Definition of OUTPLACEMENT according to Merriam-Webster:
-- the process of easing unwanted or unneeded executives out of a company by providing company-paid assistance in finding them new jobs

Sponsoring companies often fail to recognize the value-added differences in the type and quality of the career management services they provide to their senior executives upon separation.  Indeed, these services are often labeled “outplacement services” by large, national firms.  With our emphasis on the individual and his/her unique needs, Kelleher Associates provides true “career management services”.  Opportunities at senior levels are less frequently available (e.g., virtually all companies have only one CEO or COO role).  Thus, each opportunity must be given more in-depth and informed analysis, and is more complex when negotiating the terms and conditions of employment.  This is the qualitative difference between mass production “outplacement” offered by others, and our individualized “career management” model.

Of significance, our mission is not just to help someone find a job, but to help an executive identify an appropriate career opportunity, or evaluate and chart a new path to personal and professional satisfaction and well being.  Said another way – “Success is getting what you want; real satisfaction is wanting what you get”.

The sense of satisfaction a client feels 3-5 years after he/she has landed is one of the best barometers of successful service delivery.  This standard is more stringent than the “total elapsed time” that most executives, including those in transition, use to gauge career management services.  It is certainly a higher standard than that used by an outplacement firm, which effectively “processes” hundreds or thousands of “clients” at a time.

Rather, we customize and tailor our approach and take the time necessary to fully provide valuable insight and coaching to our clients, allowing them to reach their goals.

The client’s long-term satisfaction is based to an important degree on the ability to assess his/her previous positions, companies, and accomplishments, and project that into the future.  A career management perspective helps clients to understand their strengths, experience, talents, limitations, values, and interests, to cogently summarize them, and then to assess the opportunities and/or barriers in different positions and corporate environments.  This strategic approach will benefit a client much more than guiding his/her leap to the first available job.

By assessing the individual (and sometimes the team on which the individual plays), the position, the environment, and the fit among all of these factors, we apply this core methodology.

Our assessment capability is a significant value added benefit for senior executives.  We analyze and help to determine the probabilities of success and satisfaction in a variety of positions, functions and company environments.  When appropriate, we also help the executive to comprehend why he or she did not succeed in the previous role.  Together we determine what kinds of roles are appropriate, and why.  Some issues we address with clients are:

• Is a CEO or a COO role a better fit for a particular executive, or is he or she qualified for both under the right circumstances?
• Would a successful large company CEO be satisfied acquiring a smaller company and running it?
• Would a successful executive from a company in one industry perform well in a particular company in a new industry?
• Should a senior executive seek a board seat:  When is the best time to do it?  What should the criteria be?  What is the best way to go about it?
• Would an executive be a fit and satisfied in a consulting role?  As an individual consultant?  With a large consulting firm?  What are the differences?
• Should a functional department head try for a general manager role in a smaller company?
• Should a 60+ year old executive seek a new career?  An extended career?  What opportunities are out there for such an executive in our youth obsessed society?
• Should a Division President seek another large company general manager role or should he or she seek to run a smaller stand alone company?  If so, public or private?
• What are the chances of executives acquiring a business?  How do they do it, and what are the key risks in doing so?  Who are the key professionals with whom they should be working?
• What alternative employment opportunities are there for partners from law, accounting or consulting firms?
• Can a corporate executive make the transition to a non-profit environment?  What does it take to be genuinely successful?
• Can a successful entrepreneur go back to a corporate leadership role?  Or vice versa?
• Can a successful CEO succeed as a college president or academic Dean?

Many career assessment issues affect executives in career transition, so an effective Career Management Consultant must thoroughly understand his or her executive client, the role, and the internal and external environments.  The consultant needs to identify and shape the criteria for the executive to be both successful and satisfied, and decide whether a particular role within a specific business environment meets these criteria.  Since there are few, if any, “perfect fits”, a coach must impart the risks and the tradeoffs of the position.

Only then can a judgment be made on the probabilities of attaining long term success and satisfaction.