Author: Yair Riemer, CEO, Intoo USA, Career Star Group in The USA.
Due to the coronavirus crisis, everything from school classes to business meetings has been pushed online. In many places around the world today, you can no longer leisurely wander through a museum or attend a sold-out concert—except via the web.
In our work lives, we’ve seen how this need to adapt to an online work environment has brought about massive company-wide changes. For example, web conference calls and chat and messaging technologies have become the norm to substitute for in-office interactions. The same fate has befallen outplacement. Whist some outplacement providers are now moving towards this trend by necessity, the trend of offering a tech-based outplacement services and a platform had been growing in popularity even before the coronavirus hit. This is due to the convenience, cost savings, and customisability offered by online platforms.
For many job seekers, this change has been a welcome one. Instead of driving or taking public transportation to an office to meet with a career coach, virtual outplacement allows job seekers to get the career transition support they need whenever and wherever is most convenient for them. Here are benefits of online outplacement programmes driving the switch to tech-based services.
Virtual Outplacement Services Offers Convenience, Accessibility, and Flexibility
Traditional outplacement programmes required job seekers to make an appointment, wait for that appointment date and travel to a location to receive career transition support. Virtual outplacement services, in contrast, let an employee who has just been laid off immediately log on and get one-on-one video coaching with a professional career development expert, all without ever leaving home. This makes the service more readily available and adaptable to each person’s unique schedule and stage in their job search. Services can be accessed through a phone, tablet, or computer, wherever the job seeker is located.
Virtual outplacement programmes vary widely, but what the best-in-class online services offer are choice and convenience. Not all employees approach a job search the same way, nor should they have to. One job seeker may want help with online branding and long-term career planning, while another may desire video interview coaching. Top virtual outplacement programmes offer employees the freedom to approach their job search based on their needs. Whist simultaneously offering the strategic guidance and practical support that will help them land a new role faster.
Virtual Outplacement Services are Often More Cost-Effective for Employers
Traditional outplacement programmes require the rental and upkeep of business office spaces. Often those high costs get passed on to the employers purchasing these services. For many employers, this historically meant outplacement benefits could be offered only to a select few, primarily executives or senior-level employees.
Comparatively, virtual outplacement often offers significant cost savings for the employer. The lower cost of tech-based outplacement often allows companies to offer the benefit to more, if not all of their employees in a time of workforce transition. This in turn helps the company maintain more positive relationships with all departing employees—thus protecting the organisation’s brand reputation on review sites like Glassdoor and on social media.
Outplacement providers who lead with a tech-based approach can invest more in the programme and the offerings that provide value to employees and employers, such as individualised coaching and platform enhancements to evolve the job seeker experience in areas such as interview prep, skills assessments, job search functionality and automation, and more.
Virtual Outplacement Programmes Allows for More Customised Experiences
Traditional outplacement programmes that rely on location-based services may prove to be limiting to job seekers,. This is simply due to the given pool of resources available in a particular place. Virtual outplacement has no such limits. A technology executive who happens to reside in a small town isn’t limited to working with a local career coach. The executive can instead be better matched with a coach who specialises in transitioning senior executives in the tech industry. As a result they can receive more individualised, targeted assistance. Online platforms solve the geography challenges common to traditional outplacement services.
The best virtual outplacement solutions provide a breadth of services to facilitate different learning styles and job search approaches. Programmes that offer flexible, personalised career coaching can enrich the entire outplacement experience and help personalise the benefit to suit specific needs based on each person’s job experience and career goals.
Choosing a Virtual Outplacement Provider
Since not all virtual outplacement services are created equal, it’s important to evaluate the features offered against your company’s needs. One important factor to consider is the level of personalisation and support the programme provides. Will employees have access to unlimited, one-on-one coaching on-demand? Alternatively, will they only have access to career coaches in a group webinar setting where they’ll be offered generic job search tips that won’t likely be relevant for their unique circumstances? Can employees expect hands-on CV and LinkedIn profile editing and professional branding advice? Or, will they receive only a webpage with general tips on editing and crafting these on their own?
Other factors employers should consider are:
- the length of the outplacement programme,
- the qualifications of the programme’s career coaches,
- the programme’s record of success,
- the cost of the programme.
Weighing these factors is crucial to selecting the outplacement programme that best fits your company’s needs.
Intoo USA is the career development and outplacement flagship for Gi Group, a global leader in HR and talent solutions with 20+ years of experience in delivering high-touch, people-focused programs to more than 20,000 companies around the world. Intoo’s focus on personalized coaching and technology innovation enables organizations of all sizes to protect their employer brand throughout the employee lifecycle, with flexible candidate experience, career mobility, and outplacement solutions. Intoo’s award-winning outplacement solution delivers better results as employees depart an organization, with candidates landing nearly 2.5 times faster than the U.S. national average time it takes to find employment.
Career Star Group is here to support your HR team with your workforce requirements. Get in touch today for more information.