OutPlacement News November 2023

OutPlacement-News reports regularly on everything worth knowing about OutPlacement, NewPlacement, careers, professional separation, the application process, graduation, onboarding and integration.

The most common myths in OutPlacement consulting

OutPlacement-News: Is there even a "hidden market" for job advertisements ? You can find everything on the Internet nowadays or you can call the HR department.

NewPlacement.com: There are unpublished vacancies with both headhunters and companies, especially if the predecessor is still in his or her position without a premonition or the market is only to be informed of the intention to change after the new hire has been made. These cannot be found on the websites of headhunters or companies and certainly not on job boards. Consultants who only have limited access to these offers like to question their existence. Above a certain level, calls to the HR department can't help either.

OutPlacement-News: Does the coach really have to have worked in the same responsibility before and come from the relevant industry?

NewPlacement.com: In OutPlacement consulting, the coach provides support throughout the entire application process and, if necessary, beyond (onboarding, integration, establishment). However, the coach's task is not to tutor the candidate in their specialist area. Nevertheless, it may be necessary to involve a NewPlacement expert partner in individual sequences of the consultation. This is why the outplacement provider should have partners/coaches with a wide range of industry expertise.

OutPlacement-News: Do headhunters today still have the time to go into all applications in depth?

NewPlacement.com: The headhunter searches the documents for his project factors from his projects. A 3D success story helps here, which makes the performance, experience and skills immediately understandable and then you can go into more depth. If the headhunter does not find any matches in the first 60-90 seconds, the opportunity could be over. The image of the department store with its departments is helpful in the design. Of course, you have to differentiate between the design of proactive and reactive application documents.

OutPlacement-News: Many consultants refer to a friend or a network where they only have to call about the candidate's job request. Can you rely on these "ominous" friends and networks?

NewPlacement.com: The hope of the candidates says "yes", of course. But if you think about how often you can call such friends until the last need is covered or all positions are filled with the consultant's candidates, then it's better not to rely on them. Even if you know of a vacancy from your network, the candidate must first assert themselves in the normal application process. 

OutPlacement-News: "Experienced" consultants offer to help candidates find the 10 "right" headhunters. Does this specialization still exist, where a few headhunters handle 90% of the special offers?

NewPlacement.com: A professional database today has several thousand headhunters who are appropriately qualified. Despite all the qualifications, it is not possible to guarantee that only a few headhunters will be assigned to the target vacancies. In a market with a constantly growing number of headhunters, betting on 10 out of 1,000 or more is like playing the lottery 6 out of 49. A different approach is required to gain a comprehensive insight into the potential candidates. Otherwise the candidate will miss out on important offers. Many executive search assignments do not run through the TOP10 headhunters, but through personal relationships or recommendations.

OutPlacement-News: Registration in the headhunters' databases guarantees consideration for all relevant projects. You then just have to wait for the headhunter to call you. Is that really the case?

NewPlacement.com: A database that is filled decentrally by applicants fails not only because of the different semantics. The registered applicants rarely update their entries and rarely apply for a new job. Nevertheless, this database is a good marketing tool for headhunters' customer acquisition. But nobody should rely on it. Recently, a candidate saw a suitable job advertisement from a headhunter with whom he was in the database. He waited for the call and then found out about the vacancy from the media. This passive approach does not work. In addition, the effort involved in registering in several databases is hardly justifiable.

OutPlacement-News: Some consultants also have their own headhunter section. They can give candidates priority placement there. Can you rely on this?

NewPlacement.com: In the search sector, you are beholden to the paying company. You can't put the candidate's interest before the company's interest without jeopardizing your headhunter business. The headhunter division of the OutPlacement consultant must be assessed as a separate headhunter, which must even be viewed critically in terms of opportunities due to the internal commission divisions.

OutPlacement-News: Many consultants rely on the candidate's existing documents. In the belief that the manager has sufficient experience in the application process , repetitions and takeovers from the references are also accepted. The focus is then on formatting. This would make your biography approach obsolete.

NewPlacement.com: The candidate can neither stimulate their long-term memory themselves, nor do they have the necessary distance to themselves to comprehensively manage the list of performance, experience and competence values. In a number of cases, we were even able to quintuple these values through the biographical approach in the management balance sheet. This created a completely different basis for matching with projects based on their demand factors. This is why we generally consider the transfer of existing documents to be a "narrow-gauge solution".

OutPlacement-News: Many consultants work with a "handbook and homework" for candidates. This standardization is intended to provide security. Why don't you also send your candidates home with a handbook?

NewPlacement.com: Our candidates are individualists who we don't want to force into such a standard. Thanks to the management experience of our coaches and their intensive internal training over two years, they don't need a handbook to guide them. If we wanted to work with manuals, we would have to create and print them individually for each case. However, if the concept is that the candidate does everything themselves, then they can also buy an application book from a bookshop.

OutPlacement-News: Is there really a regional principle? Are management positions from one region usually sought by headhunters from that region?

NewPlacement.com: Particularly in the case of changes that should not be made known to the current job holder, their employees or even clients at an early stage before the new position is filled, decision-makers in companies are increasingly choosing more distant and smaller recruitment consultants outside the relevant social circles.

OutPlacement-News: Will traditional 1:1 coaching be largely replaced by flexible e-learning, AI and group work ?

NewPlacement.com: AI is still reaching its limits here at the moment. Only a human coach can respond individually to each candidate, capture moods, motivate and read between the lines. From a business perspective, e-learning has its appeal for other providers in terms of reducing consultancy costs.

OutPlacement-News: Can headhunters still personally check the flood of email applications extensively and always make the right match?

NewPlacement.com: An assistant usually filters out 90% of applications based on a list of factors. Special skills for the job cannot be recognized or assigned. For this reason, applications for advertised headhunter positions should only be sent directly to the headhunter in writing after a telephone call (questions about matching).

OutPlacement-News: A number of providers advertise the use of researchers who call the HR department or the management or owner directly on behalf of the candidate to see if they have a secret vacancy.

NewPlacement.com: If the owner wants to replace their CEO, for example, this is not publicized within the company. In some cases, calling the HR manager only helps with positions at/below the level of the HR manager. If you don't know the owner or the CEO very well personally, you either won't be put through or won't get an honest answer to such an explosive question.
Written referral marketing by post via third parties is much more confidential and efficient here. Another way may be to call the board/owner's office and ask them about it after a while.

OutPlacement-News: Are there still providers who rely on high-quality application folders sent by post to owners and managing directors and believe in paying attention to them?

NewPlacement.com: This certainly gives you a face in the crowd today, but it's too oldschool. Application folders that arrive at the board office usually go straight to the HR department, who are not necessarily privy to all the dissatisfactions with the current job holders. Nevertheless, the HR department feels ignored in this situation, to the detriment of the applicant.
Even owners over 70 are now well positioned digitally. If printed documents are required, they are produced in the company. Individualized referral marketing can also be the better alternative here.

OutPlacement-News: Do 6-month packages largely correspond to coaching until success?

NewPlacement.com: The coach's obligation to provide advice until actual success (signing of contract / self-employment) reflects the usefulness of our service. If the company's budget is limited, the candidate can extend until success at preferential conditions. For candidates who have been with a company for a very long time, a guarantee package and subsequent "coaching on demand" may even make sense. Leaving the candidate to their own devices after 6 months is reminiscent of the Hansel & Gretel effect, which relies on distance from the previous company.

OutPlacement-News: For many providers, however, the support ends when the contract is signed. Why do you offer job insurance, among other things, afterwards?

NewPlacement.com: "Easy come, easy go" would be a worst-case scenario. What has been won must be secured through onboarding with job insurance. This also includes recognizing the red lines (informal network) and the corresponding strategy for dealing with them. Even in the subsequent phases of integration and establishment, "coaching on demand" can provide significant support for job insurance.

OutPlacement-News: Should international headhunters be used for the selection process, as they are where the vacancies for the important management positions are to be found?

NewPlacement.com: Individual headhunters often have the decisive contact with owners, managing directors or supervisory boards. They particularly appreciate the confidentiality that only very few people know about the "warm change" project and that the risk of unrest due to overlapping social circles is low. Therefore, these "lone fighters" should not be ignored in the launch strategy.

OutPlacement-News: Some providers promise candidate offices and permanent access to the secretariat or even the coach in their premises. Is that realistic?

NewPlacement.com: It makes you think of a movie in which an unemployed manager looks for an office every day to keep his wife from giving him notice. That's Hollywood. We do offer an office on request, but there is no demand for it because we can't guarantee access to the coach outside of appointments. The coach is involved in other consultations or provides "accommodating" advice at a different location. Our candidates prefer to work from home.

OutPlacement-News: Thank you very much for the interview and the many interesting insights.

Keywords
#outplacement-beratung #mythen

FURTHER INFORMATION PERSONAL

OutPlacement-News.de
Press office of NewPlacement AG
Mr. Christof Küchler
Meisenstr. 96
33607 Bielefeld
E-Mail: info@OutPlacement-News.de
Tel: +49 521 1644475

Re-publications are free of charge and must cite the source. Responsible for the content within the meaning of the Media Act: Management Board of NewPlacement AG, Bielefeld, Phone: +49 521 16444-75