1. Hook: Dr. Strange and Real-Life Odds
In Avengers: Infinity War, Dr. Strange famously declared that out of 14,000,605 possible futures, there was only one where the Avengers would succeed. As dramatic as that moment was, it carried an idea with real-world relevance: they knew their chances. In reality, most people make important life decisions, such as choosing a degree, career path, or job application strategy, without any sense of their probability of success. While tools exist to help us reflect on what we’ve done or what we currently offer, they fall short of what really matters: testing the future.
2. Overview of the Learning Technologies Market
Two dominant players in the career development and job matching space are LinkedIn and Indeed. Both platforms offer learning-related services, particularly in helping individuals build resumes, explore roles, and connect with job opportunities. LinkedIn, in particular, also offers microlearning through LinkedIn Learning and AI-powered skill-matching tools. These platforms have become de facto career guidance tools, especially for university graduates and jobseekers navigating an evolving employment landscape.
But are these platforms truly preparing people for the future of work? Or are they simply optimising their chances within the confines of the present? For a prospective investor interested in educational tools that empower learners long-term, this is a critical question.
3. The Problem: Career Planning is Locked in the Past
LinkedIn and Indeed provide extensive support for documenting past achievements and formatting current skills. Their recommendation algorithms rely heavily on previous job titles, keywords in uploaded CVs, and recent activity. While this may be sufficient for mid-career professionals looking for lateral moves, it is far less useful for students, career changers, or those planning ahead over a 5 to 10 year horizon.
These platforms are built to match people to existing roles, not to help them explore how today’s learning decisions influence future employability. For example, a student considering whether to study data analytics or public health cannot simulate how each path might affect their odds of landing a job in a decade. Instead, they are left to guess, often relying on outdated narratives or anecdotal success stories.
While the job market is constantly evolving, current tools only offer a snapshot in time. The past is static. The future is dynamic. This is the fundamental limitation of the current market leaders.
4. Strengths and Current Market Impact
To be clear, LinkedIn and Indeed have achieved remarkable market penetration. LinkedIn reports over 950 million users globally, with more than 16 million job postings and millions of active learning users on LinkedIn Learning. Indeed claims 300 million unique visitors per month and offers robust tools for employers to manage applications and identify talent. Their scale provides unmatched access to employment ecosystems.
Both platforms also offer tools that are easy to use, visually polished, and frequently updated with new features powered by AI. For example, LinkedIn now uses AI to auto-generate summaries or cover letters, while Indeed offers smart filtering for job recommendations. They also play key roles in lifelong learning by integrating learning pathways and credential displays into user profiles.
These tools are valuable, for navigating the now.
5. Weaknesses: Absence of Future-Facing Features
The primary limitation is conceptual. Neither LinkedIn nor Indeed provide users with tools to test career outcomes before they make a choice. There is no way for a student to run a simulation based on a hypothetical path, say, completing a master’s in AI versus a bootcamp in UX design, and observe how likely each trajectory is to lead to interviews, offers, or career satisfaction.
This absence creates a gap in the learning technologies marketplace. In an age where generative AI can write code, simulate economic models, or predict consumer trends, it is entirely feasible to build systems that simulate career outcomes based on scenario inputs. Yet LinkedIn and Indeed have remained focused on reactive data, profiling where someone is, not where they could go.
6. Market Opportunity: Investing in the Future of Career Simulation
For an investor, this gap represents an opportunity. As institutions struggle to provide effective career guidance and learners face increasing uncertainty about the returns on their educational investments, there is strong demand for future-facing, scenario-based career tools. These would allow students not just to write a resume, but to experiment with life paths.
Platforms like LinkedIn and Indeed are well-positioned to fill this gap. They have the infrastructure, data, and brand trust. But their current product models are optimised for recruitment rather than simulation. If left unaddressed, this opens space for a new generation of competitors.
7. Competitive Landscape: Emerging Threats and Models
Although there is no dominant player in career simulation yet, the concept is gaining ground. Career assessment tools such as PathwayU, YouScience, and MyBlueprint offer interest-alignment services for students, but they do not test future job responses. Resume builders like Rezi and Kickresume optimise for applicant tracking systems, but only for existing roles.
This leaves room for something new, tools that can take a student’s input, interests, goals, and education plan, and simulate real-world reactions by pushing anonymised CVs into job boards or employer-facing A/B testing environments. The technology exists. What’s missing is strategic investment and educational vision.
8. Recommendation: Invest in the Future, Not Just the Present
From the standpoint of an Educational Venture Analyst, I do not recommend further investment into LinkedIn or Indeed as future-facing educational technologies in their current forms. They are highly valuable for what they do, but what they do is increasingly inadequate for the next generation of learners.
Instead, I recommend funding ventures that explore scenario simulation, employability forecasting, and real-time testing of future learning decisions. These tools would empower students to act more like Dr. Strange, able to explore millions of possible futures, then make informed decisions with data instead of dreams.
9. Reflections and Analyst Perspective
This analysis has been supported by the use of AI tools including ChatGPT 4o, Grok 3 and Gemini 2.5, which allowed for debating, revision, and ideation. It mirrors the very transformation I argue for in career development, where simulation, modelling, and iterative thinking replace static advice and legacy systems.
