Outplacement & Career Re-Design
We have developed a two-day module which is structured for individuals who have been either laid-off or who are at a point in their careers where they would like to redesign their positions. The session is held at our offices in Northbrook and followed-up by several phone conferences. A good portion of the first day is spent getting to know the candidates, getting to understand what their skills are and reviewing their strengths and weaknesses. We spend a great deal of time discussing their reasons and motivation for initiating a search or resigning their positions. We attempt to have the candidates think through the types of jobs that they would be happy in and help them to evaluate where they want to go with their careers and what steps to take to achieve those goals.
Before we start on practical issues, such as resume writing and interview skills, we talk a little about expectations and how to deal with them; what is realistic and what is not realistic. We work fairly comprehensively with the candidates on how to conduct a search, what it means to network, and how to lay out a plan to initiate a search. We assist the candidates with appropriate resume writing and spend a great deal of time on interviewing skills, follow up and how to handle rejection. The flip side of handling rejection is helping the candidates to understand that they donít need to accept the first offer issued. We spend a good deal of time discussing corporate culture, how to determine that culture, and how to see if they are a fit for that culture.
It is our objective that at the end of the two-day session, that the individual will leave with a disposition that is not crisis-oriented, that they will have a workable resume, that they will understand how to network and how to conduct an informational interview. We will give them the tools to be able to keep track of all leads, letters and ads that they have sent out and that they have a viable search plan with enough deviations to allow them to take advantage of opportunities that come their way.
Our key purpose is to have the candidates leave the two-day session feeling confident in their ability to seek out a new or different job and that they will use Hersher Associates, Ltd. as a resource when they have questions.
Losing a job or changing careers can be a very frightening situation. It is our goal that the candidates leave feeling very positive about the experience and looking forward to a new growth opportunity.