Outplacement Firms Not Cutting It
With the rise in unemployment, one industry that hasn’t been hurting is outplacement. But many laid off workers whose former employers gave them an outplacement package as part of their severance find themselves still unemployed and wishing they hadn’t bothered with outplacement at all.
According to the Wall Street Journal, few outplacement firms offer statistics on success rates and most employers use outplacement for good PR, to avoid lawsuits, and to minimize unemployment insurance payments.
But not because they genuinely want to help the newly laid off?
Apparently not.
One ex-Pepsi admin assistant interviewed by the WSJ says the outplacement firm she was sent to sent out cover letters riddled with typos that she didn’t get to review. The company she applied to received a surprisingly similar letter from another ex-Pepsi job seeker, leading her to believe the firm she was sent to was pumping out templates. [See below]
To make matters worse, the interview advice she received from a coach she worked with at the firm was not to order cranberry juice because it hinted at a urinary tract infection. What?!
Two other executives who remained nameless in the article said they too were chided for interview faux pas including the “immature” choice of ordering a diet soda and not following the interviewer into the bathroom to continue a conversation.
Again…What?!
I’m sure there are exceptional outplacement firms that give individualized attention to clients and valuable career and interview advice. But for a thriving industry that’s seeing revenue growth, shouldn’t they all meet those standards and shouldn’t they have the resources to hire more and qualified employees?
If their business is to find unemployed people jobs, why don’t they hire some of their clients? Just a thought.
Read the WSJ article here.
Image links to interactive graphic on WSJ.com.
Barbara Safani said
August 27th, 2009 at 11:20 pmBev,
Most outplacement firms offer “off the rack” services. Employees would be better served by negotiating with their employer for money to use towards their job search and hiring an independent resume writer and/or coach to help them. Companies would save a ton of money and the displaced employee would get a much better service.
Scott said
December 10th, 2009 at 9:59 pmHi Bev,
Your post is right on target. My company, RiseSmart, was featured in the Wall Street Journal story as a lower cost, more tech-savvy approach that Fortune 500 companies like ACS and others have been choosing. From our perspective, the recession has been an opportunity for companies to take a look at new service models for outplacement. We’ve raised nearly $9 million in VC funding since the recession hit, and a big reason for this is because we have a business model that leverages online tools and social networks. But whatever outplacement provider you choose, you should make sure they are leveraging technology and the Web effectively and are not charging you an arm and leg for “soft services” (like grief counseling and office space) that aren’t directly helping laid-off workers find jobs. These “feel good” services feel good until they run out — and then you’re still out of a job.