Outplacement Until Placement: What It Is and Why You Need It

While many people understand what outplacement is and why it’s a vital component to any layoff or reduction in force (RIF) strategy, it can be hard to know what differentiators to look for when shopping for a provider (besides the cost, of course).

One of the biggest elements you need to look out for is how long an outplacement program lasts. For example, are there term limits that dictate when the outplacement service is cut off? Do they calculate this in terms of how many hours worked with an outplacement coach? Is the length of service flexible to the client or set at a predetermined period of time? Are there retainer fees even if a client doesn’t have any participants in the program? What if some of the participants take a long time to complete the program?

At Careerminds, we’ve made this extremely simple with our outplacement services. We work with participants until they land a new job. Period.

We call this “Until Placement.” Here’s what you should know about it:

Until Placement means exactly what it sounds like: outplacement support that lasts until landing  a new job placement. Instead of only working with participants for a specific amount of time, we continuously provide them support until landing their next role, so they never have to go it alone.

Normally, an outplacement provider will only work with a participant for a few weeks up to a few months. The majority of outplacement services only last one to three months or less. Anyone who’s ever searched for a new job knows the process can often take longer than that. But with most outplacement providers, if the participant doesn’t land a job in that period of time, they are on their own.

Not only does this put an insane amount of pressure on the job seeker, who now must try to find a new role within a short time frame, it also doesn’t add up for the client (the business that hired the outplacement firm in the first place).

Why is that?

Well, why would you pay for something without knowing if it will work out or not? Would you do this for any other service? For example, say you hire a plumber because your sink is leaking. The plumber has a two hour term limit, meaning that if the pipe isn’t fixed in two hours, you’re out of luck.

Sure, some plumbers will fix the issues within that two hour window. But why risk it? Especially when we’re talking about people’s livelihoods here–not a leaky pipe.

Until Placement makes the overall outplacement process unfold much smoother. We promise to work with participants until landing their next career move, providing the most stress-free outplacement service around.

For our clients, this means that their outgoing staff members will have the help they need for as long as they need. Clients can rest easy knowing that their employees are now in good hands with a provider that will do everything possible to help them land their next role. By foregoing term limits, we are able to offer an extremely high success rate.

What’s more, this type of unlimited Until Placement support has been found to help participants land higher paying jobs. For example, participants at the manager level with unlimited outplacement support have landed new jobs with salaries over $10,000 higher than similar manager-level participants who only received six months of outplacement support.

At the end of the day, our goal is to get people back to work in a role that they will love and thrive in. Outplacement Until Placement helps us accomplish that. 

Most outplacement providers also charge retainer fees. This means that you could end up paying for the service even when you do not have a need for it.

This is even more problematic when added to a service that has term limits. Besides the possibility that your staff member will not be able to land a job before the service is terminated, you may also have been paying through the nose when not using the service.

In short, this doesn’t add up.

Once again, Careerminds does this differently. Our clients can enter a contract with us that allows them to use our services when they need it at no extra cost. Then, when they are ready for outplacement support, they can rest assured knowing that our services will last until the participant lands a new role without any hidden fees.

In other words, our services are much cheaper to retain (read: free) and will continue with no added cost. We strongly believe that individuals are all different, requiring different time frames, coaching, and other outplacement support to succeed in their job hunt.

Let’s dig into those differences a bit further.

Traditional outplacement providers are attempting to create a one-size-fits-all service. This is the wrong way to go about outplacement for many reasons.

Let’s look at a few common examples.

Consider a mid-level employee working in accounting who gets laid off at an organization. Now she’s decided she wants to make a career transition to an entirely new role, such as in sales. This means that the participant will have to learn where to start looking for an entry level sales position, craft a new resume that reflects her transferable skills, and work closely with a coach to ensure that the change actually happens.

For another example, imagine a C-level executive who is laid off and wants to enter a new organization at that same level. This type of job search is a lot different than searching for an entry-level job. It requires a lot more networking and time to nail down that level of role. Executive outplacement is its own beast, requiring a much different approach from the outplacement provider.

On the other hand, an entry-level employee may just want to find the exact same entry-level job at a new organization. This might seem pretty straightforward, but they will still need plenty of job search support to find the right entry-level job for their next move.

These are just three examples, but you can see that they all require different techniques. Someone looking for a completely new role in a different field than the one they had before is a unique challenge. Whereas a C-level executive is going to have a quite different job hunt, and so is the entry-level participant.

Trying to fit all of this into a specific time frame only increases the chances of the participants failing in their job hunt–at least when it comes to their time with the outplacement firm.

By using Until Placement, we can help all levels and types of employees achieve their career goals no matter what they happen to be.

The flexibility offered by Until Placement support gives our participants a huge leg up. They will land that next job and we will be right beside them until they do, regardless of how long it takes.

It’s also important to take note of where geographically an outplacement provider offers their services, and if that aligns with where your organization operates. This is especially true if yours is a global organization. 

Outplacement and job searching best practices–not to mention languages, legalities, and cultural norms–can vary widely around the world. So you want to make sure you’re choosing a global outplacement provider who can support you and your employees with seamless integration across every part of the world you need. 

At Careerminds, we offer truly global outplacement capabilities. Our platform delivers global outplacement services in 46 languages in more than 80 countries across North America, Latin America, EMEA, and APAC. 

For our global clients, we provide a single point-of-contact and take care of all executional elements for any global outplacement engagement. This high-touch approach allows your global HR team to focus on other important aspects of your business. 

On the participant side, our outplacement Until Placement support includes a variety of unlimited outplacement activities including coaching time, professional resume writing, and an entire global platform of lessons and resources. This means candidates are ready for the job market faster and ultimately happier with their eventual landing, no matter where in the world they are. 

But whether with Careerminds or another provider, these are important factors to keep in mind when choosing your global outplacement partner. 

The important thing to remember when shopping for outplacement providers is to consider more differentiators than only price.

Not all outplacement services are created equal. Traditionally, outplacement has been a term-based service that extends for a specific period of time agreed upon in the contract.

At Careerminds, those days are over.

By utilizing Until Placement, we will work with participants until landing their next role for no extra cost. We will never abandon someone in this crucial time of need.

Not only does this immensely reduce the stress on our participants and clients, providing the best possible outplacement experience, it also allows us to work with people of all career levels and goals, all across the world. 

Considering outplacement? Download our pricing guide here:

Rebecca Ahn

Rebecca is a writer, editor, and business consultant with over 10 years of experience launching, managing, and coaching small to midsize companies on their business, marketing, and HR operations. She is a passionate people advocate who believes in building strong people, teams, and companies with empowering culture, content, and communication that facilitates meaningful results at every level and touchpoint. In her spare time, Rebecca is an avid traveler and nomad who also enjoys writing about travel safety and savvy. Learn more on her LinkedIn page.