One of the worst things that can happen when you're running a business is making the difficult decision to lay off or downsize employees due to any number of reasons. A layoff can be a terrible experience for the affected staff, so it's up to you to ensure things go smoothly and that you find a way to take care of them even after they've left. Outplacement is a tried and true method for helping laid off employees find new work through comprehensive training, coaching, and placement services. A good outplacement company can help candidates land a new role quickly. Including it as part of a severance package for downsized employees is essential. The benefits for employers start with creating better morale among remaining employees, holding true to company values, Moreover, taking care of displaced employees will make them less likely to have ill will toward your company and subsequently not post poor reviews all over social media or aggregate websites like Glassdoor. Here are a few ways Outplacement helps former employees find satisfying new roles following a layoff.
What Is Outplacement
If you've been around the corporate world long enough, you undoubtedly heard the phrase outplacement. But what is outplacement? At its core, outplacement is merely a service intended to help displaced employees who've been either downsized or terminated due to a layoff to find new employment / transition into a new job. Outplacement is beneficial to both employees and employers. To begin with, the benefits for employees are pretty clear. A good outplacement firm can help them prepare for interviews, find appropriate jobs within their field via job boards and help from their career coach, learn how to advance their skills to thrive in a competitive market, find a new job very quickly, tweak their resume for optimal performance, and learn how to communicate/work in a constantly changing, evolving world.
Career Coaching
Another focused area for helping candidates is to coach them on how to obtain and thrive in a new career. Dedicated career coaches have empathy, care, and are understanding of a candidate's goals. It's their job to help the candidate find and land a new role. A good career coach at a reputable out placement firm isn't just someone assigned to a candidate to assist them. The career coach is an individual that the candidate can depend on to help them develop new skills, motivate them to keep going, and even help them line up potential interview opportunities. Whether you're looking to continue in the same industry, start a new business, or become an entrepreneur your career coach can help you succeed.
Customized Job Searches
Outplacement isn't just about getting a candidate any available job. There's a significant level of customization involved in the process. A candidate's career coach will help them find job openings and opportunities relevant to their field. When you're on a job search, one of the most challenging and often frustrating parts of the entire process is actually finding job opportunities. With modern, tech-savvy outplacement services, candidates have that burden removed entirely through a specialized job concierge. The concierge role involves getting to know a candidate personally. Once they're familiar with the candidate's background, skills, preferences, and other crucial information, they get to work finding relevant job opportunities and leads.
Resume Assistance
The resume is often a problem area for job hunters everywhere. Resumes are intended to be a quick window into an applicant's work history, skills, and potential match for the role. Sometimes people like to pad out their resumes or make them longer than necessary. Other times, a resume might be in such a poor state that it makes the candidate look completely unqualified. Then there are the applicant tracking systems. One of the side effects of modern job hunting is that recruiters receive hundreds if not thousands of applications per day. Each of these typically includes a resume. While the applicant tracking system is designed to help the recruiter filter out potential candidates, some great resumes can still slip through the cracks. Outplacement coaches help you tweak your resume so that it stands out from the crowd and can even help you develop personal branding strategies to assist in landing your dream role. By focusing on what makes you unique and creating marketing, branding, and resume materials based on your skills and abilities, you'll have a professional resume with the right keywords to get noticed quickly.
Clear Results
Insights and analytics for you are also a big part of using an outplacement service. On the employer's end, you can gain real-time insight into how well the outplacement service is doing in placing a candidate in a new role. HR departments can see the value they're getting for investing in outplacement with detailed updates and analytics. For employees, outplacement acts as a lifeline for finding a new career in a short amount of time. Either way, it's a mutually beneficial service worth investing in at all levels of the organization.
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