach your dream job step by step, and every previous stage along the way — good or bad — matters.

School, university, your first courses, foreign languages, professional skills, practical experience, part-time jobs, volunteering, new connections, conferences, mistakes in your first job and learning new technologies — all of these gradually shape your professional journey.

Getting a job can cost several thousand hryvnias for a course, several years of education or dozens of hours spent practising and gaining your first experience.

But the main "currency" of a career isn't money. It's time, knowledge, experience and the opportunity to try yourself in different roles.

And not every step requires significant spending. Often, what matters more is what you gain as a result: a new skill, a real case study, a professional contact or a better understanding of the direction in which you want to develop.

So instead of simply collecting certificates and adding lines to your CV, build up what you can actually put into practice: skills, experience and the results of your work.

Over time, these are the things that will help turn your search for a first or new job into an opportunity to choose between several offers.

Translation into English was created with the help of artificial intelligence.