Being in career transition is stressful.
The uncertainty, doubt, guilt and financial worries can dominate someone’s thoughts and make it difficult for them to see the big picture clearly.
One positive that can come out of this experience is the opportunity to work with an outplacement consultant who can help them manage their career and job search.
Here are four reasons why outplacement can be a positive experience for candidates.
Objective Outside Opinion
Being in career transition is a lonely experience.
Friends and family sincerely want to help but they are unfortunately limited in what they can contribute. Having an expert outplacement consultant provides an objective outside opinion that can provide guidance and insights on what are the candidate’s best options moving forward.
The consultant will not have any built in historical bias that will cause them to pre-screen opportunities that they think will be the best for the candidate. An experienced consultant will be able to engage the candidate objectively – at face value – and provide opinions and insights based on industry expertise rather than friendship.
SWOT Analysis
A well-developed SWOT (Strengths – Weaknesses - Opportunities – Threats) can be a valuable strategic tool for business leaders because it can bring clarity and brevity to all of the major factors impacting a business.
A candidate in transition can benefit from an analysis like this because it will help them see:
• What are their strengths in terms of transferable skills, certifications, and key accomplishments?
• What weaknesses does the candidate need to address – gaps in their work history, poor interviewing skills, or a limited network.
• Are their opportunities that the candidate can leverage – exploring a new career, becoming an entrepreneur or finding new ways to capitalize on their experience.
• Are there threats that exist that they should be aware of – poor job market conditions that may require a relocation or skills that may become obsolete.
Best Practice Guidance on Career Management
Finding a new job in today’s market is challenging.
Despite all of the technology and social media tools, available candidates still find themselves continually frustrated by submitting resumes into applicant tracking systems and getting no replies.
A skilled outplacement consultant can help provide guidance the most effective tools and strategies that will help them get thru this complex process and get re-employed quicker.
Accountability
One of the foundations of coaching is setting goals and providing accountability for the achievement of the objectives.
An experienced career transition consultant can provide the accountability for their candidates and help them keep from drifting off plan or get discouraged and give up.
Being in career transition will never be a welcome experience but it can provide a great opportunity to gain some expert advice on how to manage your career and job search with the help of an experienced outplacement consultant.
