Outplacement

Information for employers
 

""I hope that you remember me, I was helped by yourself during July-August last year after "leaving" ###.  Again, thank you for your extremely professional and excellent help during that period.""

Senior IT manager 2008

Outplacement

Outplacement situations usually, but not necessarily, arise because of redundancy.

If you need a general background explanation of good practice and legal requirements in managing redundancies, the CIPD website has invaluable resources notably here (opens in a new window - close to return).

Outplacement services (we prefer to refer to "career support") have several objectives.  It is not just as simple as helping someone find a new job.  That might be the end objective, but success depends very much on tackling the exercise in a systematic manner.  Likely parts of the service include:

• Supporting an individual in coming to terms with having lost a job.  Sometimes this is comparatively straightforward.  On occasions it represents a traumatic experience requiring quite a lot of time and counselling before it is practical to move on to the next stage.  It should not be assumed that somebody volunteering for redundancy will not still be profoundly affected by the experience.
   
• Assessing needs, abilities, motivations, appropriate and inappropriate working environments. The objective is to:
  Constructively learn from previous experience (including learning from structured reflection about the last role).
  Build a coherent template of the role/environment that would really suit somebody.
   
• Marketing. 
  A CV that fully reflects the role objectives, associated covering e-mails and checklists for the inevitable telephone discussions.
  Targeted contact lists - recruiters and employers.
  Interview training and preparation.

Some individuals decide to embark on a new career running their own business - we have  thorough modules to support such changes.

Approaches & costs

Sometimes quite effective outplacement support can be delivered through group training approaches. This presupposes a number of individuals in generally similar positions leaving at the same time.  Typically but not necessarily there would be two separate workshops, the first emphasising "coming to terms and planning", the second focusing on job search and interviews. Such workshops can be backed up by some availability of 1:1 support such as individual CV drafting.

However, most of our outplacement services are based on 1:1 work. There are two options:

• "Open-ended".  We work with an individual until they have a satisfactory outcome.
• "Fixed duration".  The programme is planned over a set period, usually three months.

An open-ended programme is always advised for a senior executive - it can take a surprisingly long time to achieve a high quality job offer.

All our programmes are supported by comprehensive online resources.

Costs .... these will vary according to the scope of the programme selected, e.g. whether the programme is or is not open-ended.  There are two main considerations:

• Employer budget
• Individual needs - seniority & age are important considerations when planning for the scope and duration of support

Indicative costs for a comprehensive 1:1 programme are in the range £2500 - £5000.

Our standards

• As a minimum we work to the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development code of practice.  This can be viewed here (opens in new window, close to return). 
• We do not accept any assignment without:
  • Meeting the individual (at no cost), and subsequently providing them with a personalised recommendation as to detail of a programme.
  • Being confident that the scope of proposed services will be of material value to the individual.