March 5, 2025 • 38 mins
Preparing for career transitions is vital in today’s unpredictable job market, yet many organizations overlook the powerful tool of outplacement services. In this episode, we shed light on how these services not only facilitate smoother transitions for laid-off employees but also protect and enhance a company's reputation. Our guests, Tray Ross and Mark Lefevre of the Careers Launch Academy, delve into the intricacies of their comprehensive program designed to empower individuals at all career stages.
Listeners will discover how the Careers Launch Academy's unique module-based approach equips employees with essential skills, such as resume writing, LinkedIn optimization, and effective interview techniques. Tray and Mark share success stories that illustrate the program's impact, emphasizing the emotional and practical support it offers during difficult job transitions. Additionally, we explore the potential long-term benefits for organizations, including a reduction in legal risks and a boost to employee morale.
This episode is a must-listen for HR professionals and leaders aiming to enhance their workforce's resilience amid layoffs and transitions. If you've ever wondered how to better support employees during career changes, this conversation will provide you with the insights and resources you need. Join us as we discuss the importance of outplacement services in fostering a supportive company culture, and don’t forget to visit careerslaunch.com to learn more and connect with our guests!
Connect with Tray and Marc on social media or book a demo today!
Tray: https://www.linkedin.com/in/traycoross/
Marc: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-lefevre1/
Career Launch: https://careerslaunch.com/
Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts!
Follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram!
You can also find me online at www.peopleprohrsolutions.com!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey y'all, it's Misty and I'm back this week with a
new episode, and this isactually going to be more of a
bonus episode, because this isnot a topic that I intended on
having, because it's something Iactually had never heard of
before.
So I'm really excited to bringit to the podcast today, and
with me I have two amazingpeople who love their jobs
because they are here to helppeople, and I just from my
(00:22):
experience with them, I knowthat they they love helping
people in a time of need, andthat's exactly what this would
be for somebody.
So I'm really excited to haveTrey Ross he is the VP of
Outplacement Services withCareers Launch and Mark Lefevre,
he is the president of OutreachOutplacement Services with
Career Launch, and we're talkingabout that outplacement
services and, if you are like me, I had no idea what
(00:44):
outplacement services were, andso when I got to get on a call
with these two and talk aboutthis and realize what a huge
benefit this could be tocompanies, I knew we had to have
a conversation about it.
So thank you guys for being ontoday and being willing to come
on and talk about these services.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Thank you.
Thank you for those kind words,misty.
You're doing us a disservice,so we appreciate all the
compliments.
We can get Excited to be hereand chat a little bit about
outplacement and kind of itsrole in HR but not just with HR
but for employees and for theorganization, of how we can kind
of what outplacement is.
Outplacement services arebasically designed to take care
(01:29):
of former employees duringcareer transitions.
So most of the time when you'relooking up and you're dealing
with outplacement it's typicallyaround like layoffs or plant
closures or things like that.
But it's also an asset thatorganizations can leverage to
help during terminations orrestructurings or things like
that to protect their employerbrand but also boost employee
(01:52):
morale and it also helps protectthem and mitigate any potential
litigation risk that they runinto and decreasing the risk and
likelihood of unemploymentclaims being passed through to
the organization if theseemployees aren't able to find
work Right.
So what we've created here andMark is the architect and the
(02:15):
Michelangelo, if you will, ofthe Careers Launch Academy.
I'll let him kind of explainhimself, but he's a legend and
knows everything there is abouthow to find jobs in the current
job market.
He's been an executive careercoach for over 15 years and
brings with him a massive amountof knowledge about how to
navigate LinkedIn and differentapplicant tracking systems and
(02:38):
different things that you can doto land your jobs, and he's
developed and curated theCareers Launch Academy to tailor
and meet the needs of everyemployee, whether they're an
individual contributor or ahigh-level manager or executive
trying to land their nextposition as well.
The Careers Launch Academy iswhat we call our outplacement
(02:58):
service that an organizationwill enroll their employees into
, and what it is is there's atotal of six modules that the
employees can go through.
We kind of have like a rule ofthumb it's meant to take about
90 days for employees to gothrough, but they can actually
self-pace it, so if they'd liketo go faster, they can speed it
up if they're looking to dosomething, or they can also wait
(03:21):
before they engage or engage atit in a time that's convenient
for them in their currentsituation.
So, mark, is there anythingspecific on the, on the modules
that you want to bring up orthat stick out to you?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And Trey, I'm listening to this.
If outplacement has neverreached your ears before, you
know you can imagine what itwould feel like as an employee
getting laid off.
You know, at no fault of yourown, maybe there's a restructure
, maybe there's a downsizing.
You know there's a millionreasons for layoffs and that's
(04:04):
where outplacement is most oftenemployed.
And so you can imagine theconversation that HR has got to
have, right?
So if you're involved in HR,you know it's probably your
worst nightmares to have to letsomeone go and have that
conversation and then, on thereceiving end of the layoff,
it's like, oh my gosh, like yourlisteners can't see me, but I
(04:25):
don't have any hair, I was goingto say my hair's on fire, but
mine can't.
But anyways.
But yeah, being able to takecare of someone from a career
standpoint and help them getre-employed somewhere else,
that's what we do.
And so myself you know alongtime career coach just
(04:45):
understanding what the modernjob market looks like, and for
somebody to be able to go.
Okay, how am I going to updatemy resume?
How am I going to do myLinkedIn profile?
You know that's theprofessional profile.
But, more importantly, how do Inavigate the job market.
What kind of coaching do I needto be able to do this?
Trey mentioned stateunemployment and this might be a
(05:07):
little golden nugget ofeducation for a lot of your
listeners that may notunderstand this.
The state SUTA is the acronymS-U-T-A, it's the State
Unemployment Tax Act, and whatthat is is every corporation
pays some kind of stateunemployment tax and the state
(05:28):
dictates that rate based off ofa lot of different factors.
You know number of employees,how long you've been in business
but one of the biggestdetermining factors is something
called your experience rating,and that experience rating is
dictated by the number ofunemployment claims filed with
your company.
So you can imagine you letsomebody go and every state's a
(05:50):
little bit different, but moststates you can actually file
pretty quick after you're laidoff and if the state notices
that there's a lot ofunemployment claims, they can
hike up your unemployment taxrate.
It's your payroll tax and youend up paying a lot of money on
the back end for that.
(06:12):
So I'm thinking of myself as anorganization.
Letting somebody go, I'm goingto go.
Okay, I want my people.
Obviously I want to take careof them.
It's the right thing to do,right.
It's going to obviously helpour brand and we want our
employees to speak well of ourcompany.
They might say, hey, I was laidoff, but you know what?
They bent over backwards tohelp me out.
(06:32):
But even from the cold heartedmoney standpoint it's like, hey,
this is going to help us savesome money down the road and we
also would love to avoid anywrongful termination legal
action, right?
So you know, helping someoneout reduces the likelihood of
someone seeking legal action forwrongful termination.
(06:54):
So our Careers Launch Academy isa module-based system where we
reach out proactively.
So the employer just sends usnames, contact information for
their people.
It's typically added as part ofa severance package.
That's normally how it happened.
You know, a lot of times you'regoing to want to facilitate
(07:14):
some kind of a release ofliability.
You know that typically isgoing to come with the severance
.
And then those people we havethe names, we reach out to them.
Hey, welcome to the CareersLaunch Academy, let's get you
enrolled.
And it's a module-based programthat they'll go through through
90 days.
So, misty, I'm going to stopthere.
I'm giving a lot of informationhere, but I think that those
(07:36):
are some important points tounderstand about outplacement.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yeah, and I think it's great information because,
even from my perspective as anHR professional and having had
some of those conversations, itis hard when you have someone
sitting across from you and youknow essentially you're holding
their livelihood in your handsand you're fixing, to have to
tell them that that livelihoodis fixing to completely change
and, like you said, it's nofault of the company necessarily
(08:00):
, it's definitely no fault oftheirs.
So it's great to know that thisis a service that is available
to companies to be able to helpmake that transition a little
smoother to where you knowthey're not just left thinking,
oh man, what do I do now?
So I love that y'all have that,and I think you've highlighted
some really important aspects ofthis and why it should be an
(08:20):
important conversation thatcompanies are having to
implement this service intotheir organization.
So I think that's great.
So can you talk a little morespecifically about you know,
Trey, you mentioned there's sixmodules that they go through, I
believe, in the Careers LaunchAcademy.
What do those modules look like?
What are they learning?
What is this helping them to do?
(08:40):
I know the end goal is to getthem back into the workforce,
but how is this going to setthem up and help them get do?
I know the end goal is to getthem back into the workforce,
but how is this going to setthem up and help them get there?
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yeah, great question.
I like to tag onto that as well.
It's like that age old adage.
The outplacement is like youcan give a man a fish or
severance right, or you canteach them how to fish, and
that's just part of this processto help them land back on their
feet, because most of theorganizations that we work with
most people that end up beinglaid off or things like that
they've been with theorganization for a long time and
(09:10):
then when they're just droppedthere, like we talked about,
they just don't know how tonavigate right.
And so the way that the modulesare set up is it's set up to
help them navigate not just theemotional side that they're
going through, but also thetangible things that they can
start implementing immediatelyto start getting into the
position that they want to getinto in the future.
So some of the things that arediscussed in the modules is
(09:33):
resume coaching and development,like how to focus on what
you've done and how toarticulate exactly what you've
done so you can stand outamongst all your peers as you're
interviewing.
The next strategy that Mark saidis the LinkedIn profile
development and strategy, whereyou're able to get feedback and
kind of resources to help youdevelop and tweak it to set it
up the right way and how tostart learning with LinkedIn.
(09:56):
The next module pushes into jobsearching tips and techniques
and how to leverage those.
We even have an entire modulefocused on interview or coaching
for different interviews,career path strategy, and then
we also close it out withnetworking opportunities or
networking strategies that theycan leverage to get the goal of
(10:17):
their dreams, versus justgetting something to kind of
move the pace along.
So and Mark's the professionalon this part and has really
taken a lot of time to dive inand curate this so it meets the
needs of every individual thatgoes through the program.
It can be a frontline employeeor a newer employee to an
(10:38):
experienced employee that has amassive resume and has
experienced a lot of differentthings in their life.
It's really curated to meetexactly what they want and how
they can improve piece by pieceto get exactly what they want.
Wouldn't you agree, mark?
Speaker 3 (10:51):
I would.
I would.
Yeah, trey, that's a greatexplanation of our product.
I'll add two quick things.
One is it's really reallyimportant to understand the
modern job market.
So when I say applicanttracking system, or ATS, in
regards to a resume, you knowmany of your listeners will
probably know what an ATS is,but you can imagine someone
(11:13):
that's been in their job for 15years and the last time they
applied was the early 2000s andapplicant tracking systems
weren't that big of a deal.
And so now creating a resumethat's ATS compliant is not only
crucial but it's 100% necessary.
You won't be able to find a jobwithout that.
So that's really reallyimportant.
(11:36):
But then also, as Trey alluded,to meeting the needs of the
individual.
So with our program it's a flatrate, but we have four
different levels of service.
So an individual contributor, amanager, a director or an
executive.
Those, those four levels ofemployees, are going to need
different things.
(11:56):
They're going to be atdifferent spots in their careers
.
If we're in a tech organization, we're working mostly with
software engineers.
That's a whole differentconversation than if we're in a
manufacturing environment and wehave technicians in a
manufacturing environment.
So we have to be able to reachthe need of the individual and
where they are in their careerto help them.
(12:17):
You know, if they want to getpromoted or if they want to stay
in and make more of a lateralmove, we've got to be able to
figure that out as well.
Make more of a lateral movewe've got to be able to figure
that out as well.
And so the program is designedfor 90 days.
And what's really important iswe have some there's some
competitors in this space.
Some of your listeners may haveheard of Lee Hekterison, lhh or
Wright Management or some ofthese other larger players, and
(12:40):
we we're very different fromthem.
We are very proactive and we'realso very transparent with the
employers that we work with.
So you're going to know thestatus of your people, so we're
going to reach out to those.
Every two weeks we're reportingback to you, letting you know
what's happening with your folks, whatever level of detail
(13:04):
you're interested in.
Some folks are like, hey, justtell us, are they employed or
not?
But others are like, hey, whathappened to Jim?
What happened with him?
So we want to make sure that wecover all of those bases as
we're engaging with an employer.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
And I was just going to take a step back too and kind
of just.
We've talked about a bunch ofthe different pieces of the
outplacement service that weprovide, but just to lay it out
as simple as possible and createan image for everybody,
basically the employees or therecently terminated or impacted
employees are the actual usersthat go through the program, but
(13:42):
the way that they are enrolledis HR or management communicates
with Mark and I and our teamand say hey, we have these
individuals that we would liketo enroll.
They send us that list, likeMark had mentioned prior, we
start the engagement processwith them and then, during that
engagement process, over that 90days, we then send a report
back to any stakeholders in theorganization.
(14:03):
Even though these employees areno longer participating, it's
still.
You have a vested interest andwant to know how are these
people doing, especially fromthe HR side.
I have yet to meet an HR managerwho doesn't care deeply about
their people and doesn't gothrough an emotional
rollercoaster as they're havingthose conversations and they,
like Mark said, they want toknow hey, how's Jim doing?
I've worked with Jim for thelast 10 years.
(14:25):
I just want to know how he'sdoing and from their standpoint
still with the organization.
It might be weird to like, hey,how are things going?
So we kind of provide thatinsight through that transition
period so that way when theyfind out things are moving in
the right direction then theycan reinitiate those
conversations if they would like, without it kind of being weird
or overstepping or kind ofwalking that fine line that HR
(14:49):
always has to do with reportingto the organization but then
also providing the data of howthis is a cost-saving initiative
to their executive team mainlyfinance the CEO, president,
(15:09):
whomever they might be reportingback to, that initiated the
layoff or terminations, etcetera.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
And so I want to follow up on something you said.
There is.
We've talked a lot about thisin the sense of a layoff
scenario, but is it somethingthat could also be used with an
employee termination or sometype of resignation?
Is it strictly a layoff service, or can it be used for others
as well?
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Yeah, thanks for clarifying on that.
We have a tendency to mainlyutilize the vocabulary of
layoffs and stuff, but reallyoutplacement is beneficial for
every type of an employee.
Now, some of the initialvernacular that we do have is
around the layoff situation, butwe just tailor and customize
that based on the situation thatthe current employee is in.
(15:56):
So if you're doing aresignation or a mutual
termination or whatever might behappening in that situation,
you can enroll employees in anytime that you would like.
I've actually been chatting witha couple of organizations that
mainly hire and work with, likeyounger employees that are
either in high school orrecently graduated from high
(16:18):
school, so like your zoos andyour restaurant places and
things like that and this issomething that they're actually
looking to implement, notnecessarily when they let go,
but to add as an added value ofwhy those younger workforce
that's another benefit of theseorganizations are looking to
(16:39):
implement this as part of theirbenefits package so they can
attract some of that youngtalent instead of just like hey,
come and work at this coolenvironment for three months,
you know, it's like hey,actually develop your skills and
learn how to navigate what yournext career steps are going to
look for, Because not everyorganization has employee roles
that are career roles.
(17:00):
Right, they're more steppingstones for their careers and, if
we can leverage opportunitiesand tools like the Careers
Launch Academy, it just buildsyour brand.
And then when you go into thoseinterviews, you go to those job
fairs, you have somethingtangible like hey, not only are
you going to work in a greatenvironment, but you're also
going to gain the skills thatyou need in real work life stuff
(17:22):
not just from going to schooland learning hey, this is how
you do a LinkedIn, but you'reactually going to learn from
professionals, who it's, that'swhat they do to help people get
their jobs.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Well, and so I kind of have two curveball questions
I'm going to throw at you and Ididn't discuss these ahead of
time.
So in talking about the layoffsituation, you know, a lot of
times in a layoff situation thecompanies will try their best to
bring those employees back atsome point.
We know that's not always thecase.
It could be that thatposition's being dissolved, or a
(17:53):
department's being dissolved,or a company may be moving.
Different things happen thatwould not allow for those
employees to be brought back.
But for a company who maybedoes have that mindset of oh
well, we're just going to bringthem back as soon as we can.
So why would we need yourservice?
What could you say to thosecompanies that could still use
(18:13):
this as a benefit to thoseemployees?
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yeah, I think that's great and a lot of the
organizations that we meet withthey do have those similar, same
concerns.
But I think it just goes downto hey, how valuable do you want
your workforce to be?
Right?
A lot of the times we alwayssay, like I've got three young
kids my oldest is six and we'restarting to teach him how to
(18:39):
like do things on his own and beokay with like, hey, go put
your plate in the sink, right,or do these little things.
And it's like we ask him to dothese things and then he doesn't
take his plate to the sink andwe have to get after him
constantly, right.
And then it's like hey, dude,take your, just take your plate
to the sink, like that's whatwe're asking for.
And so sometimes me, as theparent, I think I feel like the,
(19:03):
I would feel like the employeethat's in an environment like
that right, like I'm being toldone thing and it's never
happening.
Like my son, every time I askhim to take his plate to the
sink, like, yeah, dad, I'll takeit, I'll take it, I'll take it,
right.
But then I see him playing withhis monster trucks in the
living room and it's just likeI'm constantly being yo-yoed
back and forth of what I'mpromised but then actually
what's actually happening.
And so if you are doing that, Ithink it's fine.
(19:32):
It's a part of business that wecan't ignore that organizations
are doing layoffs and thentrying to hire them back.
But this yo-yo effect it ruinsthe reputation of the
organization from an employeeperspective and the feedback
they're receiving.
So by providing for them, themore you build your employees,
the more apt they are toincrease loyalty, as well as
actually seeing your praiseslike yeah, you know, this
happened, but I've been able todevelop X, y and Z because of
(19:54):
this and they're going toactually attract more people to
come to the organization, whichis going to be better qualified
employees.
I hope that analogy makes sense.
My wife always says that I livemy life in analogy at a time
and I hope that kind of madesense of the connection that I
was making with how I wouldemploy it and how I try to
(20:14):
explain it when we meet withorganizations.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Yeah, so one additional thought I would have
on that question, misty, andit's a great question If you are
in a process of expansion andcontraction and you let a
handful of people go, thelikelihood of getting that same
group back when you're ready tohire them is probably pretty low
and the attrition rate is high.
(20:41):
You're probably not going toget that same group back.
And so to piggyback off of Treywell, that can really have an
impact on your brand.
In a previous career I was inaerospace manufacturing and in
that world it's very expansiveand contractive.
Just depends on what themarket's doing and folks are
(21:02):
being let go and hired back.
The same position is hired back,but it's almost always a
different face.
And so when you're lettingfolks go, I think what we're
trying to provide is hey, let ushelp you from an administrative
standpoint, make thatconversation go a lot smoother,
protect yourself, and then yourbrand is good.
(21:24):
So when it comes time to, hey,let's hire some more people,
your company doesn't have thisblack stain on it they're not
thinking okay, well, this isgoing to be a temporary gig, I'm
going to let go here prettyquick.
So it helps.
That probably help you hirebetter, also by taking care of
your people.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Absolutely so.
One thing we have not talkedabout and I do want to get into
how companies can implement thisinto their organizations.
But before we touch on that,something that you mentioned
earlier made me think about thisWith our HR association, we
work really closely with collegeand universities to establish
(22:02):
student chapters and differentthings to get students involved
in the HR field before they everget into the workforce, and I
could see even this being abenefit to students who I'm in
Mississippi and a lot of ourschools especially.
Growing up, nobody taught usabout resume writing and how to
do interviews professionally,and but you know those resources
(22:23):
were not available.
I think we're doing a littlebetter on that now today.
But even this, taking thatservice a step further, do you
integrate and work with collegesand universities to help those
who are going into the workforcewith some of these same skills?
Speaker 3 (22:42):
I think the answer is absolutely yes.
The Careers Launch Academywould be designed its best
practices when it comes tofinding a job, and so most
universities are going to have acareer services department,
right, they're going to havefolks that are engaged in that
very process.
Now, whether or not a studentdecides to take advantage of
that is up to them, right, butour Careers Launch Academy I
(23:05):
would put that up against anycareer services department out
there.
And so if they wanted to engageour services that way and run
their students through ourprogram as they're approaching
graduation or approachinginternships, absolutely We'd
love to do that.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Awesome.
I just see it being a hugebenefit, with even thinking
about myself coming out ofcollege how much something like
this would have helped.
Honestly, I can't tell you if Iever even stepped foot in our
career services department, butI could see how this could have
easily helped with having somethings a little more polished on
the front end to make thatsearch and that transition and
those interviews go a littlemore smoothly.
(23:43):
Trey, were you going to add tothat?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Yeah, I was going to make a joke and say the same
thing.
I never stepped foot one timein a career services center when
I was going to school either,but I think there's a lot of
value.
I think school and educationhas its place in how we learn
and develop and grow and we geta really good overview of a lot
(24:07):
of concepts and then, as wepursue further education, we get
to do a little bit more of adeep dive.
The benefit of the CareersLaunch Academy is that it's
literally developed byprofessionals that help
professionals find legit, realjobs, so it's not just based in
theory, which is what we a lotof the times we deal with in a
traditional school setting ismore theory-based, but this is
(24:28):
actual, like real life stuffthat's happening right now, in
2025, 2026.
Whenever you're listening tothis, it's like the Careers
Launch Academy is being updatedand constantly improved and
tweaked to meet the needs of thecurrent environment, which,
like Mark said, I would pit theCareers Launch Academy against
(24:48):
any other service provider outthere, because most of them are
stuck in the theory side of likehey, just smile and wave and
enunciate and cut out all of theums and the hums and the uhs,
when you're doing an interviewand you're going to do great,
but it's like there's so manymore things that go into job
interviews and getting the rightcareer and moving into the
(25:09):
place that you want, and if mostof the organizations you're
working within, these collegesare in HR, it's like I've yet to
talk to an HR manager whohasn't done of their own free
will and choice.
They've done like some sort ofcoaching to help employees,
especially their friends, duringthese layoffs and terminations,
(25:30):
and they're just kind of goingat it like, hey, this is what I
think will work.
This is what I've seen.
That's been good.
These are good resumes thatI've seen, um, and they're just
piecemealing things together,but this gives you a foundation.
That's like hey, um, bill, I'dlove to work with you.
I'm really excited that youactually can enroll into this
careers launch academy and I'llbe here as a resource for you to
(25:50):
help you as you're navigatingthe curriculum and going through
the modules and kind of tellyou what I've seen in my
experience.
So you become, you stay thereand move into the position that
you want to be and help those HR, young HR professionals realize
how important all of theinterviewing processes is the
resumes and all of that type ofstuff that they're going to be
(26:13):
constantly dealing with andinterviewing people all the time
.
This is just going to help themsee, hey, this is actually
somebody we really want and needbecause of these factors that
they'll see, because they'vebeen through it themselves.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
And I love that about this whole setup is that it can
yes, it can help those who arebeing laid off or not in the
workforce currently, but tryingto get back in the workforce,
but it also can help on thefront end going into the
workforce.
So it kind of has that twofoldpurpose is what I call it of.
There's not really anybody whocouldn't benefit from these
(26:46):
services, and so that's what Ilove about this service, and I
love that it's set up in a wayto really set people up for
success when going into thesenew careers or their first
career or having to transitionto a different company or a
different field of work.
I really feel like it's a hugebenefit.
Now, I know we've talked a lotabout what careers launch can do
(27:08):
, what outplacement services are, but I think one thing that
people would love to hear issome of the data on the
information.
How successful is this program?
What kind of rates are youseeing when it's people leaving
this program, getting back intothe workforce?
What does that success looklike on that end?
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Hey, great question.
Yeah, so when it comes to datawith something like this, the
person is self-paced through ourprogram, and the reason I say
the self-paced thing is becausewe want to track their
satisfaction through the process.
It's kind of hard to track aspecific job placement, and
(27:52):
here's what I mean by that.
Somebody gets laid off and theyget a severance and they're
like you know what?
I'm taking a vacation for 60days.
I'm not going to touch this fora little bit.
Later Somebody else might go ohmy gosh, I just got laid off.
I want all the resources rightnow.
And so what we're reallytracking is the individual's
satisfaction rate as they'regoing through the process.
(28:14):
And yeah, absolutely we want tosurvey them as they exit the
careers, launch academy andunderstand hey, did you get a
job?
But what we're asking is areyou satisfied with your current
job situation?
Because some of them might belike yeah, I'm not in a rush.
Others might be like I'mactually interviewing like crazy
right now because of theresources I got, I'm getting
(28:36):
interviews and I'm verysatisfied with what I have right
now.
So we have very high ratings.
Most of the folks that gothrough with us when I say most
of the folks, I mean 85, 90percent of them are satisfied
with the services that we'reproviding and they're going
through it.
So it's.
I don't mean to sound a littlebit vague here, but it is a
(28:58):
little bit of a nuanced datacollection process as we're
going through, because everyindividual has a different story
and a different motive for whatthey're going through.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
So when we talk about this service and implementing
it into our organizations andmaking it part of that benefit
package or making it part of ourtalent management or however
we're going to implement thatinto our organization, how
seamless of a process is thatwith working with you guys?
I know throughout the callwe've talked about all you need
is a name and email address.
(29:27):
I mean, is it truly that simpleto get this integrated into the
organization?
Speaker 3 (29:33):
The answer is yes.
We're going to put an MSA inplace master service agreement
and then, when you are ready,all we do is we send you an
Excel spreadsheet template.
You drop the names, emails,phone numbers into that and then
we take it from there and youmove on with what you've got
going on in your business and wereturn a report.
(29:54):
Trey, were you going to saysomething in addition to that?
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Yeah, I was just going to say the MSA is just
more in the point of locking inthe price points that you have.
There's no retainer fee,there's no onboarding, there's
no initiation costs, there's nocommitment to lay off 50% of
your staff the minute you signor anything like that.
It's more like hey, we work foryou.
So you're basically justputting another arrow in your
(30:19):
quiver.
In the event you need toleverage something like this,
you can reach into it, pull usout and then start rolling it
out literally in less than 24hours.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
That's great, and Trey brings up a really good
point.
If you're listening to this andyou're thinking, boy, we're not
going to do really anyreductions in force now, but we
maybe see something coming downthe road or we just want to be
ready in case it does reach outto us, let's put an MSA in place
.
There's no commitment unlessyou decide to lay somebody off,
but it's something that's reallygood to have thought through
(30:55):
and be prepared for.
So in the case of some kind ofa transition or activity within
your company, you've already gotsomething going.
You don't have to go throughthe vetting process in the heat
of all the action.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
I am 100% a champion of the service.
I can't believe I had not heardof the service prior to us
having a conversation severalweeks ago, and I've been excited
to be sharing this with myclients and letting them know
that this is a service that isavailable and how it can help
them, and a lot of them had noteven heard about placement
services and what that was.
So I'm really glad that we'reable to have this conversation
(31:31):
today and talk through some ofthis, and I know there's so much
more to uncover about theseservices and how they can even
offer more benefits than whatwe've had time to cover today.
But I want to give you all achance to give any final
thoughts.
Had time to cover today, but Iwant to give you all a chance to
give any final thoughts and, aswe wrap up, I would love it if
you could share how people canfind more information, how they
can connect with you, because Ithink it's something that we all
(31:52):
should really be jumping on andbecause it's one of those
priceless benefits.
There is a cost to it, but Ifeel like when you are in those
hard conversations and you arehaving to go through these
processes, it's really apriceless benefit to be able to
offer someone peace of mind, toknow that they have something
that can set them up for successgoing forward.
So please share thatinformation, how people can get
in touch with you and any finalthoughts you may have.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Yeah, missy, thanks for sharing all of those things
and being here and putting us inthis platform to be able to
communicate and share with otherpeople, because there's so many
people who don't know about allof the resources that are
available, just like I didn'teven know that there was a
career source uh thing incollege, right.
So leveraging having thisopportunity and this platform to
(32:35):
share content like this isreally what it's all about, and
thank you for everything thatyou've done to go about above
and beyond and and let us to behere on this show and be able to
chat about what we feel reallyconfident about and really it
comes down to.
We just want to take care ofpeople the best way possible,
and everyone always talks abouthow to take care of your people
when you're hiring them and howto take care of them when they
(32:57):
are your current employee, butit usually drops off right there
at the end of the life cycleand, yes, this isn't necessarily
as positive of a topic thatpeople are usually excited or
wake up in the morning to talkabout, but it is a part of life,
unfortunately, and the betterwe can be prepared for it and
your listeners and we can helpthem leverage the tools that are
(33:19):
at their disposal, the easierit's going to be for them as
they're navigating thesedifficult situations, which
inevitably will come in anybusiness right.
And so those are kind of mylast thoughts, but this has been
awesome.
The best place to connect withus is just online
careerslaunchcom.
(33:40):
You can actually request or setup a demo by hitting one of the
links, and it can book a timeon both Mark and I's calendar.
Or you can email me mine's TreyT-R-A-Y at careerslaunchcom,
and then my name on LinkedIn ismy full name, which is Treko, so
T-R-A-Y-C-O Ross, and youshould be able to find me.
(34:04):
If you find another Traco, hitme up and send me a screenshot
and let me know if you findanother Traco, because I'm still
waiting to find them.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
So Mark any final thoughts you want to add to that
?
Speaker 3 (34:16):
Yeah, misty, this has been wonderful.
We love what you're doing, andall I'm going to say at the end
is let's have a conversation.
If you want to know more aboutthis, if you want to have a
no-obligation conversation, dropyourself onto our calendar and
let's talk.
We would love to talk with youabout the logistics and how this
(34:38):
works and, at the end of theday, I'm going to back tray 100%
.
We just want to take care ofpeople.
And at the end of the day, I'mgoing to back tray 100%.
We just want to take care ofpeople.
And it's a bright spot in apretty dark conversation, and
you can just imagine how mucheasier it is to have the
conversation.
Letting somebody go hey, we'vegot to let you go, but we want
to take care of you and here'scareers launch.
(35:00):
They're going to take care ofyou.
So thanks again for having uson.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
I get that.
It's a negative spot in a lotof people's day sometimes when
they have to have theseconversations.
But I am on fire for thisservice because I feel like
myself personally as an HRprofessional, I always felt like
there was never a you know, youknow how you have a
relationship and then there'sthat breakup and sometimes you
feel like there's no closurethere.
I kind of felt the same withwhen you're having to let people
(35:27):
go.
It was it's like there was noend to the life cycle and there
was no way to continue helpingthose people outside of just
ruining their day.
And so I love, love, love thatthere is this service out there
to to continue that life cycleand to get them back in the
workforce as quickly as theywant to be there and set them up
(35:47):
for success in doing that.
So I'm on fire for this service.
I think you have a heart andpassion for people just as much
as a lot of HR professionals outthere do, and this is just one
of those things that gives usthat closure and continues that
life cycle for that employee,and I think it's something that
would truly, truly benefit somany organizations, big or small
.
So the fact that this is evenavailable.
(36:08):
I mean, I am so excited thatit's out there and that we get
to have these conversations.
So thank you guys for beinghere.
We will have all of Trey's andMark's information in the show
notes so that you can easilyreach out to them
careerslaunchcom, if you want togo ahead and get on their
calendar.
It is definitely worth aconversation in seeing how this
service can benefit yourorganization and we will see you
(36:31):
next time on the People LeadersPlaybook.
Hey y'all, it's Misty and I'm back this week with a
new episode, and this isactually going to be more of a
bonus episode, because this isnot a topic that I intended on
having, because it's something Iactually had never heard of
before.
So I'm really excited to bringit to the podcast today, and
with me I have two amazingpeople who love their jobs
because they are here to helppeople, and I just from my
(00:22):
experience with them, I knowthat they they love helping
people in a time of need, andthat's exactly what this would
be for somebody.
So I'm really excited to haveTrey Ross he is the VP of
Outplacement Services withCareers Launch and Mark Lefevre,
he is the president of OutreachOutplacement Services with
Career Launch, and we're talkingabout that outplacement
services and, if you are like me, I had no idea what
(00:44):
outplacement services were, andso when I got to get on a call
with these two and talk aboutthis and realize what a huge
benefit this could be tocompanies, I knew we had to have
a conversation about it.
So thank you guys for being ontoday and being willing to come
on and talk about these services.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Thank you.
Thank you for those kind words,misty.
You're doing us a disservice,so we appreciate all the
compliments.
We can get Excited to be hereand chat a little bit about
outplacement and kind of itsrole in HR but not just with HR
but for employees and for theorganization, of how we can kind
of what outplacement is.
Outplacement services arebasically designed to take care
(01:29):
of former employees duringcareer transitions.
So most of the time when you'relooking up and you're dealing
with outplacement it's typicallyaround like layoffs or plant
closures or things like that.
But it's also an asset thatorganizations can leverage to
help during terminations orrestructurings or things like
that to protect their employerbrand but also boost employee
(01:52):
morale and it also helps protectthem and mitigate any potential
litigation risk that they runinto and decreasing the risk and
likelihood of unemploymentclaims being passed through to
the organization if theseemployees aren't able to find
work Right.
So what we've created here andMark is the architect and the
(02:15):
Michelangelo, if you will, ofthe Careers Launch Academy.
I'll let him kind of explainhimself, but he's a legend and
knows everything there is abouthow to find jobs in the current
job market.
He's been an executive careercoach for over 15 years and
brings with him a massive amountof knowledge about how to
navigate LinkedIn and differentapplicant tracking systems and
(02:38):
different things that you can doto land your jobs, and he's
developed and curated theCareers Launch Academy to tailor
and meet the needs of everyemployee, whether they're an
individual contributor or ahigh-level manager or executive
trying to land their nextposition as well.
The Careers Launch Academy iswhat we call our outplacement
(02:58):
service that an organizationwill enroll their employees into
, and what it is is there's atotal of six modules that the
employees can go through.
We kind of have like a rule ofthumb it's meant to take about
90 days for employees to gothrough, but they can actually
self-pace it, so if they'd liketo go faster, they can speed it
up if they're looking to dosomething, or they can also wait
(03:21):
before they engage or engage atit in a time that's convenient
for them in their currentsituation.
So, mark, is there anythingspecific on the, on the modules
that you want to bring up orthat stick out to you?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And Trey, I'm listening to this.
If outplacement has neverreached your ears before, you
know you can imagine what itwould feel like as an employee
getting laid off.
You know, at no fault of yourown, maybe there's a restructure
, maybe there's a downsizing.
You know there's a millionreasons for layoffs and that's
(04:04):
where outplacement is most oftenemployed.
And so you can imagine theconversation that HR has got to
have, right?
So if you're involved in HR,you know it's probably your
worst nightmares to have to letsomeone go and have that
conversation and then, on thereceiving end of the layoff,
it's like, oh my gosh, like yourlisteners can't see me, but I
(04:25):
don't have any hair, I was goingto say my hair's on fire, but
mine can't.
But anyways.
But yeah, being able to takecare of someone from a career
standpoint and help them getre-employed somewhere else,
that's what we do.
And so myself you know alongtime career coach just
(04:45):
understanding what the modernjob market looks like, and for
somebody to be able to go.
Okay, how am I going to updatemy resume?
How am I going to do myLinkedIn profile?
You know that's theprofessional profile.
But, more importantly, how do Inavigate the job market.
What kind of coaching do I needto be able to do this?
Trey mentioned stateunemployment and this might be a
(05:07):
little golden nugget ofeducation for a lot of your
listeners that may notunderstand this.
The state SUTA is the acronymS-U-T-A, it's the State
Unemployment Tax Act, and whatthat is is every corporation
pays some kind of stateunemployment tax and the state
(05:28):
dictates that rate based off ofa lot of different factors.
You know number of employees,how long you've been in business
but one of the biggestdetermining factors is something
called your experience rating,and that experience rating is
dictated by the number ofunemployment claims filed with
your company.
So you can imagine you letsomebody go and every state's a
(05:50):
little bit different, but moststates you can actually file
pretty quick after you're laidoff and if the state notices
that there's a lot ofunemployment claims, they can
hike up your unemployment taxrate.
It's your payroll tax and youend up paying a lot of money on
the back end for that.
(06:12):
So I'm thinking of myself as anorganization.
Letting somebody go, I'm goingto go.
Okay, I want my people.
Obviously I want to take careof them.
It's the right thing to do,right.
It's going to obviously helpour brand and we want our
employees to speak well of ourcompany.
They might say, hey, I was laidoff, but you know what?
They bent over backwards tohelp me out.
(06:32):
But even from the cold heartedmoney standpoint it's like, hey,
this is going to help us savesome money down the road and we
also would love to avoid anywrongful termination legal
action, right?
So you know, helping someoneout reduces the likelihood of
someone seeking legal action forwrongful termination.
(06:54):
So our Careers Launch Academy isa module-based system where we
reach out proactively.
So the employer just sends usnames, contact information for
their people.
It's typically added as part ofa severance package.
That's normally how it happened.
You know, a lot of times you'regoing to want to facilitate
(07:14):
some kind of a release ofliability.
You know that typically isgoing to come with the severance
.
And then those people we havethe names, we reach out to them.
Hey, welcome to the CareersLaunch Academy, let's get you
enrolled.
And it's a module-based programthat they'll go through through
90 days.
So, misty, I'm going to stopthere.
I'm giving a lot of informationhere, but I think that those
(07:36):
are some important points tounderstand about outplacement.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yeah, and I think it's great information because,
even from my perspective as anHR professional and having had
some of those conversations, itis hard when you have someone
sitting across from you and youknow essentially you're holding
their livelihood in your handsand you're fixing, to have to
tell them that that livelihoodis fixing to completely change
and, like you said, it's nofault of the company necessarily
(08:00):
, it's definitely no fault oftheirs.
So it's great to know that thisis a service that is available
to companies to be able to helpmake that transition a little
smoother to where you knowthey're not just left thinking,
oh man, what do I do now?
So I love that y'all have that,and I think you've highlighted
some really important aspects ofthis and why it should be an
(08:20):
important conversation thatcompanies are having to
implement this service intotheir organization.
So I think that's great.
So can you talk a little morespecifically about you know,
Trey, you mentioned there's sixmodules that they go through, I
believe, in the Careers LaunchAcademy.
What do those modules look like?
What are they learning?
What is this helping them to do?
(08:40):
I know the end goal is to getthem back into the workforce,
but how is this going to setthem up and help them get do?
I know the end goal is to getthem back into the workforce,
but how is this going to setthem up and help them get there?
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yeah, great question.
I like to tag onto that as well.
It's like that age old adage.
The outplacement is like youcan give a man a fish or
severance right, or you canteach them how to fish, and
that's just part of this processto help them land back on their
feet, because most of theorganizations that we work with
most people that end up beinglaid off or things like that
they've been with theorganization for a long time and
(09:10):
then when they're just droppedthere, like we talked about,
they just don't know how tonavigate right.
And so the way that the modulesare set up is it's set up to
help them navigate not just theemotional side that they're
going through, but also thetangible things that they can
start implementing immediatelyto start getting into the
position that they want to getinto in the future.
So some of the things that arediscussed in the modules is
(09:33):
resume coaching and development,like how to focus on what
you've done and how toarticulate exactly what you've
done so you can stand outamongst all your peers as you're
interviewing.
The next strategy that Mark saidis the LinkedIn profile
development and strategy, whereyou're able to get feedback and
kind of resources to help youdevelop and tweak it to set it
up the right way and how tostart learning with LinkedIn.
(09:56):
The next module pushes into jobsearching tips and techniques
and how to leverage those.
We even have an entire modulefocused on interview or coaching
for different interviews,career path strategy, and then
we also close it out withnetworking opportunities or
networking strategies that theycan leverage to get the goal of
(10:17):
their dreams, versus justgetting something to kind of
move the pace along.
So and Mark's the professionalon this part and has really
taken a lot of time to dive inand curate this so it meets the
needs of every individual thatgoes through the program.
It can be a frontline employeeor a newer employee to an
(10:38):
experienced employee that has amassive resume and has
experienced a lot of differentthings in their life.
It's really curated to meetexactly what they want and how
they can improve piece by pieceto get exactly what they want.
Wouldn't you agree, mark?
Speaker 3 (10:51):
I would.
I would.
Yeah, trey, that's a greatexplanation of our product.
I'll add two quick things.
One is it's really reallyimportant to understand the
modern job market.
So when I say applicanttracking system, or ATS, in
regards to a resume, you knowmany of your listeners will
probably know what an ATS is,but you can imagine someone
(11:13):
that's been in their job for 15years and the last time they
applied was the early 2000s andapplicant tracking systems
weren't that big of a deal.
And so now creating a resumethat's ATS compliant is not only
crucial but it's 100% necessary.
You won't be able to find a jobwithout that.
So that's really reallyimportant.
(11:36):
But then also, as Trey alluded,to meeting the needs of the
individual.
So with our program it's a flatrate, but we have four
different levels of service.
So an individual contributor, amanager, a director or an
executive.
Those, those four levels ofemployees, are going to need
different things.
(11:56):
They're going to be atdifferent spots in their careers
.
If we're in a tech organization, we're working mostly with
software engineers.
That's a whole differentconversation than if we're in a
manufacturing environment and wehave technicians in a
manufacturing environment.
So we have to be able to reachthe need of the individual and
where they are in their careerto help them.
(12:17):
You know, if they want to getpromoted or if they want to stay
in and make more of a lateralmove, we've got to be able to
figure that out as well.
Make more of a lateral movewe've got to be able to figure
that out as well.
And so the program is designedfor 90 days.
And what's really important iswe have some there's some
competitors in this space.
Some of your listeners may haveheard of Lee Hekterison, lhh or
Wright Management or some ofthese other larger players, and
(12:40):
we we're very different fromthem.
We are very proactive and we'realso very transparent with the
employers that we work with.
So you're going to know thestatus of your people, so we're
going to reach out to those.
Every two weeks we're reportingback to you, letting you know
what's happening with your folks, whatever level of detail
(13:04):
you're interested in.
Some folks are like, hey, justtell us, are they employed or
not?
But others are like, hey, whathappened to Jim?
What happened with him?
So we want to make sure that wecover all of those bases as
we're engaging with an employer.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
And I was just going to take a step back too and kind
of just.
We've talked about a bunch ofthe different pieces of the
outplacement service that weprovide, but just to lay it out
as simple as possible and createan image for everybody,
basically the employees or therecently terminated or impacted
employees are the actual usersthat go through the program, but
(13:42):
the way that they are enrolledis HR or management communicates
with Mark and I and our teamand say hey, we have these
individuals that we would liketo enroll.
They send us that list, likeMark had mentioned prior, we
start the engagement processwith them and then, during that
engagement process, over that 90days, we then send a report
back to any stakeholders in theorganization.
(14:03):
Even though these employees areno longer participating, it's
still.
You have a vested interest andwant to know how are these
people doing, especially fromthe HR side.
I have yet to meet an HR managerwho doesn't care deeply about
their people and doesn't gothrough an emotional
rollercoaster as they're havingthose conversations and they,
like Mark said, they want toknow hey, how's Jim doing?
I've worked with Jim for thelast 10 years.
(14:25):
I just want to know how he'sdoing and from their standpoint
still with the organization.
It might be weird to like, hey,how are things going?
So we kind of provide thatinsight through that transition
period so that way when theyfind out things are moving in
the right direction then theycan reinitiate those
conversations if they would like, without it kind of being weird
or overstepping or kind ofwalking that fine line that HR
(14:49):
always has to do with reportingto the organization but then
also providing the data of howthis is a cost-saving initiative
to their executive team mainlyfinance the CEO, president,
(15:09):
whomever they might be reportingback to, that initiated the
layoff or terminations, etcetera.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
And so I want to follow up on something you said.
There is.
We've talked a lot about thisin the sense of a layoff
scenario, but is it somethingthat could also be used with an
employee termination or sometype of resignation?
Is it strictly a layoff service, or can it be used for others
as well?
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Yeah, thanks for clarifying on that.
We have a tendency to mainlyutilize the vocabulary of
layoffs and stuff, but reallyoutplacement is beneficial for
every type of an employee.
Now, some of the initialvernacular that we do have is
around the layoff situation, butwe just tailor and customize
that based on the situation thatthe current employee is in.
(15:56):
So if you're doing aresignation or a mutual
termination or whatever might behappening in that situation,
you can enroll employees in anytime that you would like.
I've actually been chatting witha couple of organizations that
mainly hire and work with, likeyounger employees that are
either in high school orrecently graduated from high
(16:18):
school, so like your zoos andyour restaurant places and
things like that and this issomething that they're actually
looking to implement, notnecessarily when they let go,
but to add as an added value ofwhy those younger workforce
that's another benefit of theseorganizations are looking to
(16:39):
implement this as part of theirbenefits package so they can
attract some of that youngtalent instead of just like hey,
come and work at this coolenvironment for three months,
you know, it's like hey,actually develop your skills and
learn how to navigate what yournext career steps are going to
look for, Because not everyorganization has employee roles
that are career roles.
(17:00):
Right, they're more steppingstones for their careers and, if
we can leverage opportunitiesand tools like the Careers
Launch Academy, it just buildsyour brand.
And then when you go into thoseinterviews, you go to those job
fairs, you have somethingtangible like hey, not only are
you going to work in a greatenvironment, but you're also
going to gain the skills thatyou need in real work life stuff
(17:22):
not just from going to schooland learning hey, this is how
you do a LinkedIn, but you'reactually going to learn from
professionals, who it's, that'swhat they do to help people get
their jobs.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Well, and so I kind of have two curveball questions
I'm going to throw at you and Ididn't discuss these ahead of
time.
So in talking about the layoffsituation, you know, a lot of
times in a layoff situation thecompanies will try their best to
bring those employees back atsome point.
We know that's not always thecase.
It could be that thatposition's being dissolved, or a
(17:53):
department's being dissolved,or a company may be moving.
Different things happen thatwould not allow for those
employees to be brought back.
But for a company who maybedoes have that mindset of oh
well, we're just going to bringthem back as soon as we can.
So why would we need yourservice?
What could you say to thosecompanies that could still use
(18:13):
this as a benefit to thoseemployees?
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yeah, I think that's great and a lot of the
organizations that we meet withthey do have those similar, same
concerns.
But I think it just goes downto hey, how valuable do you want
your workforce to be?
Right?
A lot of the times we alwayssay, like I've got three young
kids my oldest is six and we'restarting to teach him how to
(18:39):
like do things on his own and beokay with like, hey, go put
your plate in the sink, right,or do these little things.
And it's like we ask him to dothese things and then he doesn't
take his plate to the sink andwe have to get after him
constantly, right.
And then it's like hey, dude,take your, just take your plate
to the sink, like that's whatwe're asking for.
And so sometimes me, as theparent, I think I feel like the,
(19:03):
I would feel like the employeethat's in an environment like
that right, like I'm being toldone thing and it's never
happening.
Like my son, every time I askhim to take his plate to the
sink, like, yeah, dad, I'll takeit, I'll take it, I'll take it,
right.
But then I see him playing withhis monster trucks in the
living room and it's just likeI'm constantly being yo-yoed
back and forth of what I'mpromised but then actually
what's actually happening.
And so if you are doing that, Ithink it's fine.
(19:32):
It's a part of business that wecan't ignore that organizations
are doing layoffs and thentrying to hire them back.
But this yo-yo effect it ruinsthe reputation of the
organization from an employeeperspective and the feedback
they're receiving.
So by providing for them, themore you build your employees,
the more apt they are toincrease loyalty, as well as
actually seeing your praiseslike yeah, you know, this
happened, but I've been able todevelop X, y and Z because of
(19:54):
this and they're going toactually attract more people to
come to the organization, whichis going to be better qualified
employees.
I hope that analogy makes sense.
My wife always says that I livemy life in analogy at a time
and I hope that kind of madesense of the connection that I
was making with how I wouldemploy it and how I try to
(20:14):
explain it when we meet withorganizations.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Yeah, so one additional thought I would have
on that question, misty, andit's a great question If you are
in a process of expansion andcontraction and you let a
handful of people go, thelikelihood of getting that same
group back when you're ready tohire them is probably pretty low
and the attrition rate is high.
(20:41):
You're probably not going toget that same group back.
And so to piggyback off of Treywell, that can really have an
impact on your brand.
In a previous career I was inaerospace manufacturing and in
that world it's very expansiveand contractive.
Just depends on what themarket's doing and folks are
(21:02):
being let go and hired back.
The same position is hired back,but it's almost always a
different face.
And so when you're lettingfolks go, I think what we're
trying to provide is hey, let ushelp you from an administrative
standpoint, make thatconversation go a lot smoother,
protect yourself, and then yourbrand is good.
(21:24):
So when it comes time to, hey,let's hire some more people,
your company doesn't have thisblack stain on it they're not
thinking okay, well, this isgoing to be a temporary gig, I'm
going to let go here prettyquick.
So it helps.
That probably help you hirebetter, also by taking care of
your people.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Absolutely so.
One thing we have not talkedabout and I do want to get into
how companies can implement thisinto their organizations.
But before we touch on that,something that you mentioned
earlier made me think about thisWith our HR association, we
work really closely with collegeand universities to establish
(22:02):
student chapters and differentthings to get students involved
in the HR field before they everget into the workforce, and I
could see even this being abenefit to students who I'm in
Mississippi and a lot of ourschools especially.
Growing up, nobody taught usabout resume writing and how to
do interviews professionally,and but you know those resources
(22:23):
were not available.
I think we're doing a littlebetter on that now today.
But even this, taking thatservice a step further, do you
integrate and work with collegesand universities to help those
who are going into the workforcewith some of these same skills?
Speaker 3 (22:42):
I think the answer is absolutely yes.
The Careers Launch Academywould be designed its best
practices when it comes tofinding a job, and so most
universities are going to have acareer services department,
right, they're going to havefolks that are engaged in that
very process.
Now, whether or not a studentdecides to take advantage of
that is up to them, right, butour Careers Launch Academy I
(23:05):
would put that up against anycareer services department out
there.
And so if they wanted to engageour services that way and run
their students through ourprogram as they're approaching
graduation or approachinginternships, absolutely We'd
love to do that.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Awesome.
I just see it being a hugebenefit, with even thinking
about myself coming out ofcollege how much something like
this would have helped.
Honestly, I can't tell you if Iever even stepped foot in our
career services department, butI could see how this could have
easily helped with having somethings a little more polished on
the front end to make thatsearch and that transition and
those interviews go a littlemore smoothly.
(23:43):
Trey, were you going to add tothat?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Yeah, I was going to make a joke and say the same
thing.
I never stepped foot one timein a career services center when
I was going to school either,but I think there's a lot of
value.
I think school and educationhas its place in how we learn
and develop and grow and we geta really good overview of a lot
(24:07):
of concepts and then, as wepursue further education, we get
to do a little bit more of adeep dive.
The benefit of the CareersLaunch Academy is that it's
literally developed byprofessionals that help
professionals find legit, realjobs, so it's not just based in
theory, which is what we a lotof the times we deal with in a
traditional school setting ismore theory-based, but this is
(24:28):
actual, like real life stuffthat's happening right now, in
2025, 2026.
Whenever you're listening tothis, it's like the Careers
Launch Academy is being updatedand constantly improved and
tweaked to meet the needs of thecurrent environment, which,
like Mark said, I would pit theCareers Launch Academy against
(24:48):
any other service provider outthere, because most of them are
stuck in the theory side of likehey, just smile and wave and
enunciate and cut out all of theums and the hums and the uhs,
when you're doing an interviewand you're going to do great,
but it's like there's so manymore things that go into job
interviews and getting the rightcareer and moving into the
(25:09):
place that you want, and if mostof the organizations you're
working within, these collegesare in HR, it's like I've yet to
talk to an HR manager whohasn't done of their own free
will and choice.
They've done like some sort ofcoaching to help employees,
especially their friends, duringthese layoffs and terminations,
(25:30):
and they're just kind of goingat it like, hey, this is what I
think will work.
This is what I've seen.
That's been good.
These are good resumes thatI've seen, um, and they're just
piecemealing things together,but this gives you a foundation.
That's like hey, um, bill, I'dlove to work with you.
I'm really excited that youactually can enroll into this
careers launch academy and I'llbe here as a resource for you to
(25:50):
help you as you're navigatingthe curriculum and going through
the modules and kind of tellyou what I've seen in my
experience.
So you become, you stay thereand move into the position that
you want to be and help those HR, young HR professionals realize
how important all of theinterviewing processes is the
resumes and all of that type ofstuff that they're going to be
(26:13):
constantly dealing with andinterviewing people all the time
.
This is just going to help themsee, hey, this is actually
somebody we really want and needbecause of these factors that
they'll see, because they'vebeen through it themselves.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
And I love that about this whole setup is that it can
yes, it can help those who arebeing laid off or not in the
workforce currently, but tryingto get back in the workforce,
but it also can help on thefront end going into the
workforce.
So it kind of has that twofoldpurpose is what I call it of.
There's not really anybody whocouldn't benefit from these
(26:46):
services, and so that's what Ilove about this service, and I
love that it's set up in a wayto really set people up for
success when going into thesenew careers or their first
career or having to transitionto a different company or a
different field of work.
I really feel like it's a hugebenefit.
Now, I know we've talked a lotabout what careers launch can do
(27:08):
, what outplacement services are, but I think one thing that
people would love to hear issome of the data on the
information.
How successful is this program?
What kind of rates are youseeing when it's people leaving
this program, getting back intothe workforce?
What does that success looklike on that end?
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Hey, great question.
Yeah, so when it comes to datawith something like this, the
person is self-paced through ourprogram, and the reason I say
the self-paced thing is becausewe want to track their
satisfaction through the process.
It's kind of hard to track aspecific job placement, and
(27:52):
here's what I mean by that.
Somebody gets laid off and theyget a severance and they're
like you know what?
I'm taking a vacation for 60days.
I'm not going to touch this fora little bit.
Later Somebody else might go ohmy gosh, I just got laid off.
I want all the resources rightnow.
And so what we're reallytracking is the individual's
satisfaction rate as they'regoing through the process.
(28:14):
And yeah, absolutely we want tosurvey them as they exit the
careers, launch academy andunderstand hey, did you get a
job?
But what we're asking is areyou satisfied with your current
job situation?
Because some of them might belike yeah, I'm not in a rush.
Others might be like I'mactually interviewing like crazy
right now because of theresources I got, I'm getting
(28:36):
interviews and I'm verysatisfied with what I have right
now.
So we have very high ratings.
Most of the folks that gothrough with us when I say most
of the folks, I mean 85, 90percent of them are satisfied
with the services that we'reproviding and they're going
through it.
So it's.
I don't mean to sound a littlebit vague here, but it is a
(28:58):
little bit of a nuanced datacollection process as we're
going through, because everyindividual has a different story
and a different motive for whatthey're going through.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
So when we talk about this service and implementing
it into our organizations andmaking it part of that benefit
package or making it part of ourtalent management or however
we're going to implement thatinto our organization, how
seamless of a process is thatwith working with you guys?
I know throughout the callwe've talked about all you need
is a name and email address.
(29:27):
I mean, is it truly that simpleto get this integrated into the
organization?
Speaker 3 (29:33):
The answer is yes.
We're going to put an MSA inplace master service agreement
and then, when you are ready,all we do is we send you an
Excel spreadsheet template.
You drop the names, emails,phone numbers into that and then
we take it from there and youmove on with what you've got
going on in your business and wereturn a report.
(29:54):
Trey, were you going to saysomething in addition to that?
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Yeah, I was just going to say the MSA is just
more in the point of locking inthe price points that you have.
There's no retainer fee,there's no onboarding, there's
no initiation costs, there's nocommitment to lay off 50% of
your staff the minute you signor anything like that.
It's more like hey, we work foryou.
So you're basically justputting another arrow in your
(30:19):
quiver.
In the event you need toleverage something like this,
you can reach into it, pull usout and then start rolling it
out literally in less than 24hours.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
That's great, and Trey brings up a really good
point.
If you're listening to this andyou're thinking, boy, we're not
going to do really anyreductions in force now, but we
maybe see something coming downthe road or we just want to be
ready in case it does reach outto us, let's put an MSA in place
.
There's no commitment unlessyou decide to lay somebody off,
but it's something that's reallygood to have thought through
(30:55):
and be prepared for.
So in the case of some kind ofa transition or activity within
your company, you've already gotsomething going.
You don't have to go throughthe vetting process in the heat
of all the action.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
I am 100% a champion of the service.
I can't believe I had not heardof the service prior to us
having a conversation severalweeks ago, and I've been excited
to be sharing this with myclients and letting them know
that this is a service that isavailable and how it can help
them, and a lot of them had noteven heard about placement
services and what that was.
So I'm really glad that we'reable to have this conversation
(31:31):
today and talk through some ofthis, and I know there's so much
more to uncover about theseservices and how they can even
offer more benefits than whatwe've had time to cover today.
But I want to give you all achance to give any final
thoughts.
Had time to cover today, but Iwant to give you all a chance to
give any final thoughts and, aswe wrap up, I would love it if
you could share how people canfind more information, how they
can connect with you, because Ithink it's something that we all
(31:52):
should really be jumping on andbecause it's one of those
priceless benefits.
There is a cost to it, but Ifeel like when you are in those
hard conversations and you arehaving to go through these
processes, it's really apriceless benefit to be able to
offer someone peace of mind, toknow that they have something
that can set them up for successgoing forward.
So please share thatinformation, how people can get
in touch with you and any finalthoughts you may have.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Yeah, missy, thanks for sharing all of those things
and being here and putting us inthis platform to be able to
communicate and share with otherpeople, because there's so many
people who don't know about allof the resources that are
available, just like I didn'teven know that there was a
career source uh thing incollege, right.
So leveraging having thisopportunity and this platform to
(32:35):
share content like this isreally what it's all about, and
thank you for everything thatyou've done to go about above
and beyond and and let us to behere on this show and be able to
chat about what we feel reallyconfident about and really it
comes down to.
We just want to take care ofpeople the best way possible,
and everyone always talks abouthow to take care of your people
when you're hiring them and howto take care of them when they
(32:57):
are your current employee, butit usually drops off right there
at the end of the life cycleand, yes, this isn't necessarily
as positive of a topic thatpeople are usually excited or
wake up in the morning to talkabout, but it is a part of life,
unfortunately, and the betterwe can be prepared for it and
your listeners and we can helpthem leverage the tools that are
(33:19):
at their disposal, the easierit's going to be for them as
they're navigating thesedifficult situations, which
inevitably will come in anybusiness right.
And so those are kind of mylast thoughts, but this has been
awesome.
The best place to connect withus is just online
careerslaunchcom.
(33:40):
You can actually request or setup a demo by hitting one of the
links, and it can book a timeon both Mark and I's calendar.
Or you can email me mine's TreyT-R-A-Y at careerslaunchcom,
and then my name on LinkedIn ismy full name, which is Treko, so
T-R-A-Y-C-O Ross, and youshould be able to find me.
(34:04):
If you find another Traco, hitme up and send me a screenshot
and let me know if you findanother Traco, because I'm still
waiting to find them.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
So Mark any final thoughts you want to add to that
?
Speaker 3 (34:16):
Yeah, misty, this has been wonderful.
We love what you're doing, andall I'm going to say at the end
is let's have a conversation.
If you want to know more aboutthis, if you want to have a
no-obligation conversation, dropyourself onto our calendar and
let's talk.
We would love to talk with youabout the logistics and how this
(34:38):
works and, at the end of theday, I'm going to back tray 100%
.
We just want to take care ofpeople.
And at the end of the day, I'mgoing to back tray 100%.
We just want to take care ofpeople.
And it's a bright spot in apretty dark conversation, and
you can just imagine how mucheasier it is to have the
conversation.
Letting somebody go hey, we'vegot to let you go, but we want
to take care of you and here'scareers launch.
(35:00):
They're going to take care ofyou.
So thanks again for having uson.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
I get that.
It's a negative spot in a lotof people's day sometimes when
they have to have theseconversations.
But I am on fire for thisservice because I feel like
myself personally as an HRprofessional, I always felt like
there was never a you know, youknow how you have a
relationship and then there'sthat breakup and sometimes you
feel like there's no closurethere.
I kind of felt the same withwhen you're having to let people
(35:27):
go.
It was it's like there was noend to the life cycle and there
was no way to continue helpingthose people outside of just
ruining their day.
And so I love, love, love thatthere is this service out there
to to continue that life cycleand to get them back in the
workforce as quickly as theywant to be there and set them up
(35:47):
for success in doing that.
So I'm on fire for this service.
I think you have a heart andpassion for people just as much
as a lot of HR professionals outthere do, and this is just one
of those things that gives usthat closure and continues that
life cycle for that employee,and I think it's something that
would truly, truly benefit somany organizations, big or small
.
So the fact that this is evenavailable.
(36:08):
I mean, I am so excited thatit's out there and that we get
to have these conversations.
So thank you guys for beinghere.
We will have all of Trey's andMark's information in the show
notes so that you can easilyreach out to them
careerslaunchcom, if you want togo ahead and get on their
calendar.
It is definitely worth aconversation in seeing how this
service can benefit yourorganization and we will see you
(36:31):
next time on the People LeadersPlaybook.
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