Career transition coaching or outplacement: which your staff need

Outplacement usually means a packaged programme of coaching sessions and job search help for people leaving after a redundancy. Career transition coaching is narrower and deeper: it focuses on helping a person move into a different kind of role, which matters most when the job they are leaving is shrinking across the whole market, not just in your business.

The words are used loosely, and many providers offer both. This guide sets out the difference that matters for an employer, which is what the person needs to leave with, and helps you match the support to the roles you are cutting. It is general information, not advice about any provider.

The two models

Traditional outplacement is built around a set number of coaching sessions, plus help with a resume, LinkedIn and job search. It assumes the person will look for a similar role somewhere else, and helps them do that well. It suits people whose kind of role still exists in good numbers in the market.

Career transition coaching is built around a change of direction. It starts with what the person already does well and which other roles that maps to, then helps them make the case for a role they have not held before: a resume written for that role, applications against real job ads, and practice explaining the move in an interview. It suits people whose kind of role is shrinking, for example because technology is taking over much of the work.

Both can include a real coach. The difference is the goal: the same job somewhere else, or a different job.

Which your people need

Ask three questions about the roles you are cutting.

Is this kind of role still widely available? If similar employers are hiring for the same job, traditional outplacement may be enough: the person needs a sharp resume and confidence, not a new direction.

Is the work itself changing? Where the reason for the redundancy is that technology now does much of the work, such as routine processing, data entry or high-volume contact centre calls, the same job elsewhere may be going the same way. People in those roles benefit more from help moving sideways into work that uses what they already know.

How long have people been in the role? Someone with fifteen years in one role often does not know how their experience reads to an employer in a different field. That translation is the core of career transition coaching.

Most redundancies include both kinds of people. You do not need to pick one model for everyone if the provider can tailor support.

Where people actually move

People do change occupations, and they tend to move into related work. Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility tracks the moves Australian workers make between occupations. Our analysis of its data shows, for example, that people leaving contact centre and reception roles most often move into clerical, office management and customer service roles. Our guide to where admin and contact centre workers go next sets out the figures.

That is the practical case for career transition support: the next role is usually close to the last one, but it is not the same one, and the person has to show an employer why their experience counts.

What good support looks like, either way

Whatever you call it, judge the support by what each person leaves with:

A clear view of the roles they could move into, grounded in what they have actually done.
A resume written for the role they are applying for, not one general resume.
Applications written against real job ads.
Interview practice, ideally out loud, with feedback.
A real person who reviews their work and answers questions.
Privacy: the employer pays, but does not see their applications.
Enough time. A few sessions in the last week of employment rarely carries anyone to a new role.

Ask each provider how it delivers each of these, and compare the answers in writing. Our guide to what outplacement costs lists the questions to ask before you sign.

The free baseline

Whatever you buy sits on top of what the government already offers. The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations runs the What's Next website for people who have been retrenched or want a new career, and the Fair Work Ombudsman points redundant employees to it. Paid support should add what free resources cannot: work done on one person's own resume and applications.

How Changing Careers fits

Changing Careers is career transition support built for people leaving contact centre, customer service and admin roles. Each person gets twelve weeks: the Australian roles they are already close to, a targeted resume, applications written against real job ads, interview practice out loud, and up to three reviews of their written work by a real Australian career coach. It costs A$599 per person, invoiced to the employer, with no minimum number of people.

Common questions

What is the difference between outplacement and career transition coaching?

Outplacement usually helps a person find a similar role elsewhere through coaching sessions and job search help. Career transition coaching focuses on moving into a different kind of role, which matters when the person's current role is shrinking.

When is career transition coaching the better choice?

Career transition coaching is usually the better choice when the work itself is changing, for example when technology now does much of a role, or when people have spent many years in one role and need help showing how their experience counts elsewhere.

What should good career transition support include?

Good career transition support includes a clear view of realistic next roles, a resume written for each kind of role, applications against real job ads, interview practice, reviews by a real person, privacy from the employer, and enough time.