I offered some free advertising on this site for Recruiters or HR Service providers. One thing I didn’t clarify was that direct competition would not get a look in. As we offer Outplacement Services those seeking to advertise similar services need not apply.
Anyway I received little response BUT was surprised that the small response was all from Recruitment Agencies who were seeking to advertise outplacement and career services. Sign of the times I guess.
Now I am not anti-agency providing these services as many commentators are. I am actually from an agency background some moons ago and I realise that there are many skilled professionals in the recruitment sector with qualifications and experience to support organisations and employees through redundancy. I know of many professionals who have moved from recruitment into outplacement and career services very successfully (again including this writer). BUT there is a distinct difference between those professionals in that they chose and were not forced to.
The questions I ask are:
“How committed are recruitment agencies to Outplacement & Career services?”
Possessing the ability and capability is one thing but the commitment is another. Having discussed this with some agencies they have no more interest in Outplacement or Careers and this is purely for income generation during a tough recruitment market. Once the market picks up the interest will subside. One particular agency left a post on this site advertising Outplacement services. When I visited their website there was no mention of these services. One other agency I read about “had been thinking of this for some time” – really!!
“Can you be a recruiter and give impartial Career & Outplacement advice?”
This is a 50 million dollar question. If a sales professional affected by redundancy is telling the recruitment consultant offering outplacement support that the want a career change. What will the recruiter do/ how will they respond when they have an open vacancy for sales which this sales professional would fill in a heartbeat. Tough one!!
Anyway – any views on this please post.
