Outplacement Counselling in Canada

In terms of the modern world and job search, outplacement is still pretty new. Outplacement services today can trace their origins to the post-WWII period where veterans needed help to reintegrate into the workforce. The father of outplacement, Bernard Haldane, answered this call and then in the 1960s expanded to help corporations handle layoffs and help those laid off find new employment. At its core, outplacement is still the same as it was when Haldane first introduced the idea, but now outplacement looks a lot different to accommodate a changing world.

Outplacement today isn’t exclusively for big corporations holding massive reduction-in-force (RIF) events. Instead, 44 per cent of outplacement counselling in Canada is used for non-mass layoffs with businesses that have less than 50 employees, and only 32 per cent of non-mass layoffs occurred in larger companies. When looking at data from 1995 all the way to 2015, conservatively it’s estimated that over half of all layoffs were non-mass layoff events.

What does all of this mean?

Well, it means that this service is available to a broad range of businesses and isn’t isolated to corporations looking to downsize or cut out unnecessary departments. Whether it is due to industry shifts, a pandemic that turns the global economy upside down, or something good like a merger or acquisition, outplacement is an invaluable service available to all businesses, everywhere.

What Is Outplacement Counselling in Canada?

Put simply, outplacement counselling is a service that companies purchase to aid employees who have been impacted by a layoff. Outplacement counselling and career coaching, among things offered by the service, help those employees find new jobs with another company or another industry altogether.

Let’s talk a little more about our amazing career coaches.

The needs from one industry to another may differ greatly, so at Careerminds we strive to provide coaches that are specific to the industry of our client so that participants have the best coach for their needs. We’re proud to say that we have coaches all over North America and Europe, allowing us to provide a customized experience to participants no matter where they are located.

Regardless if a client chooses us for their outplacement counselling or another provider, it’s important that the coaches be versatile and flexible. Our coaches, for example, aren’t just limited to a phone call. Participants can use the phone, email, or even things like Zoom to communicate with our career coaches. And, when they do, one-on-one sessions provided by our career coaches would include things like a personality assessment, networking training and even interview preparation for when they get to that stage of the process.

In addition to the coaches, outplacement firms should offer services for writing, or improving, resumes and cover letters. Careerminds also offers social media optimization where experts take a look at a participants social media profile, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and then optimizes it so that it showcases their work experience and best qualities for recruiters.

Traditionally outplacement providers had a physical location where participants could come to attend in-person workshops, work one on one with coaches, and use the office to search for a job. COVID-19 made this virtually impossible for many outplacement counselling services, causing companies to scramble to adapt to a new way of doing things. Careerminds, however, has been virtual since our founding in 2007 until now. For us, there’s no catch-up or struggling to adapt—we’ve been leading the way in virtual outplacement for years already.

What to Expect with Outplacement Counselling in Canada

When it comes to outplacement, there are certain services that are more or less a standard across the industry. What isn’t standard, and it really should be, is the quality of those services and what clients can expect from an outplacement counselling service. There are many outplacement providers out there, but here’s what Careerminds has to offer and why we’re loved by clients and participants alike.

• We are innovative. Just as some shark breeds must keep swimming to keep oxygen-rich water moving through their gills we, too, must keep innovating and cannot stagnate. How the world works and communicates is constantly changing and from day one, Careerminds has adapted and stayed up to date with those changes so that we can best serve our clients.
• We believe change is good. And, we believe that constant change is even better. We’re always exploring and implementing ways to take a stressful, emotional event and turn it into a positive story for our participants. That’s why we have over a 95 per cent success rate with our users.
• We don’t quit. While other outplacement counselling services put a time constraint on how long a participant can use their services, we don’t. Our until placement policy means that we stay with your former employees until they find their next job, offering support and unlimited coaching. This policy works—we have the 99 per cent satisfaction rate in the industry to prove it.
• We are flexible. Today’s workforce looks much different than it did 70 years ago when outplacement was born. Outplacement has to adapt to it and be flexible to meet the needs of participants with our new v8 platform, which can be accessed day or night by participants, and coaches who are available by phone, email or text 18 hours a day, 7 days a week for participants to take advantage of.
• We do the heavy lifting. A layoff is stressful enough and at Careerminds, we take some of the burdens off of the participant by optimising social media profiles, writing or improving resumes and streamlining the job search process so that former employees can concentrate on making professional connections and finding the right job. Plus, our 1-step process for posting resumes to over 85 job boards makes getting out there easier!
• We are open. We don’t expect you to take our word for it when it comes to our programs; our clients can track participant progress and see how former employees are doing in our program. Through transparency and monitoring, clients can be sure that they are getting their money’s worth.
• We are affordable. The caveat “you get what you pay for” is familiar to most consumers, but we’re the exception to this rule. With Careerminds, you get the best virtual outplacement counselling at as much as 70% less than our competitors. Because of our delivery method and our low operating costs we can offer services that are reasonably priced and the best in the industry.

Outplace Counselling: Wrapping it Up

Outplacement has its roots in helping veterans reintegrate into society after WWII, but as the world evolved, so has outplacement. Outplacement counselling services of today, or at least those provided by Careerminds, are optimized for how the world works right now and not necessarily 20 years ago. It’s essential that outplacement counselling be flexible and adaptable to the times, and for Careerminds at least, that it be the best service for a reasonable price.

Get in touch with us today and see if Careerminds is a perfect fit for you!

Shannon Perry

Shannon has experience creating SEO content and strategy designed to satisfy search engines while also providing useful and unique content to readers. In addition to strategy for multiple channels, She's created ideal customer personas for sites that produced targeted, tailored content that ranked. In addition to that strategy and content creation, she also has experience as an editor and content management (including freelancers.) Experienced in: SaaS industry knowledge - content strategy - HR - content creation - SEO content - social media management - written communication - content management - web content creation - digital production - knowledge briefs - feature writing - analytics & data analysis - marketing plan development - project management - search engine optimization - SEO writing