[Outplacement Coaching] What to Expect From Your Provider

While all outplacement providers want the same thing for your outgoing employee – to place them in a new, exciting job – the methodology behind the service can differ greatly, especially when it comes to outplacement coaching. 

To help HR departments find the proper provider, here’s what you should look for when it comes to evaluating the different approaches to outplacement coaching and process taken overall.

Outplacement coaching is only one part of the overall outplacement process. Basically, it involves a career coach working with the outgoing employee to help them update their resume, LinkedIn account, and all of the other paperwork-heavy things that go into finding new work.

After that, the coach will walk the employee through different lessons and provide them with helpful tips for searching for the right job. Then, they will start prepping the employee for the interview process, ending with the employee getting placed in an organization.

In short, the coach is there to help with all of the client’s needs throughout the entire outplacement process, providing friendly, supportive guidance.

The Role of Coaching With Virtual Outplacement

With technology rapidly making it easier and easier to provide virtual outplacement services to employees across the US and abroad, it seems like the need for coaching would decrease as digital platforms become more intuitive.

This can’t be further from the truth.

Outplacement coaching is a must-have because job searching is a process that requires a human touch. Going through a layoff is one of the most stressful things that can happen to person. If an HR department wants to use an outplacement provider to help negate some of that stress, they need to find one that uses professional coaching coupled with virtual methods.

Outplacement Coaching Makes the Process Flexible

Every employee is different, which means – obviously – that every employee needs different things when it comes to outplacement.

Outplacement coaches can see these differences and tailor their coaching efforts to the specific client, drastically increasing the chances that a person will be placed in a new, meaningful job.

A good outplacement coach will be able to tell what the employee needs and what steps they need to take to get into the right job. So, not only do they offer a wealth of expertise, they also help make online platforms, e-learning tools, and career planning more personal and flexible.

All in all, this leads to better placement rates and a reduction in stress throughout the whole procedure.

What Should You Look For In An Outplacement Coach?

Now that we know the importance of outplacement coaching, it’s a good time to dig into what exactly you should look for when shopping around.

In today’s digitally-driven world, the human component of coaching is vital for success. So, if you pilot or demo an outplacement service and notice that the coaches are unwilling to do things differently based on your employee’s possible needs, they are not a great fit to work with.

One of the best ways to approach this evaluation is to think of the coaches as strategic partners. In other words, are they people you can see yourself working with in the future?

After all, layoffs are a fact of the business world. Being prepared for them is what you should attempt to do by having an outplacement firm on retainer. The coaches within that outplacement firm will be your true strategic partners, though, making your relationship with them even more important.

It’s also good to note that the coaching staff of an outplacement firm is only one part of a much bigger process, though. Weighing the whole organization and how they perform outplacement in general will give you a good idea if the coaches they employ are also up for the task of finding your client a new job.

When judging the process, you want to make sure that the firm is using all of the technology available to them while also maintaining that key flexibility we mentioned early. You should also stay clear of firms that have term limits that can seriously impact the chances of the client getting placed in a new job.

If you put all of these tips together, you find that coaching and virtual services go hand-in-hand by balancing one another out. If a firm uses only online platforms, it decreases the success rate. The same can be said if the firm is only using coaches.

If your HR department is considering outplacement services, be sure to check out our easy to follow buyer’s guide that will go over coaching and many other aspects of outplacement that we briefly touched upon here.

Get our free buyer’s today here:

Josh Hrala

Josh is an HR journalist and ghostwriter who's been covering outplacement and offboarding for over six years. Before pivoting to the HR world, he was a science journalist whose work can be found in Popular Science, ScienceAlert, The Huffington Post, Cracked, Modern Notion, and more.