Confessions of a layoff coach

I TOTALLY agree with the people who have said outplacement counseling is a joke. I was recently laid off and offered 1 month of outplacement “counseling” (1 month only was a joke itself). There are numerous reasons why I have found the outplacement counseling firm to be a joke, but I will only highlight one example. This morning I called the outplacement firm and asked if they had a list of recruiters/headhunters they work with that I could contact. The lady that was asked was one of the main people at this firm. Her response was “Um, good question. I don’t really know the answer to that. Have you looked at our website??” So the firm whose SOLE job it is to help unemployed people find their way back to work again has “no idea” whether or not they work with recruiters/headhunters, and had no idea what to tell me. What a great service!!!!

My lay off came on Friday morning in form of a text message that read “do not go into the office until we talk”. My reaction to that was call the person who texted me. I then received the scoop of what i had been waiting for lay off due to reduction of force…Oh I will admit that I was only told that if I ever needed a letter of recommendation it would be provided to me. However that came from the office manager not from the actual owner of the company. go figure

Ann: Having been in the Employee Assistance field for over 25 years, I would just like to make a distinction between the roles that you mentioned in your article. It may help to define the various types of support and assistance during such a difficult and emotionally charged time.

Coaching: A coach will design a partnership agreement based upon your personal goals and tailored to your individual needs and style. Coaches keep you in action by pro-actively making requests to achieve specific goals. Coaches help you hone your vision, keep an unwavering focus on your goals, be your advocate and partner, while having your best interests, health and well being at heart.

Consultant: Consultants provide expert advice in a specialized field.

Counselors: A counselor utilizes a process-oriented approach to heal problems. Coaching is not Therapy. Counseling is an intervention to deal with feelings, sympathy and support, risk assessment and planning to reduce these risks. A counselor helps to dissipate fears and to diminish anxiety, anger or paralyzing frustration. Counseling provides elements for making functional decisions and normalize feelings.

Dear Annie,
My husband got laid off a couple of months ago and did get a very nice recommendaton letter. He recently got a job that pays lower and it is a struggle but at least he is working. I also got laid off and I’ve only been able to find a part-time job. It is a hard to pay the bills on time having lowered our income. I think it is harder to find employment when you get older and we are both in our 50’s.

I have found this to be a major waste of time and energy. Everything from the lack of returned calls, being told I have to come back in on a regular basis to continue updating my information, which didn’t change, to telling people in other industries that they can’t fnd qualified people (actually friends of mine who called to let me know that they gave my name to the agency I was already signed up with) and then of course once again telling me I needed to come in and update my information. Very little was done in helping any of us find other employment. Out of the 15 who were laid off the same day, all ended up finding employment on their own with no connection to the outplacement agency. I find that they only serve the purpose of relieving the guilt of the former company and since they are paid by the company then there is no reward for them to actually work at what they are being paid to do. You may think that this is the exception to the rule but actually this is the rule. My last company had layoffs every 6 months and for the 3 years prior to my layoff, no one was helped finding new employment through the out placement agency. But the company kept using them. It’s a joke.

Honestly, these outplacement firms are mostly just a way for the employer to feel less guilty about the layoff. My husband was laid off from a company after 15 years and the outplacement firm was nothing more than a resume service and job postings on a bulletin board. Very few of the laid off employees found employment through this firm. Better to keep up a network and continuously improving one’s skills. US employees should always be looking out for their own careers, loyalty to an employer is an outdated idea.

Warm and fuzzy is great but what are the numbers?

Like mean time to placement? Percentage of people placed within what time periods? Avg salary reduction or gain? Cost per placement for the former employers? Up beat anecdotal evidence is encouraging but may not reflect reality for the majority of folks having to pick up and start over. Especially for the older members of the work force.

Not trying to criticize anyone. Just thought I’d put in my $0.00000002 worth of opinion…

In all fairness to the outplacement community of which we are a member, the one thing a candidate must do is ultimately take charge of his own search. Expectation management is critical and it is the job of the outplacement firm to define what he will and cannot do for you. It is what it is — a job HUNT, and the more proactive you are under the guidance of your outplacement coach the better.

My company is offering severance packages, and without any assistance from a job coach or professional job-hunting organization.

In the past, they have offered job-hunting services, but for some reason this year, it was not included.

Quite honestly, if you have some good talent and skill, you should be able to parlay your way into a new job opportunity.

The only person who’s going to be REALLY interesting in helping you find another job is: you.

Annie:
After having spent the last sixteen years in fiscal turnarounds, and having to be the “axeman” more times than any decent human being could ever care to be, I can say with experience what works, and what doesn’t:

What works:
Never lay anyone off on a Friday.
Provide any laid off worker with a personalized, written letter of recommendation.
Make sure that this letter contains concrete mention of tasks the affected employee has completed, and the skills that they possess. In addition, state where you can be contacted for any follow-up regarding that employee. - I can’t tell you how many times this has helped a former employee to obtain a real, genuine job offer. Over twenty-eight years in industry, I lost my job on three separate occasions, and I alwasy vowed that if I could ever truly assist someone through such a painful and life-altering event, I would do my utmost to lessen the agony for any employee who worked for me, directly or indirectly.
NEVER contact the spouse…NEVER!!

What doesn’t work:

Giving the dirty work of discharging any employee to a subordinate, either internal,”corporate”, or “outsourced”.

Think about it: Could anything be more demeaning to an employee than to get the bad news from a well-dressed “hatchet-man”?

I could go on for pages, but I won’t.

I was recently layed off from a position as a Project Management Recruiter which i inherited the responsibility of the lead recruiter because the Lead Recruiter was fired. Mind you I had only been with the company for 6 months and during that time I had not received any formal training nor had the lead recruiter made it a point to teach me the ropes nevertheless share her knowledge. Which that wasnt a problem because I am a fast learner and picked up the pace immediately. I worked really hard to show that I could handle the job. But I was wrong.
In the meantime my boss continously made comments about my lack of experience and ridiculed my performance. It got to the point where the Office/HR Manager continously asked him what was it that he was wanting from me since i was finding the employees and filling the positions and keep on my toes in regards to who was needed where etc. His answer “she is not agressive enough” whatever that means in his terms. Three weeks ago a so called friend of the boss man and more experienced recruiter was hired.
In his words he needed someone more aggressive in that position, so i was pushed aside and made feel as all my hard work i had done was not worth anything. I became the younger recruiters assistant. I continued to do my job and made sure that i put all i had into it. During Spring Break I took a week off for vacation and when i returned the following week I was layed off due to reduction of force. Funny thing is that the company has several jobs lined up that would need 20 plus people to be hired through the company. So my question is was it really a reduction of force,was it one friend looking out for another or was it an age factor? new recruiter is 32 and apparently loads of experience, she must of been 12 when she gained all this knowledge..lol
Well for now I will enjoy my Life and continue to search for the another job. I thank my sister for recommending me this site I needed to vent….lol..

For the most part, service companies such as DBM are like life…you get what you put in. I was recently laid off in February 2008. I was not offered any severance, placement services or job coach help. They laid off 7 out of 21 employees, each with out anything other than our final payroll check. The 7 employees averaged 4 years with the company. I endured 5 years of servitude.

After receiving the unfortunate news, my first calls were to my network of contacts. In my line of work the whole industry was dry. It was full of industry retreads bouncing from one competitor to the next. I had to find fresh leads, new life and a different perspective. After my final network leads dried up, I called a few agencies/service companies. It was at that moment when I had to put the shoe on the other foot, I had to interview them. A lot of these companies differ from services offered, to areas of specialization, to industry specific. After talking to 4 of these companies, I decided to work with a local company who had some deep inroads in a related field. It wasn’t the field I was in, but a lot of my skills and experiences easily transfered. Without their vision and creative thinking, I wouldn’t of found this company in 100 years. I appreciate their help. I was laid off on Feb 1st. I was back at work on Feb 18th!

I think the outplacement services give the companies that are laying off a better feeling. Like “we’re laying you off but we are offering help to you”. I would have rather had the money paid to Chandler Gray and Christmas added to my severence package!

Annie here — I think you mean Challenger Gray & Christmas, one of DBM’s competitors in the outplacement business, right? Or Chandler Hill Partners, another one!

I used such a service a few years ago when I was laid off from Chase. The people helping were very well qualified. A full set of services. In the end though it was more the hand holding that helped me though it. Gets you doing something. Although I caution on the comment about taking advantage of all the things they offer. I see that as a distraction. Keep focused. Know what you need and don’t get sidetracked. The people there are not you. They suggest. You need to know. It’s your life. Don’t waste it.

I was layed off from HSBC consumer lending division Dec 12, 2007. It was a nice christmas gift. They did not offer any services or counselor and continued to lie to me in the upcoming weeks about my job security. I was awarded a generous 2 weeks pay as severance and also got gyped on commissions I should have recieved due to technicalities(BS) I had only been with the company for 5 months as I was fresh out of college. I quickly became part of the top 20% of producers for the company and was laid off first soley because of my length of time with the company. I immediately began calling friends and associates and asked them to keep they’re ears open for possible jobs and sent my resume to many similar large corporations. I ended up turning down several offers from those large institutions and took a sales job with a start up internet company. I began work Jan 3, 2008. About 4 months ago I thought I would be forced to downsize all aspects of my life and things were not looking well. I am now very happy that lay off occured. I am earning more money, my office enviroment is much more comfortable and I do not have to deal with the corporate way of doing business.(SLOW and STUPID) Due to the state of the economy and financial sector, the company I work for is flourishing. Now I am waiting for the righ time to purchase my first home. It could be a while untill I feel the market has bottomed. I feel for those who were in similiar situations as I was several months ago but were not as fortunate as to rebound so quickly. Keep Trying.

Forget the search for new things and new horizons. I’ve been laid off for over a year and restructured my resume to show that my managerial skills can be transferrable to other industries. Most job postings want 2 to 5 years of experience. Its the old story “if you want experience get a job; if you want a job get experience” Its a no-win situation.

I was downsized(2002) and used DBM services. It all came down to me making the most of what was offered. I used every service DBM made available. End Result I learned to market myself; keep my networks updated and refreshed; do a 6 month resume checkup; and keep my resume and business cards on hand.
You never know when an opportunity will present itself.

i have been “downsized” twice in my working life. first, in 1993, and as part of my severance package, i received “outplacement” benefits. i did utilize same but in summary did not find this service to be of much value. recently, february, 2008, i was “laid off” and used the internet resources and found a position within 7 weeks. not perfect but at my stage (just turned 60), a good fit.

perhaps i am cynical, but with the internet resources available today (not as readily available 15 years ago), i just cannot “see/understand” the value of these firms except for possibly very senior executive positions.

Not to Disrespect DBM… but they were mostly useless to me. The benefits that I got were basically a resume update service and some negotiating tips. The office was never busy, (I am in Detroit and they had already closed one office so that’s got to tell you something). It was a difficult self searching process and there are some much better firms out there that provide much more assiatance. Basically… looking for a job is much more work than actually working. I worked through a 3 month process and had multuple offers….

I am in a much better place now. The most interesting prospective for me is that now I am working with a team of people who actually want to work with me… what a concept.