What is Executive Outplacement

In a world which is economically recovering but still in shock, the size and scale of the number of redundancies is still yet to be fully felt. This is particularly true of the Executive sector, where the number of Executive Outplacement services provided is still rising.

This will continue for a while, with different countries taking different long or short term priority economic views. While in the priority in the United States and parts of Europe is sustaining short term growth via the need to borrow, in the UK where growth is seen as long term is the priority will lead to some dramatic government spending cuts to avoid boom and bust.

Therefore, the question for the Executive faced with release or redundancy, is whether they need executive outplacement, and if so what?

Executive Outplacement services
Outplacement services address the needs of soon to be or former employees of a company, and aim to help them transition from one piece of their life/employment to a new stage, both personally and career wise. In theory, outplacement goes beyond just a careers service, but encompasses the whole person and gives you a hand on which to lean for guidance.

Outplacement services were originally developed in the 1960s, around providing an alternate office and facilities from which the ex-employee could undertake a job search. Today most outplacement services don't concentrate on the physical process of getting a job, but facilitate you doing that through offering: clarity (of what next); support (in getting through the adjustment of leaving to job search); and settlement (in your new life).

Executive Outplacement firms
Many blue and white collar outplacement services for cost reasons are hence generally always volume process driven and systems supported. However, most Executive outplacement services are personalised around you, with virtual-dedicated access to certain resources. Dedicated access to a senior consultant seems to be the most used phrase in the Executive outplacement field!

Operators in the present £4Bn field of outplacement services always have a dedicated Executive outplacement service, and include: Right Coutts, RMS and Penna. While the average cost of outplacement for non-executives costs £2500/$4000, Executive outplacement can cost between double and treble this to your former employer.

Senior Executive Outplacement
My own experience of senior executive outplacement was interesting, and like many who went through such outplacement services in both the post-2000 dot.com bust, and the more recent 2008 global financial meltdown, not a happy or fulfilling one.

Firstly, having chosen to exit my former corporate employer, I was introduced to an executive outplacement service provider before I left corporate employment. Our first meeting was in their offices, and I was given a guided tour which included being shown how to operate the coffee machine, and where the dedicated job seekers desks were placed. I was also given a four meeting programme, and then a menu of optional but paid for by my employer services, from which I could choose three options before having to pay for additional modules myself.

At our second meeting I was told that this was the second of our eight sessions. This surprised me, but is quite typical of all outplacement. While as a senior executive I got eight sessions with the outplacement service, junior members of staff got either four or six sessions. As all I learnt at the first was that my consultant was a pleasant lady and how to operate the coffee machine, I was disappointed! For the rest of the session as the programme dictated, I was run through a series of psychological assessment and analysis tools, and was told that I would get the feedback at our next session.

While driving away that day, I also concluded that I was being pushed through the process like a sausage, over being coached or talked to. In part on reflection I can understand why, in that my employer wanted a fixed cost solution, and the outplacement services provider wanted me happy, not necessarily employed. They had hence structured their programme like a treadmill to both give you momentum and keep you moving.

The instant sales pitch hence half way through session three didn't surprise me! I was told from the output of my psyche analysis that I needed counselling, and as I would need six sessions of counselling at minimum I would need to buy an extra three sessions. I told them that I would think about it, but wanted to get on with job seeking: how could they help me with that? OK, suddenly I needed to either read 20 books in my own time, or buy a CV Writing session with one of their people.

Outplacement service fail?
Whilst driving away from session three, I conclude that senior executive outplacement was not for me! Much of what I experienced was like a developed version of what I got when I left school and later university (twice). On all three occasions it involved too much navel gazing and personal psych assessment, and too little action.

As a recruiter I now know that HR professionals look at the last five years of work as a guide as to what you could do next, other wise you are into career transition. So really, either you want to do more of what you have done for the last five years, or do something completely different: psych testing over!

Unfortunately, the surveys of all types of job seekers made redundant from the corporate world in 2008 under various outplacement services, match my unfortunate experience. In a large part this problem was volume related: the world just stopped, and the dole queues tripled over night. But many executives want assistance in job seeking, not assessment of whether they should have been a CEO in the first place.

Executive CV Service
Most of the executives we talk to and help through career transition with our executive cv service, are at a stage in their career (not an age), where either they want to develop their career further, or step back from day-to-day operations and deploy their knowledge into others people and companies (ie, a consultant). So with a few select psych tools and getting them to read through some specifically written eBooks, we get them to clarify that future employment vision.

Secondly, we use our knowledge of the recruitment market place to give them a job application advantage. I see too many executive outplacement services offering CV distribution and recruiter meetings. When 90% of executive jobs are never advertised, and looking like a desperate job seeker will get you rejected, what's the point in those services? Through deploying our knowledge as recruiters in your executive job search, we hence delivered happy - and employed - executives.

Executive outplacement in theory should help you transition from one job and stage of your life to another. When too many concentrate on the "who are you" over the getting things done action of of executive job seeking - and don't accept the need for tactical change in executive job search - you can see why so many who have transitioned through executive outplacement feel dissatisfied.

If you know what you want to do next, and are offered executive outplacement, think about what the service provider paid for buy your former employer is offering you. If you know what you want, then a good Executive CV Writer should be able to help you transition quicker than Executive Outplacement.

Good Luck!

Headhunting for job consultancies in Singapore or executive search Singapore,visit this page. A marketing strategy blog article by Scotts DIGITAL

Employee Performance Appraisal - An Ideal System

In America's best-run and most-admired organizations, employee performance appraisal is a vital and vigorous management tool. No other management process has as much influence on individuals' careers and work lives.

Used well, employee performance appraisal is the most powerful instrument that organizations have to mobilize the energy of every employee in the enterprise toward the achievement of strategic goals. Employee performance appraisal can focus each person's attention on the company's mission, vision and values. And ideally, the process can answer the two fundamental questions that every single person in the organization wants the answers to: What do you expect of me? And How am I doing?

But most folks scoff at the idea that there might be a perfect system for doing employee performance appraisal. They think that since their organization is "unique," then their system for analyzing employee performance must be unique, too. How foolish.

Don't scoff -- there is an ideal method for the assessment process. In organizations that take employee performance appraisal seriously and use the process well, the system functions as an on-going process - not merely an annual event - by following a four-phase model.

Phase 1 -- Employee Performance Planning

At the beginning of the year, the manager meets with each person for discussion on the planning piece of the employee performance appraisal process. In this hour-long session they discuss the "how" and the "what" of the job:

o How the person will do the job (the behaviors and competencies expected of the company's members), and

o What results the person will achieve over the next twelve months (the key responsibilities of the person's job and the goals and projects the person will work on).

They also discuss the individual's development plans. This discussion immediately generates improved employee performance because people know exactly what's expected of them. And as the manager, you have just earned the right to hold people accountable at the end of the year by making your expectations of them clear from the start.

Phase 2 -- Employee Performance Execution

Over the course of the year, employee performance should be focused on achieving the goals, objectives and key responsibilities of the job. The manager provides coaching and feedback to the individual to increase the probability of success and creates the conditions that motivate and resolve any performance problems that arise.

Midway through the year -- perhaps even more frequently -- they meet to review the individual's progress toward the plans and goals discussed in the employee performance planning meeting. And the employee is responsible for certain elements of that progress - seeking out coaching and asking for feedback are two key examples.

Phase 3 -- Employee Performance Assessment

As the time for the formal employee performance appraisal approaches, the manager reflects on how well the subordinate has performed over the course of the year, assembles the various forms and paperwork that the organization provides to make this assessment, and fills them out. The manager may also recommend a change in the individual's compensation based on the quality of the individual's work.

Best practice calls for the appraiser's boss to review the completed assessment form before discussing it with the assessed employee. One key here is not falling victim to the "myth of quantifiability" -- the erroneous belief that in order to be objective you've got to have numerical data to prove your assessments. Nonsense! An employee performance appraisal is a record of a manager's opinion of an employee's quality of work, so don't shirk from candidly providing that opinion.

Phase 4 -- Employee Performance Review

The manager and the subordinate meet, usually for about an hour. The employee performance appraisal form is reviewed with the self-appraisal that the individual created assessing her own performance. The manager and employee talk honestly about how well she performed over the past twelve months: Strengths, weaknesses, successes and areas needing improvement. At the end of the review meeting they set a date to meet again to hold an employee performance planning discussion for the upcoming twelve months, starting the process anew.

This four-phase performance appraisal process not only transforms employee performance management from an annual event to an on-going cycle, it tightly links the performance of each organization member with the mission and values of the company as a whole. And that's the real purpose of employee performance appraisal in the organization. The real value is focusing everyone's attention on what is genuinely important -- the achievement of the organization's strategic goals through demonstration of the company's vision and values in each employee's day-to-day behavior.

Formulating a performance management process for your business? Look for Recruitplus today, an award winning HR consultancy in Singapore, click here. A b2b marketing blog for small business by Scotts digital.

Keys To Dealing With Recruiters

Your resume can get you an interview, but if you tackle the interview in the right way, it should get you the job. But not so fast - before you even get to the interview, you will probably have to get past the recruiter first.

Today, recruiters are usually the first ones to contact you for a particular job. They often decide on whether you are suitable for the job as soon as your resume reaches the hiring manager's desk. It is very important to understand how recruiters work if you want to get through the interview successfully.

There are some things that you should avoid and never ask a recruiter.

Don't Cross the Line

Recruiters are usually warm and friendly - but don't be over friendly with them, as it is their job to put you at ease and guide you through the hiring process. They are true professionals and not your colleagues or friends, and it is crucial that you don't forget this. Think of the recruiter as a respected person in the company and treat them accordingly.

You can be friendly with them, but never over friendly. It is always wise to keep some things confidential; therefore, don't disclose anything that is not applicable to the job at hand. Recruiters aren't really interested in what clubs you belong to or if you are a single mom - so keep these things to yourself.

Career Coaching

The recruiter's job is to guide you through the hiring process of specific companies. Recruiters are not career coaches, so it is inappropriate to ask them to guide you with writing a cover letter or resume. You have the freedom to ask them about the company in general, but keep your questions related to the specific job that you are discussing.

Save your more detailed questions for the hiring manager, as that's the person you will ultimately have to impress.

Insider Information

It is absolutely OK to ask the recruiter how many other candidates are being considered for the position that you are applying for. In fact, they are probably expecting you to ask. If you don't ask this question, you run the risk of looking uninterested or unambitious.

Recruiters are used to fielding questions from candidates about the competition they face - so don't disappoint them.
Don't Expect Too Much

Though you may wish to be treated as special, you are not probably the only candidate for the job. Many recruiters may treat you very well, but that's their job and they are quite happy to make you comfortable. Their aim is to project your good qualities to the hiring manager. Keep in mind, though, that they work for the employer and their objective is to fill the position - whether with you or someone else.

Looking for headhunter or want to become a Singapore headhunters,  visit Recruitplus today.

Why Does Employee Retention Matter?

Most companies these days realise the long term benefits of attracting and retaining high calibre employees although having done the hard work of recruiting industry top talent many suffer significant financial consequences from having high employee turnover rates.

According to a recent report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the costs of labour turnover per employee range from £20,000 for senior managers and directors to £2,750 for manual and craft workers which equates to an average of £5,800.

To put this into context, a call centre with 300 employees and a turnover rate of 25% would incur costs of £435,000 which are directly related to employee attrition. Reducing the turnover rate to 20% would result in a cost saving of £87,000 due to lower training and recruitment costs e.g. less advertising for vacancies, fewer interviews and assessment centres.

The company also benefits from the retained knowledge and experience of its employees which may otherwise be lost by companies with high levels of employee turnover. Employee morale and motivation can also be significantly damaged by high attrition rates as strong colleague relationships often take time to develop and grow.

Having a competitive benefits package and ensuring that your people feel valued are vital ingredients in the ongoing war for talent. Just as it makes good business sense to hold onto your existing customers due to the high cost of obtaining new ones, the same is just as true for your employees. Companies are relying on excellent customer service to differentiate themselves in competitive markets and organisations with employee retention problems will find it increasingly difficult to meet customer's rising expectations.

As 2009 draws to an end and the economy continues to improve companies will have to work even harder at retaining their most important assets as more and more job opportunities arise to tempt dissatisfied employees away.

Having staff attrition situations? Talk to our talent retention & HR advisory consultancy in Singapore. Click here.

5 Secrets to Being a Good Recruiter

In order to be a top Executive Recruiter it's crucial to get sound, proven training. Recruiters must learn the process. Next they must follow and trust that process day by day. Successful Recruiters all use a method and make hour by hour decisions based on the question, "What will help me make a placement this week?"

High level recruiting is an art. Top Recruiters focus on those tasks that will place a good (or great) candidate in front of an employer who has a desperate need to fill a position. If the Recruiter has qualified the employer client and the candidate, the odds of an offer being extended increase dramatically. Top Recruiters have prepped both the decision maker client and candidate, to ensure the interview goes well.

Don't waste precious time tossing resumes at an employer. In my opinion, that's the weakest strategy recruiters use. It's not even recruiting, in my opinion. Any employer could have an administrative assistant sort through a stack of resumes and pull out a few they like. People are not pieces of paper. Decision makers who need a position filled love to work with a professional who saves them time and provides exactly the kind of candidate they want; they want their Recruiter to do all the work except interview. By the way, once you've proven yourself to a client, interviews often turn into a 'stamp of approval', because the trust is so strong.

A high level Recruiter controls and manages the entire placement process. They never stand on the sidelines wringing their hands, wishing their employer client would look at the three or four resumes they have supplied. Recruiters who focus on resumes, give away their power and their success. Frankly, they are asking their client to do too much of the work!

Hiring new people is a necessary evil to many hiring managers. If they are understaffed, these managers may have more crisis to handle. They may procrastinate, postponing time consuming interviews. When a company client works with a smart, effective Recruiter, that Recruiter chooses two potential hires (possible three), presents those candidates in a desirable light, makes sure the interview takes place, debriefs both parties, and ensures one of the candidates gets hired.

Top level Recruiters make hiring effortless and easy for their clients. That's why their clients continue to use them and that's why these clients are willing to pay the big bucks for an Executive Recruiter's service. It doesn't matter if you're a Contract Recruiter, Contingency Fee Recruiter (Headhunter), in-house Corporate Recruiter, or part-time Mom Recruiter; if you want to make more placements, have more credibility, more fun, and make more money, learn the recruiting process and implement that process every day.

Seeking for headhunting or want to become a corporate headhunters,  visit Recruitplus today.

HR Applications of Job Competency Models

There are many possible applications and uses of competency models. Unfortunately, a lot of organizations go to the trouble of developing models, use them for one purpose and put them on the shelf. Here are some ways in which you can take full advantage of job competency models. Use them to:

o Integrate all HR processes using a common framework to select, train and reward people.

o Assess internal and external candidates using assessment exercises, interviewing and instruments.

o Develop a model for high performing teams. Select and train team members, and use for team building.

o Expand hiring and succession pool. Models may challenge assumptions about required competencies and identify alternative sources of talent

o Retain key employees. Target the retention of top performers. Employees who see expanded opportunities for growth are more likely to stay (also impacting morale).

o Redesign jobs. Analysis of a job during model building can reveal ineffective job design plus suggested improvements from focus groups and expert panels.

o Certify competence levels. Design certification programs to develop and reward competency development.

o Design 360° feedback instruments and other developmental tools.

o Determine staffing of merged organization. Keep the top performers in the key positions.

o Create the learning organization. Use the models as templates to guide development.

Creating models quicker for less cost through technology

Competency technology has evolved to the point where you can now buy software programs to help construct competency models. These programs contain competency dictionaries, i.e. lists of competencies that can be used to analyze jobs. Some companies have designed their own customized programs for the same use. Virtual resource panels can be conducted for panel members from diverse geographical locations. As we move closer to computerizing all paper transactions and making greater use of the intranet and internet, this seems to make sense. The more we can use technology to simplify our lives, the better.

However, the process of developing competency models remains basically a human process. It requires interviewing, collecting and analyzing data, observing behavior, skillful facilitation of a focus group (aka an expert panel or resource panel) and drafting a model document. Judgment, ability to react and adapt to situations, to deal with conflict and resistance and uncover unexpected opportunities to improve an organization's performance increase the benefits of job modeling.

Using automated tools to assist in the application of competency technology is a good idea. Employees who can access competency models and developmental opportunities through a computer terminal feel more empowered and more in control of their destiny. Just be careful to not put the cart before the horse. Remember GIGO (garbage in, garbage out)? Develop good models and good systems before computerizing. Concentrate first on practicality and fit, not on technical sophistication.

Facing staff attrition situations? Talk to our talent management & HR consultancy in Singapore. Visit here. A marketing strategies article for smes by Scotts digital.

Recruiting Tips For Reliability Engineers

Reliability engineering is a niche industry; this can make job searches for reliability engineers difficult, and recruiting processes for employers equally challenging. With reliability engineer career advice in rare supply, engineers looking to start a new career frequently do not know how to make themselves visible to employers; making necessary connections between reliability engineers and reliability engineering employers looking to recruit new hires is infrequently an easy task. For industry employers, recruiting a reliability engineering professional who fulfills all of the necessary requisites for a particular position can undoubtedly be a demanding, expensive, and time consuming endeavor. For reliability engineering advice on how to find and recruit the right hire, follow these useful, technologically savvy tips.

Maximize Virtual Prospects:
Searching online communities, especially those that are specific to, or have a high volume of users in the reliability engineering industry can be a very helpful tool in locating the right person for the job. When embarking on an employee search using social media sites, use the largest, most prominent sites available. Since one of the greatest advantages to recruiting reliability engineers online is the great number of professionals that are connected through these venues, it is important to use online sites that can offer you (the employer,) a wide array of reliability engineering candidates to choose from. This is a matter of simple probability: the larger the network, the more reliability engineers you will have to choose from to appropriately fill a job opening.

Be Selective:
Although the large size of many professional social media networking sites is one of the inherent advantages of online candidate searches, it's important to still be discriminating about which sites will be best suited to your needs as an employer. The value of using more niche sites is often underrated, especially for specified vocations like reliability engineering. Using social media sites that are solely intended for use by reliability engineering professionals and employers will more accurately focus your search according to industry-specific skills that you may be looking to recruit in a reliability engineer for your company.

Resume Load:
Most job-related social media communities provide users with the opportunity to post their resume, and information regarding degree of education they have acquired in a given field, along with a wealth of other useful information. This kind of virtual library is an efficient and relatively inexpensive way to review a large number of resumes, and sift through those professionals who do not have the specific reliability engineering expertise that you are looking for as an employer. In browsing online networks in search of reliability engineering candidates, select sites that offer a large number of resumes to maximize the likelihood of finding the best suited engineer for your company needs. This rule of thumb also applies to those professionals looking for reliability engineer career advice; if you post your resume on larger networks, you can maximize the probability of a prospective employer noticing you, since these sites tend to draw more attention from industry employers looking to hire.

Candidate Screening Process:

Don't be put off by a daunting number of resume prospects; online communities frequently provide advanced search options that allow employers to specify search criteria to efficiently filter out resumes that do not fit the bill; these engines can isolate reliability engineering candidates' resumes based on things like industry specialization and quickly present them to you for review. This means that online networks with a larger volume of resumes do not necessarily require more work on behalf of recruiters in the terms of the process of reviewing job candidates. On the contrary, technology can facilitate the resume screening process; therefore, more resumes translates to more options in terms of identifying the best-suited reliability engineers for a specified position.

Online Recruiting Tips:

There are a number of online resources that offer suggestions to reliability engineering recruiters regarding how to most efficiently and effectively complete the hiring process. These suggestions range from blog posts to forums on social media sites. Many reliability engineering-specific professional networking sites offer helpful advice to professionals and employers. Don't hesitate to take the time to read what other reliability engineers and industry recruiters have to say in terms of vocation-specific wisdom regarding working with and hiring people in the field. This can help you narrow down what kind of work experience and personal characteristics you should be looking for in a well-qualified candidate for a specified reliability engineering company need. It may also open your eyes to what professionals in the industry are looking to receive from potential employers, in terms of salary, benefits, and overall work environment.

Seeking for headhunters or want to become a headhunter Singapore, visit Recruitplus today