Do you choose one based on who you have used before or who your HR colleagues have used and recommend?
Do you choose on price? Location? Do you know what to look for? Read on for a few tips about choosing a good outplacement provider.
You will want to look for an experienced outplacement provider who can provide testimonials from satisfied clients. Your outplacement provider should be tailoring what they offer to match your needs and should discuss with you:
- Pre-announcement support for you and your managers
- Onsite, on the day, support for managers delivering the news
- Onsite, on the day, support for the people directly affected by retrenchment/redundancy
- Individual programs (they should advise you about an appropriate length of program and should be able to offer something to fit your budget if it’s tight including group workshops)
The best outplacement programs provide tailored ongoing support at a location convenient for the participant.
Look for an outplacement consultant that can offer longer programs because, at senior levels, in particular, it can take longer than 8 weeks to find the perfect new role. When the individual has not been able to find a new job after a number of weeks, that’s when they need the most help and emotional support.
Ideally you want to use a company that tracks the employment success rate of the people they help and evaluates their services.
What background should I look for in my outplacement consultant?
There is no one background or set of qualifications that makes someone a great outplacement consultant. You will find psychologists, recruiters, human resource consultants and management consultants providing outplacement services.
The best thing to do is to meet with them and suss out, are they:
- personable
- flexible
- experienced and
- able to provide all the knowledge and support your people need?
Ask them what they offer in the following circumstances:
- When the participant is experiencing psychological distress
- When the participant requests the consultant travel to their location for meetings
- When the participant is unfamiliar with computers
- When the participant decides to seek self-employment or transition to retirement
Ask them who have they worked for in the past and how soon their previous outplacement clients found employment.
Do memberships matter when choosing an outplacement provider? Should I look for a member of a particular organisation, or a particular qualification in my outplacement consultant?
Memberships and qualifications don’t guarantee a successful match to your retrenched workers.
If your outplacement consultant has qualifications in human resources, psychology, or career development – or holds full membership of the Australian Human Resources Institute, Career Development Association of Australia or the Australian Psychological Society, for example – that can be an indication they have relevant training.
More relevant is finding an outplacement consultant who has the right expertise in outplacement and the right attitude – an outplacement consultant who can demonstrate successful results with past retrenched workers.
Memberships are an indication of expertise but it doesn’t guarantee a person’s key area of expertise is in the provision of quality outplacement services.
Ask potential outplacement consultants every question that you want the answer to – the best ones will give you the answers you seek and asking questions will help you understand what service you are paying for.
Authored by Bridget Hogg of Outplacement Adelaide, a brand of Development at Work Australia. Bridget is an experienced outplacement consultant who has helped hundreds of people to take their next step. Bridget holds full membership of both the Australian Human Resources Institute (CAHRI) and the Career Development Association of Australia. She won the Career Development Association of Australian award for excellence (SA) in 2020 and was nominated by the CDAA for national award in 2022. Bridget has researched the effectiveness of her service and knows that it helps people to improve their mental health and wellbeing and find their next step
Bridget offers face to face flexible, responsive outplacement services around the Adelaide area. Bridget’
Bridget’s services are positive psychology based. She uses her psychology degrees and NLP training to help retrenched workers manage their emotional state during the outplacement process. To see who are past clients are and to see testimonials from past clients go to www.outplacementadelaide.com.au
For an overview of Bridget’s outplacement services or to book our help call 0477 016966 or email bridget@developmentatwork.com.au