Having a good outplacement provider is a bit like having house insurance. With insurance you hope you never need to use it, but when your house gets burgled and you feel devastated – you are so glad you have it. The thought of insurance helps you get over the initial shock and anguish, then the money helps you replace what was taken and move forward more positively.

I tend to think of outplacement in the same way. From an organisational perspective you hope you don’t need to use our services but when you do, you are glad you have us. This was brought home to me in a very real way the other day when someone I had provided career transition support to, who was devastated when she heard her role was being made redundant, called me to tell me about her new role. She was so excited and full of optimism and joy, it was infectious to hear plus there was a whole lot of relief in her voice.  

I want you to imagine, you were this person, perhaps for some, you have in fact been this person. She had a plan for her life and career, prior to being violently shoved off that track through no fault of her own. The shock was devastating for her. When we first met, she was angry, sad, terrified, frustrated, bitter and fearful – all rolled into one. Through our work, she came to see this as an opportunity to think about what she really wanted to do and to learn how to go out and get that for herself. She developed her skills, her confidence and got her ‘mojo’ back – her words not mine.

Speaking of words, when she called to announce her new job, she proceeded to tell me how the outplacement had really helped her. I felt incredibly humbled. She told me that I literally saved her life. She felt she couldn’t see what to do nor envisage a way to start to move forward prior to meeting with me. She said, I helped her realise she wasn’t a ‘failure’ – again her words, not mine. She learnt what to say to her family and friends without feeling embarrassed. She then started to see all her strengths and what she had achieved in her career that was of value to others. She started to speak positively about herself without stumbling. She developed skills and confidence in many ways. From my perspective, I also looked forward to our sessions as she was a wonderful human being, whose company I enjoyed.

If you are in Human Resources or are a Head of People, or a Senior Manager, I am telling you this, not to say how great I am, but to say how great outplacement is and how it really does help those we work with in a deep and profound manner. According to a 2018, Workplace Trends survey, 75% see employers who provide outplacement as attractive and something they consider when making a job acceptance decision.   Maybe candidates think about outplacement like insurance too.

If your organisation doesn’t provide outplacement, I implore you to consider it, I don’t even care if you don’t use Selection Partners. I do care however that you provide this service because I see firsthand know this truly helps people and that’s got to be a good thing.  

Since then I have worked hard to develop confidence and now I no longer resemble the shy young girl my father takes pride in reminding me about. I do remember however making a conscious choice that I had to take a deep breath, speak up and push through my shyness. Perhaps that’s why I am now an executive coach – helping others push through what for them holds them back.

This blog is about pushing through and gaining confidence, it is written primarily for women, however, it will equally apply to men – young or old who may suffer from a lack of confidence, which could be inhibiting productivity or limiting career progression.

To follow are some suggestions to consider which I hope are of assistance in boosting your confidence.

1. Focus on your strengths & own your success. Focus on what you are good at and what you have achieved. Write down all the projects and initiatives you have delivered on. Read this list and own it. We all have areas we need to develop, however focusing on what you do well and stepping up and going for it, will build your confidence. Some people, generally more women leaders, shy away from speaking up about their accomplishments for fear of being boastful or conceited. Sometimes women shrink themselves to seem non-intimidating. Shrinking does nothing but delay our voice from being heard and taken seriously. So feel the fear and do it anyway - if you need a good book on the topic, Susan Jeffers has written a great book on this subject.

2. Focus on adding value – Think about what you need to do in your role to be successful and though it sounds simplistic – just do that! Often this may mean focusing on what generates revenue, on where you can save money, increase efficiency or develop new products etc. Many of us can be busy with being busy and therefore not direct our attention to what makes us successful in the role. Focus on the future, add value and speak positively about what you are doing.

3. Focus on you and not others – Be clear about your values, and be true to yourself. Knowing you can’t please everyone and that not everyone is going to get along with you, are two important things to accept. Believe in yourself and your worth; and don’t worry about what others might think or say if they are being derisory. As long as you are being true to yourself and your goals, other people’s opinions shouldn’t matter.

   “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

4. Share your voice – Especially if you are a woman who is sitting at the decision-making table (or anyone in important meetings in fact), speak up and just know your perspective is important. Include others and be collaborative.

   “Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.” — Peter T. Mcintyre

5. Build alliances with decision-makers –Build healthy relationships with advocates, create a strong personal brand, establish guidelines before each project, position yourself as an expert in your field, and communicate with confidence.

6. Ask for money – Know your worth and channel your inner Tom Cruise to confidently show you the money. This may not just be salary, it may be anything to do with money – not charging enough, being afraid to ask, under pricing, not asking for your organisation to pay for training, and giving away services for free. My advice is to learn to master sales and get confident in your skills so you price properly, get the salary & development you deserve and build respect.

7. Manage your negative thoughts – One of the biggest challenges my clients face is they allow for the negative thoughts that arise in their mind to take control of their life. My advice is to take control of your thoughts by becoming consciously aware of them and to either replace them with more positive and encouraging thoughts, or to accept them and decide to move forward despite them.

Confidence is something you can build. Like a muscle, the more you put it under stress in different ways over time, the stronger it becomes. When I reflect back on my career, I realise that all of the situations I put myself in and all of the things I was nervous about but said ‘yes’ to, helped build my confidence and resilience.  

I am interested to hear from others what helped you to build your confidence.

“Just believe in yourself. Even if you don’t, pretend that you do and, at some point, you will.” – Venus Williams

June Parker is an Executive and Career Coach and Director at Selection Partners. June coaches both women and men in mid to executive management positions, develop their leadership skills and position themselves to obtain their next career promotion. June is ICF and CDAA accredited.

If we can be of any assistance to anyone please feel free and reach out. June@selectionpartners.com.au

However, what do you do when you feel you can’t afford outplacement – perhaps because the very reason the redundancies are being made are because finances are tight! We understand how frustrating it can be when you want to help your impacted employees but you feel hamstrung.

Whilst some outplacement programs do cost many thousands of dollars, don’t think all outplacement support has to cost this much. Outplacement support can be tailored from as little as $100 per person for a 6-months online outplacement support system, to on-site group outplacement workshops which can cost as little as $200 – $300 per person to one on one coaching programs which can be less than a couple of thousand dollars.

“Outplacement can cost as little as $100 – $300 per person”

Obviously, the more support a person is provided, the smoother their transition from an emotional and psychological perspective, and the quicker they generally find alternative employment. BUT some help is better than no help. An on-line system teaching people how to tailor their CV for jobs they want to apply for, or how to update their LinkedIn profile so they are more visible to hiring managers does help. Helping people to understand how to position their experience in an interview could be the difference between your ex-employee getting a new job and someone else.

At Selection Partners, we offer a wide variety of outplacement options to suit our client’s budgets. From experience, I know the more support people are given, the less stress and anxiety they feel. The majority of outplacement and career transition programs we provide do cost between $3,000 – $5,000 per person, however outplacement doesn’t have to cost this much and trust me, from the impacted employee’s perspective, something is better than nothing. 

Please contact us if you need our support or would like to know more about our outplacement or career transition service offerings.

Written by June Parker, June is an CDAA & ICF accredited career coach at Selection Partners. Selection Partners provide outplacement support nationally and in New Zealand. www.selectionpartners.com.au  03 9832 8100  

However, if you are psychologically, emotionally and financially engaged in your job within an organisation and can see a fulfilling future career, it is a major whack when that organisation decides it no longer needs you.

Hearing the words ‘retrenchment’ or ‘redundancy’ blind sides you. It can be devastating and heartbreaking.  Although for some it’s the push they may have needed to move on, for others it’s a grenade that hits when least expected.

Once you have been retrenched or your role has been made redundant, for many the job market can be a scary and treacherous place.  With video interviews, psych tests, virtual client tours, online assessments, recruitment bots and AI, it’s getting more and more difficult to navigate the job market, let alone figure out how to write a CV that gets picked up by the search capability of LinkedIn, Seek and applicant management systems.

Given it is so challenging to get through the recruitment screening and selection process and in front of a hiring manager, we thought you might like to download our eBook on ‘Master the interviews’.  Let us help you with that part of the process. Its free and its packed full of tips and advice that is relevant and practical. Download here https://bit.ly/2jpJQjt. We won’t even ask for your details, it’s our gift to you. As outplacement and career coaches, we know finding a new job is a challenge. We know because we hear it from those we work with every day.  

If you would like personalised career coaching or outplacement to find your next role more quickly and with less stress, please contact us. We offer services to individuals and organisations.  Phone 03 9832 8100 or email info@selectionpartners.com.au.