“It was a bright, cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” (“1984,” by George Orwell)
In 1980 there were about 50 Outplacement Firms.
In 1990 there were about 250 Outplacement Firms.
In 2010, counting 2-3 person operations, there are about 1000 Outplacement Firms. The 10 largest support the majority of all individuals in career transition.
Outplacement looks like most industries. Every industry goes through development stages: early adopter, high growth, maturity and eventually a declining phase. The outplacement industry is no different. In 2008 & 2009 the industry swelled, revenues topped $1 billion (maybe $2 billion) and companies in the marketplace delivered record profits. It is our belief the outplacement industry is now in decline and a new, similar, but different industry will emerge with a modified service offering and value proposition.
As this industry has matured, it is our hypothesis, that the service delivery has not necessarily evolved.
We also know a large portion of our Career Brander readership is familiar with the outplacement industry on an all too personal level.
Thus, we’ve decided to reach out to our readership for very informal feedback. We are asking you take a few minutes to tell us about your outplacement experiences. It is our intention to aggregate this information and share with human resource departments as well as our readership, as appropriate. All personal responses will be kept confidential.
Please access the 5 question survey here.
If you would prefer to just send us a quick email with your experiences, please email us at outplacement@careerbander.com Although not identical to the online survey, the core questions are as follows.
1) What was the best and worst thing about your outplacement provider experience?
2) Did you find that your outplacement provider was actually helped you position to find work faster?
3) Did you find the technology provided by your outplacement firm was beneficial?
4) Please tell us one thing you wish your outplacement provider did better.
5) If you could make a recommendation to human resource departments with regard to providing outplacement, what would it be?
We appreciate whatever feedback you can provide.
We feel that the voice of the end-user is too often overlooked in the employee transition process.
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In full disclosure, Career Brander’s services are sometimes marketed as a web enabled Outplacement service and we have Fortune 500, Fortune 5000 and small business customers.