Outplacement training is a relatively new phenomenon in the business world, and many companies are still unaware of its presence. Indeed, it is not especially surprising, as you would probably only have come into contact with it in slightly less than favourable circumstances. Outplacement training is designed to ease the process of redundancy, providing outgoing employees with the appropriate skills and advice to continue their working lives.

Redundancy can be a great upheaval in a person’s life, and it is an often traumatic experience. Going from the comfort and security of regular employment into a great unknown is always something to be feared, especially if the job was a long standing one. Getting a new job seems a distant prospect – it has been a long time since you wrote a covering letter, or put a CV together. People often do not even have CVs, or if they do they are out of date. The format they take tends change over the years: whilst a scrappy single sheet of A4 with brief personal details, and even briefer information about your schooling and job history got you your job 30 years ago, what’s to say it will do now? Even for younger employees whom the job application process is not such a distant memory, the prospect can be frightening – a family to support, a mortgage to honour and bills to pay.

Job security is not the certainty it always was: business changes at a far more rapid rate that at any point in the past. It is very rare that we remain in the same jobs for our whole lives. Yet we do not have the training in job hunting, CV writing and interview techniques that are needed to secure that next job. Employers are becoming far more sensitive to the problems facing their outgoing employees, and so redundancy packages are increasingly coming to include outplacement skills.

So what is outplacement exactly?

Outplacement provides the necessary skills for that next step after your employment ends. It aims to ease some of that anxiety and fear, reducing the trauma of the experience. Outplacement advisors have experience of dealing with such situations and are aware of the emotive issues that can arise.

Skills include:

• CV preparation & production
• Interview techniques
• Writing for jobs
• Video Presentations
• Telephone skills
• Retraining

As well as these, outplacement advisors offer advice regarding finances, including pensions and other possible benefits available. As well as this, they can highlight job opportunities, offer post job interview analysis and ongoing mentoring for job hunting. All available alternatives will be highlighted – taking retirement, retraining for another career, looking for employment in a similar field, or even starting your own business.

The great potential of outplacement need only be seen in the testimonies of those who have been given the benefit of it. Redundancy payments are all very well, and have their place, but they only provide for the short term inconvenience of job loss. With the provision of outplacement training, companies are providing their departing staff with the best possible chance of securing further employment. They will continue to make an impact on their lives through a final, parting investment in them.

With a growing number of training companies offering outplacement training, it seems wrong not to take such an opportunity to put employees ahead in the search for employment. It seems only fair, when they have given their time for the company and now must face job and financial insecurity. At least with outplacement training behind them, they may do so with relative confidence.

West End Training has provided Outplacement for small, medium businesses and large plcs. West End Training continues its philosophy of tailor-making services for clients and can offer a simple one-day provision or we can send a team onsite for a few weeks, depending on the job that needs to be done.