Outplacement - Useful service or corporate box-ticking to ease employer guilt?

“Trevor, the outplacement I received felt generic - just resume and LinkedIn profile tips, webinars and general job search advice. It didn’t really help me land a job. Is this normal?”

Sadly, yes.

When companies make employees redundant, they often fund outplacement services with external providers - a support system meant to help displaced workers transition into a new role.

But is outplacement actually helping people get jobs, or just a corporate box-ticking exercise to ease employer guilt?

Oh, and contractors (including Fixed Term Contractors) - you don’t even get outplacement. Sorry - you’re on your own!

Over the past decade, job seekers say outplacement has become transactional, self-service and impersonal:

😒 Less face-to-face coaching, more pre-recorded webinars.

😒 Generic resume and LinkedIn tips that don’t help in competitive job markets.

😒 Minimal recruiter introductions or real job leads.

Most outplacement consultants are HR professionals or career coaches, not recruiters or job search experts.

Meanwhile, redundancies are increasing, job markets are tightening, and displaced people need more help to find their next role. Is outplacement failing job seekers when they need it most?

And with average job tenure shrinking, disruption isn’t a question of “if” but “when.”

So should outplacement be redefined?

🤔 Should it be part of professional development, proactively preparing employees for future disruption?

🤔 Or should modern employees take responsibility, setting aside time each week to upskill and network - because no job is permanent?

Job seekers today face:

✔️ A hidden job market (approximately 70% of roles aren’t advertised).

✔️ Ghosting from recruiters who don’t work for candidates.

✔️ Ageism, ATS algorithms and employer biases.

✔️ Hundreds of applicants per job - activity and visibility are critical.

Yet, most traditional outplacement services still rely on outdated job search strategies or corner-cutting.

So, What Needs to Change?

Should outplacement:

❓ Provide real, personalised coaching instead of self-service tools?

❓ Actively connect job seekers with employers instead of just offering job boards?

❓ Be led by job search experts and recruiters, not just HR professionals?

At Talentology, we often hear job seekers say that our free CareerAGILITY workshops provide more practical job search strategies than the outplacement services they paid for.

What’s Your Experience?

- Have you gone through outplacement?

- Did it actually help you land a job, or was it just another corporate checkbox?

- Should companies integrate career transition planning into professional development, or is it on employees to stay ready for disruption?