What is outplacement until placement – and why do you need it?

If your company is looking to carry out a redundancy exercise, you may be considering working with an outplacement service. This service will support your employees in finding fulfilling new employment or alternative next steps. While outplacement is a key part of any redundancy strategy, it’s hard to differentiate one service from another (apart from by cost, of course). 

One of the main criteria you’ll need to consider is the length of the outplacement programme. Do the terms specify a cut-off date? Are participants limited in the number of hours they can work with an outplacement coach? Is the service flexible, or for a set length of time? What happens if some participants take longer than others to work through the programme? 

At Careerminds, we’ve removed all of these concerns. As part of our outplacement service, we’ll work with every participant until they secure a new job. Simple. We call this service “until placement.”

“Until placement” does exactly what it says: we provide outplacement support that lasts until a participant is placed in a new role. Rather than limiting the amount of time that your employees can work with us, we provide continuous support until they land another job, meaning they’re never on their own. 

Most outplacement providers only work with a participant for a set duration – usually a few weeks or months. Most services last under three months. If you’ve ever searched for a job, you’ll know that most searches take longer than that. Other providers will leave participants on their own once the allocated period of time has passed. We don’t do that. 

Time limited services place an incredible amount of pressure on the participant, as they only have a short time in which to find a new role. It doesn’t make sense for your business, either. Why? Well, you’re paying for a service with no guarantee of results. You wouldn’t accept that service from anyone else. For example, imagine your shower has a leak. Would you pay a plumber who left after an hour, regardless of whether he’d fixed the problem, or would you hire the one that stayed until the leak was fixed? Clearly, you’d pay the one that made sure the job was complete – and that’s what our outplacement service does. We stay with the participant until they meet their goal. We pride ourselves on offering the most stress-free outplacement service available. 

That means we’ll work with your outgoing staff members for as long as they need us. You can relax, knowing that you’ve left your employees in safe hands. By removing time limits, we can offer industry-leading success rates. 

Furthermore, our “until placement” support has been found to enable participants to secure higher-paying jobs. For example, managers with unlimited outplacement support have landed new jobs with significantly higher salaries than participants with similar experience, but only six months of support. 

Our ultimate aim is to support your retrenched employees into a new and fulfilling role. Our “until placement” service helps us to achieve just that. 

You’ll find that most outplacement providers charge retainer fees. That means you might end up paying for a service even if you don’t ultimately use it. This is doubly problematic if the service has time limits. Your employee may not land a new job before the service expires and, on top of that, you may have paid over the odds when the service isn’t being used. That makes no sense. 

But again, the Careerminds service is different. Your contract with us allows you to use our services, whenever you need it, at no extra cost. When you’re ready to start providing outplacement support, you know our services will last until the participant secures a new role – with no hidden fees. 

In fact, our services are cheaper (in fact, free) to retain. They run for as long as you need them, with no added cost. We know that everyone is different. We know that everyone moves at their own pace. And we know that everyone has different needs in terms of coaching and other support. 

Let’s explore the Careerminds difference further. 

Traditional outplacement providers offer a standard, one-size-fits-all approach. This doesn’t work for many reasons. Consider these examples: 

Take a mid-level sales employee who gets laid off. They decide to make a complete career transition into a security role. That means they’ll need support in looking for an entry-level security position, advice on developing a CV focused on transferable skills, and coaching to ensure they make progress with the transition. 

Then consider a C-suite executive who wants to land a similar position within a new company following redundancy. Their job search will be very different to that of the entry-level applicant we’ve just discussed. They’ll need to do a lot more networking to land that position and focus their CV on their relevant experience. Executive outplacement requires a very different approach from the provider. 

As you can see, different employees need to adopt different job search techniques. A career change presents its own unique challenges, while an executive job search is very different to an entry-level search. 

Trying to fit these different approaches into the same rigid time frame increases the chance that the participant will fail to land a new role during their allocated slot with the outplacement provider. Our “until placement” approach means that we can help employees at every level to achieve their goals – whatever they are. 

The flexibility of our “until placement” approach gives your employees a huge advantage. They will secure a new role and we’ll be by their side until they do, regardless of how long it takes. 

You’ll also need to consider the geographical location of the services provided by your outplacement service provider. Does it align with where your business is based? This is even more important if your business operates on a global scale. 

Job search and outplacement best practices vary considerably from country to country – and that’s before you consider the different languages, legalities, and cultural standards that need to be taken into account. Make sure you’re choosing a global outplacement provider who can seamlessly integrate with your employees across the world. 

We provide genuinely global outplacement services at Careerminds. Our platform offers services in 46 languages and in over 80 countries. We cover North America, Latin America, and the EMEA and APAC regions. 

Our global clients have a single point of contact and benefit from a high-touch approach, enabling your HR team to focus on other priorities within the business. 

Our participants benefit from “until placement” services that include coaching, professional CV writing, and a cutting-edge platform that offers extensive job search resources. They’ll be job-search-ready much sooner and feel more fulfilled in their new roles, wherever in the world they’re located. 

Whether you choose Careerminds or another provider, bear these benefits in mind when selecting your outplacement partner. 

When choosing your outplacement provider, remember that price is not the only differentiator. Not all services are the same. Traditional outplacement relies on a time-limited model that only lasts for the duration of the contract. At Careerminds, we’re shaking that up. Our “until placement” approach means that we’ll stick with participants until they land a new job – at no extra cost. We never leave someone on their own at this turbulent point in their career. 

Our approach reduces stress on both our participants and our clients, meaning that they receive an exceptional outplacement experience. It also allows us to work with participants at every level, with varying objectives, all over the world. 

If you’re considering working with an outplacement provider, why not download our pricing guide? 

Jen David

Jen is a careers writer and CV specialist, with over 13 years' experience in the job search sector. Find out more by connecting with her on LinkedIn or visiting her website.