Outplacement services are providing opportunities for recruiters to offer added services and gain increased return from existing clients.

As redundancies become commonplace, relationships with businesses which may not have any requirement for recruitment are being capitalised upon.

Tony Goodwin, chief executive of Antal International, told Recruiter the opportunity to provide outplacement alongside recruitment services could provide the company with a “rich vein” of income.

And recruiters are responding to direct requests from clients. Jim Roach, managing director of construction, engineering and technical recruiter ARV Solutions, told Recruiter the company was responding to demand when it launched its outplacement service.

“The reality is we were coming across clients that were having a real need for it.”

Roach said the company was ideally placed to provide the service, as several of its staff members had human resources qualifications through the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, adding the extra service embodies the company’s epithet: Adding Real
Value.

The synergies between recruitment and outsourcing mean recruiters are the ideal people to offer the service, Roach said. “As a recruiter we have a unique angle, because we know how to look for jobs and what people look for in a candidate.”

Goodwin said Antal is currently in the interviewing stages trying to identify personnel or acquire a company which will enable it to offer its clients the service.

“I have known over the years that it is a counter-cyclical business; we started putting the feelers out at the end of Q3 [2008],” said Goodwin, adding Antal could capitalise on its existing brand, “piggy backing”on the business it already has.

Bob Stewart, managing director of executive recruiter and human resources company RMS International, told Recruiter that the company’s focus has shifted to outplacement services, from executive search, since its formation in 1996, in response to increasing demand.

Stewart said the company has taken part in outplacement projects for up to 150 employees, offering staff advice and continual support as they search for new jobs.

“At executive level we sit down with them for three days, discussing possible leads and opportunities we have identified and then they have access to unlimited consultation [whilst they look for a position].”

However, the dramatic increase in the number of redundancies over the last six months does not relate directly to an increase in
business because companies which go into liquidation can rarely afford to utilise the service.

“It’s only when companies are downsizing that they use the service, not when they go down the tube,” said Stewart, adding that although 2008 had been a “very healthy year” he had not seen a dramatic increase inbusiness.