In the past couple of months, I’ve had several senior executive clients who have been offered and have rejected, outplacement services from their former employers. Heading the list of criticisms seems to be that these services are far from individually tailored with all participants given the same job search and positioning information.

Clearly this cookie-cutter, one-strategy-for-all approach cannot be successful. One service for instance, spoke to a senior executive about methods for applying for jobs and being up against hundreds of similarly qualified candidates. HUNDREDS of people qualified for the Top 3% of salary earners in the nation? Really? This isn’t advice for the senior executive; it’s advice for the masses.

Senior executives know that it is rare for a $350K+ role to be advertised. As a general rule, multinationals and large corporates tend not to throw $500K compensation packages into the classifieds and hope they get a bite. These roles are normally evolutionary stemming from a restructuring exercise or where the incumbent is about to “move on” in some way. Executive headhunters who have significant, long-term relationships with companies “hear on the grapevine” of a potential job and start headhunting names and profiles, in many cases on a global scale. Candidates can be sourced and positioned without anyone being “in the know” until a media release is made. Consequently for an outplacement firm to advise senior executives on “how to look up the classified ads” or “how to deal with generic recruiting firms” is a waste of time for the senior executive who while redundant has not yet lost all his or her marbles!

Take too, the over analysis of resumes. Of course resumes are important. And if you have sought the services of an experienced executive writer, and have a branded, accomplishment-focused resume that provides a definitive value-proposition to represent you, along with a branded blog or web resume portfolio, then you have the tools you need to move forward. Therefore, for an outplacement firm to suggest to an executive that his resume could be improved (as one executive we heard from just recently) through the inclusion of his “middle name” and to increase the font size one point is just spurious. The answer to getting a job in the top 3% of the salary earners it appears, is simply a matter of a 12-pitch font and the inclusion of a middle name! Woo hoo, big salary here I come!

Then there is the case of the senior executive with more than thirty years of experience, considered a guru in hiring new talent, adapting to the changing workplace blueprint, and a sought-after guest speaker at multinational conferences, who was asked to complete a series of “fill in the gaps” sentences such as “I am a (fill in the blank) leader with (fill in the blank) talents. If this senior executive, an expert too in MBTI didn’t have personal awareness already I’d pack my bags and “shut up shop” tomorrow!

The whole concept of networking within the outplacement “alumni” appears on analysis to be somewhat pointless. Does a senior executive really want to “network” by commiserating around the water cooler with people in the same boat? OR should they be out networking instead with executive recruiters, people who are in the current workforce, people they know in senior positions who are about to restructure and be determining new positions? What can people without a job undergoing the same outplacement services do to position the redundant senior executive for the next big gig? Does the senior executive really want to be “filling in the blanks” in a Dilbert-like cubicle, adding their middle name to their resume and re-formatting their biography? Really? Would she be proud to say that that she belongs to the XYZ Outplacement Firm Alumni? It’s not something that would be on my resume!

I’m sure, in fact I’m certain that for some people outplacement services are a revelation. There really are people out there who have been shielded from what has happened for decades, and yes, there are many who are walking around in circles, not knowing how to put a resume together, not understanding the power of networking, and yes having to compete with hundreds of people when new jobs are advertised. For those people this generic form of 1-2-3 programs may be quite a life-changing event. But when people like Telstra chief Sol Trujillo, ANZ’s CEO John McFarlane, NAB’s Cameron Clyne and more come to looking for their next big gig, I doubt any of them will be hanging out around the water cooler at an outplacement service talking about comma placement on resumes, commiserating their back luck, and filling in the blanks. Do you?

Individual tailoring of programs seems to be the key. Finding ways to work one-on-one with real, authentic services to meet the knowledge, understanding and role level of each professional seems to be the type of service crying out to filled.