Downsizing, layoffs, mergers, reorganization, restructuring, right-sizing… whatever the name, whatever the reason, the loss of a job is a painful, emotional, and often a devastating experience. Outplacement can ease that pain.
Outplacement, also often referred to as ‘career transition’, assists exiting employees by offering the necessary support for them to re-orient themselves in the job market. Outplacement facilitates the terminated employee’s quest to find a new post.
However, outplacement isn’t about directly finding new employment. For employees who may have been laid off because they have skills or experiences that are outdated in the workplace, outplacement often focuses on identifying ways to translate those skills to the current workplace or to find a new career path and relevant training.
Outplacement programmes are designed to meet the needs of both the employer and the ex employee. Depending on the outplacement company, services can include assistance in termination planning and execution to transition career counseling, CV and LinkedIn profile development, and interview management. Each programme is tailored specifically to the organisation and individual employee to provide a unique and personalised experience.
Options may include providing employees:
- CV and cover-letter writing assistance
- Job search training and advice
- Career counselling/outplacement counselling
- Recommendations to job boards
- One-on-one coaching
- Networking
- Workshops
Outplacement can provide the necessary direction to make sure affected staff up to date on the latest trends and updates in the market, so they won’t be unfairly disadvantaged in their job search.
Outplacement can often offer valuable tools for exiting employees job search strategy. Outplacement services can also include interview skill coaching, guidance on how to navigate the labyrinthine online job market, writing speculative emails and advice on how to properly fill out an application form and network effectively.
Not only should outplacement services offer practical guidance and advice for improving employment prospects, the service should also offer psychological and emotional support. Outplacement is more often than not provided by a third party company. This means impartial and supportive inputs for exiting employees to talk about their fears and concerns.
Senior managers can gain bespoke coaching and job-hunting support from executive outplacement schemes too, meaning executive members of staff can also benefit from outplacement services. At a director level, the job search can get a little bit trickier. For executives, it is often more about connections and networks. Some outplacement services (such as ours) do offer specialised executive career coaching.
