Outplacement Support

What is outplacement support?

Outplacement support is a career transition service that is designed to help employees make a successful career change as efficiently as possible in the event of a lay-off or job loss. These services are usually contracted by the employer who is responsible for letting go of the employee.

Good outplacement services focus on helping an employee develop and refine their own personal brand. These services may include counselling or advise sessions that are designed to help employees market themselves upon re-entering the job market.

As some laid-off employees might be unfamiliar with the latest trends in the world of job searching (especially if they’ve been employed by the same company for a long time), these services also sometimes offer job searching techniques.

Not just limited to helping transitioning employees develop resumes and cover letters, outplacement services can also help connect employees with potential job leads.

A growing number of outplacement firms provide interactive online services to save employees the hassle of having to travel to attend their appointments. These sessions can take place over a video conference call, the phone or oven via text.

Outplacement support should be provided as early on as possible

An unfortunate circumstance of outplacement is that many companies often treat it as a bargaining chip, offering it up as leverage for after the departing staff has agreed to all of the terms of separation. This can have adverse effects on both the employee and the organisation.

For the employee, it can:

• Delay access to career transition support
• Create additional tension in an already high-pressured situation
  
• Amplify any thoughts of dissatisfaction towards the company

For the organisation, it can lead to:

• An uncomfortable separation that can negatively impact the company's reputation
• Reduced cooperation from the employee during the separation process

For it to be used to its full potential, outplacement services should be provided as as a readily available resource. Companies should implement it as quickly as possible to aid the transitioning employee.

Early access to outplacement support is especially important under circumstances such as:

• When the departing employee is a C-level executive
• When the separation will be potentially unexpected for the individual
• When the notification of separation is done early, with weeks or months in between that and the final separation date
• When the individual is in a position that will require them to provide training, knowledge transfer or a handover of duties to other prior to their exit

Outplacement support for organisations

Letting go of employees can be a difficult and emotional process affecting multiple layers within an organisation.

Hence, outplacement services are also available to help support HR teams and persons involved in managing the layoffs.

Outplacement services for your organisation might include:

• Communicating layoff decisions to employees on behalf of managers
• Offering support to remaining employees to ensure productivity is maintained
• Assisting organisations in making layoff decisions

Outplacement support for exiting employees

Highlighting the value of employee growth is a major motivator during a transitionary period. This is why many outplacement companies focus on providing job coaching services that are tailored to the needs and goals of the employee.

This often comes in tandem with additional resources such as mock interviews, career assessments, salary benchmarking and much more.

Airswift career transition services

Having to go through a forced job change can be a challenging phase in any employee’s career. Airswift’s outplacement services are designed to aid employees going through the redundancy and job search phase by providing them with the support they need.

We strive to equip them with the tools they need to transition into their next role as swiftly as possible. 

We strongly believe that career transitions can be transformative. They have the ability to empower and uplift an employee as they move on towards new experiences. Therefore, we deliver a highly bespoke program that can be customised to fit the unique requirements of every individual. Across various levels and needs.

The support process

Airswift’s Career Transition Consultancy Team work hand-in-hand with your Human Resources arm to navigate through organisational change. And deliver a structured set of services for any level of employee.

It begins with an individual consultation whereby Airswift will organise a one-on-one consultation with the employee within seven days of receiving their notice. We will schedule several timeslots and once the employee has locked in their session, the consultation will focus on the employee’s current employment history as well as objectives for future opportunities.

Our methodology evolves around five main tenets and a typical agenda would look something like this:

To ensure that the well-being of the employee is prioritized, our team emphasises an open communication forum to create a safe space for the employee to deal with the transition.

Services provided

The individual consultation can take place either face-to-face or video conference. Services during this consultation will include:

• Interview skills training, coaching and preparation
• One-to-one competency-based interview simulation
• Play book for salary advice, offer management and negotiation
• Action plan with defined target industries, employers and job roles
• Short-list of recruiters and advertising channels
• Application tracker and templates
• Formatted resume, including skills profile and achievement summary
• Personalised statement and biographical cover letter

Please note that in these cases, Airswift does not assume the role of a recruitment consultant.

As an ongoing effort to ensure that each employee retains the ability to independently explore the job market, our career consultants must remain impartial in order to provide objective guidance during the employee’s job search journey.

Ongoing recruitment support

After the individual consultation, Airswift’s career transition will provide with employee with active recruitment consultation for a period of eight weeks.

Upon completion of the eight-week period, we will continue to offer passive recruitment support for employees still on the lookout for future employment. Our ongoing recruitment support entails:

• Proactively work on securing future employment for impacted persons
• Providing impartial advice on opportunities to impacted persons, regardless of whether we are representing them in their job hunt
• Readily available, consistent, dedicated support over skype, email, phone or face to face to help build confidence