Outplacement Support – What is it?
You’ve probably heard the term a lot recently but what does Outplacement Support actually mean and why should you provide it to your staff?
We prefer to call it Career Transition support, but the term Outplacement is still used widely. It’s one of our specialty areas and we’ve been working in this space for many years. Put simply it’s a service, normally paid for by employers, to provide employees who have been made redundant with support to help them find new employment.
What does Outplacement Support involve?
Good outplacement support is more than just CV preparation. We start by assessing an individual client’s needs, including emotional and financial. Reactions to a redundancy, and the support needed, are unique to every person we work with. Many just want practical support but others need support around resilience and wellbeing. Our work is forward focussed, helping our clients to move on from their change experience instead of dwelling on what has happened.
We then work through a process of identifying skills and achievements, linking these to personal marketing tools (CV, LinkedIn profiles) and on to Interview skills coaching. The goal is to equip clients with all the tools they need for a successful job search or next step. We take a career-based approach, exploring different career options, for example next steps, job pivots, retraining options, self-employment, or retirement.
In terms of job search strategy, we’re not recruiters, but we have relationships with recruiters so can refer to appropriate ones. Our job search coaching also involves how to tap into the hidden job market and how to build & make use of networks.
We also sometimes get brought in during Selection processes to provide employees with CV and Job Interview training. This ensures all people contesting for roles are given the same preparation and are on a more level playing field.
What are the Benefits of providing Outplacement Support?
For an employee, the benefits are all around confidence and their personal brand. When change is imposed on people, even the most confident will have a reaction. We put people back in the driver’s seat of their career and help them to move forward.
The biggest benefit for an employer is that their brand and reputation is retained in the market. Your former employees have an ongoing impact on your brand so treat them well as they leave. You may need them back in the future. Employees who stay are also watching closely how those leaving are treated. Providing good support demonstrates that you value all employees.
Providing outplacement support eases the pressure on managers & HR staff by using external providers. It can also decrease risk for employers by reducing the likelihood of the employee pursuing a personal grievance.
Talk to us about your Outplacement Support needs, there are numerous ways we can structure it to work to your budget and the number of staff involved.