What to include in an Outplacement Service for International Staff

Learn what support other organizations offer their staff affected by downsizing

By Henrik Rydén

Over the past years, Impactpool has grown profound expertise in outplacement assistance and supported several international organizations with programs to help their affected staff, such as UNHCR, UN Women, and more. 

Change management processes that affect individuals’ job security are always painful. The consequences for individuals can be severe. When few may see it as an opportunity to move on, the majority reacts with worry, embarrassment, uncertainty, and anger. In fact, Outplacement support or career services can mean the world to individuals facing a challenging change.

Outplacement support is not only an excellent service to the individual, but it also has ripple effects on the outside perception of the employer.

Supporting its staff has become one crucial aspect of an employer's brand, as it demonstrates a commitment to treating employees fairly and providing support even during difficult times such as layoffs or restructuring.

What are Outplacement services?

Outplacement services is a career program for terminated and/or unassigned individuals to help them with effective job search strategies, resume writing, interview preparation, and other activities that increase their chances of landing a job and handling uncertainty. 

Eleven Reasons to invest in outplacement services

I have compiled a list of both benefits for an organization offering their staff outplacement services and for the individual:

  1. Showing both affected and remaining staff that you are a responsible employer who takes care of your staff during the whole process from recruitment and onboarding to exit (Reputation management);

  2. Giving the organization the possibility to focus on the actual restructuring and be able to move forward at a much faster pace;

  3. Take care of your employer brand both internally and externally by making sure that your staff will be ambassadors for you even once they have left the organization (Minimizes negative publicity);

  4. Support the individual in focusing on the future and creating an action plan forward for their career - and life;

  5. Provide individuals the opportunity to make considerations for their working life and review alternatives, professional roles, and development opportunities;

  6. Support the individual to understand what is happening to people in the transition situation and other issues related to self-awareness in the process for increased self-knowledge and transformation of the experience into knowledge that supports further development.

  7. Strengthens the individual's ability to communicate about him/herself in relation to a new potential employer

  8. Support the individual in creating a structure and activity plan for the job search process.

  9. Provide the individual knowledge of different paths to find jobs, how they work, and what fits in the process

  10. Train  the individual to better manage interview situations successfully

  11. Support the individual to reduce time to find a new employment

What do Impactpool’s Outplacement services include?

The service described in this article has been used both by multilateral organizations and International NGOs and has been provided to both locally and internationally recruited staff members. 

Impactpool offer differently designed programs. The design depends on different aspects, but the number of affected staff is fundamental. Impactpool has developed both smaller and more extensive programs.

Impactpool's Outplacement services combine four different services:

  1. Virtual Workshops

  2. Individual coaching

  3. Self-studies

  4. Recruitment events

After completing the program, the participating individual will better understand how to go through a transition period, identify transferable skills, and identify career transition opportunities to the private sector and/or to other impact employers. The individual will understand Job search strategies, how to write an effective CV and application, and how to prepare for and perform in an Interview.

Virtual Workshops 

For the program execution, Impactpool uses its extensive network of certified coaches. All of Impactpool’s coaches have profound impact sector experience. The Workshops are divided into online virtual sessions with a coach and include relevant tools and material. The workshops are facilitated by a coach to create a participatory atmosphere where the individuals ask questions and share experiences and knowledge.  Common examples of workshop topics are:

  • Change management and dealing with change

  • How to go through a transition period

  • Identifying transferable skills

  • Career transition opportunities

  • Job search strategy, CV and application writing, Interview preparation 

Individual coaching

Individual coaching is offered by an Impactpool coach. The Impactpool coaching network offers coaches with different language skills, hence the individual can in most cases (if desired) work with a coach in their native language.

The career coach is specialized in supporting staff in the impact sector. The focus of the sessions is decided by the staff member and the coach in agreement.  Topics that we have seen chosen are often touching on the overall topics of the workshops, but the individual may feel that they need some additional support in dealing with change or with an individualized job search strategy. 

Self-studies

The Impactpool Fellowship is a premium membership of Impactpool providing a large library of self-learning materials. The affected staff member registers their career profile and receives AI-matched job alerts with relevant jobs. The individual will also receive online access to individualized content and learning paths which will increase their chances of finding and landing their new job. At Impactpool the self-study material contains:

  • Learning material on how to write a strong application;

  • Learning material on how to succeed in an interview;

  • e-Books to better understand career challenges and opportunities;

  • Guides to understanding different grading systems in International Organizations;

  • Databases filled with CBI-interview questions;

  • Library with Webinars from Impact employers and Career coaches

  • Live webinars, etc

Recruitment events to provide exposure to potential employers

For staff at an international organization, an office closure or restructuring can add extra stress as there may be a limited local labor market.

Therefore, your program should be designed for both your local and international staff.

Gather local employers and create a career event for your local staff, use vendors specialized in virtual impact career events, and gather international employers to meet with your international staff.

Impactpool has a huge network of employers in the Impact sector, all from Impact startups to the largest multilateral. 

At our events, we invite potential employers to meet with unassigned individuals.

The type of event is chosen depending on the volume of affected individuals, but for smaller audiences, we offer webinars with a panel of different employers.

If the audience is large, we offer virtual career events where the individual can meet with potential employers.

Are you seeking input to your program or are you looking for a vendor that could support you? Don't hesitate to reach out to us and we would be happy to set up a meeting.