Until Placement: What It Is and How You Can Benefit From It

Although most HR professionals understand the benefits of outplacement during layoffs, there are many differentiators to consider (besides costs) when choosing a partner. One of them is knowing how long your outplacement program will last. After all, finding a job can take a long time and, if the services finish before the participant is hired by another company, their stress levels can jeopardize the job hunt and the success of your outplacement program will be at risk.

At Careerminds, we make outplacement as simple as possible. And if you ask us how long we work alongside participants, the answer is pretty simple, too: until they land a new job, period. We call this approach “until placement” and this article will explain what it’s about.

As the name indicates, Until Placement is a type of outplacement support that lasts until the participant secures a new job. This kind of service is the opposite to what most outplacement providers offer, which only support participants for a limited time – their arrangements typically last one to three months.

“Until placement” is the type of outplacement service Careerminds provides to its clients and participants. Instead of only working with laid-off employees for a short time, we provide them with continuous support until they find their next position, being on their side all along the way.

With “until placement,” the overall outplacement experience is smoother and less demanding on the laid-off employee. Besides that, it has been found to help participants land jobs with better pay. 

If you ever had to search for a job, you know this journey can take more than three months – that’s the maximum amount of time most outplacement providers will work with participants. In those cases, the job seeker can feel tremendous pressure to find a job quickly – which sometimes means settling for jobs and salaries below their expectations. And if the time runs out and they don’t find a job, good luck: they’re on their own.

You won’t see any of that when you partner with Careerminds. By working with participants until they find their new position, we provide them with the most stress-free outplacement service possible, helping them return to work in a role that fits their knowledge and experience level.

Companies who choose outplacement providers with an “until placement” policy will entrust their outgoing employees to partners who put no time limit on finding them the best jobs possible. The results will be higher success rates and participant satisfaction, two crucial elements to preserving the company’s reputation and increasing retention, since surviving staff will value the outplacement strategy and choose to stay with the business despite the turmoil that usually follows a layoff.

Now, think of the opposite approach. What’s the use of investing in an outplacement service if you don’t know whether it will work out? If you hire a plumber to fix a leaking sink, you’ll want to have it fixed. Can you imagine paying the plumber for two hours and, if the work isn’t finished, you’re left with the leak? In this case, solving your problems is finding the best return on your investment.

At Careerminds, for example, we boast a placement rate of 95% and an even more impressive participant satisfaction rate of 99%. Those numbers prove that “until placement” is your best option, leading your company to higher retention and the recognition that you’re a trustworthy, people-first organization.

Most outplacement providers will charge retainer fees to their clients, which means you could end up paying for services even when you’re not using them. If your contract establishes term limits, the situation gets worse: not only are your outgoing staff at risk of not landing jobs as expected, but you’ll also be paying unnecessary extra money when no layoff plan is in place.

Things are different with Careerminds. We charge no retainer fees, so there are no extra costs or hidden fees when our clients don’t need our services. But when they call us for help, they know we’ll support the participants until they land their new roles. This means our services are much cheaper (in other words, free) to retain and will continue with no added cost.

We at Careerminds strongly believe that all individuals are unique, so each participant will require their own time frame, coaching strategy, and other kinds of support to have a successful job hunt. On the other hand, traditional outplacement providers will try a one-size-fits-all approach with their partners — which, in most cases, won’t help people to get what they need.

Take, for example, a mid-level accounting employee who gets laid off and decides to shift her career toward something new, such as sales. She‘ll need to start almost from scratch: she’ll learn where to look for an entry-level sales job, write a new CV reflecting her transferable skills from her previous career, and rely on a coach to ensure the change happens successfully.

The outplacement approach will be totally different for, say, a laid-off C-level executive who wants to join a new company in that same kind of role. His job search will require much more time, patience, and networking to find the right role. For that reason, executive outplacement is its own beast, requiring a particular strategy from the outplacement provider.

Finally, consider an entry-level employee who got laid off and wants to find the same job but in a different company. As straightforward as it might seem, this person will still need a specific kind of support in his job search to find the right position and resume his career.

Those three examples require three different techniques. Trying to fit them all into the same strategy – and, in the case of a term limit contract, the same time frame – will dramatically lower the participants’ chances of success in finding the job they want.

However, with the flexibility inherent to the “until placement” approach, Careerminds can help all types of employees to achieve their career objectives, whatever they are, no matter how long it takes, with the personalized support they deserve.

In global terms, outplacement services and job search best practices can vary almost as much as languages, legal frameworks, and cultural norms. That includes the “until placement” approach, too, since each country can present laid-off employees with particular challenges that will impact the time required to land a new position. That’s why companies with international teams and operations must partner with outplacement providers who can support them with seamless integration across every country and region they need. 

That’s the case with Careerminds. Our platform delivers global outplacement services in 46 languages and in more than 80 countries across North America, Latin America, EMEA, and APAC. We provide a single point of contact for global clients to handle any element they need in their outplacement engagements. With this high-touch approach, your global HR team can focus on other projects, resting assured the outplacement processes are well taken care of.

For participants, our outplacement “until placement” support includes numerous activities within an unlimited time frame, such as coaching sessions, professional resume writing, and a global platform of lessons and resources. This support enables candidates to be sharp and ready for their job hunt wherever they live.

Outplacement has typically been a term-based service that extends for a specific period agreed upon in the contract. However, since not all job hunts are equal and satisfaction rates are crucial to employees and employers alike, we at Careerminds believe the days of term limits are over.

Through “until placement,” we’ll work with participants until they find their next significant role, no matter when it happens, and for no extra cost. Leaving someone behind when they need us most is something we just won’t do.

This approach provides participants and clients with the best possible outplacement experience, by significantly reducing stress and anxiety and allowing us to work with professionals of all career levels and goals worldwide in a personalized way.

Are you considering outplacement? Download our pricing sheer here.

Rafael Spuldar

Rafael is a content writer, editor, and strategist with over 20 years of experience working with digital media, marketing agencies, and Tech companies. He started his career as a journalist: his past jobs included some of the world's most renowned media organizations, such as the BBC and Thomson Reuters. After shifting into content marketing, he specialized in B2B content, mainly in the Tech and SaaS industries. In this field, Rafael could leverage his previously acquired skills (as an interviewer, fact-checker, and copy editor) to create compelling, valuable, and performing content pieces for various companies. Rafael is into cinema, music, literature, food, wine, and sports (mainly soccer, tennis, and NBA).