From Sceptic to Believer: What One Coachee Learned From Career Transition Coaching

"I'll be honest, I thought it was going to be a box-ticking exercise."

That's how one of our recent coachees described her first reaction when her employer offered her career transition coaching as part of a redundancy package. She'd heard of outplacement support before, but it sounded like the kind of thing organisations offer because they feel they should, not because it actually helps.

She almost didn't take it up. It was her manager who convinced her to give it a go, one conversation, encouraging her not to write it off before she'd tried it.

We hear versions of this a lot. Roughly one in three people offered free career coaching after a redundancy don't take it up, often for exactly this reason: it doesn't feel like something worth their time when they're already stretched thin, dealing with the practical and emotional weight of losing a role.

So what changed for her?

Mostly, it was realising the sessions weren't generic advice. They started with her, her strengths, what she'd actually enjoyed (and hadn't) in her career so far, and what she wanted her next chapter to look like. That clarity gave her a direction to search in, rather than applying for anything and everything out of anxiety.

From there, the work got practical. Her CV was reworked to actually reflect her strengths, not just her job titles. She practised for interviews in a safe space, working through the kinds of questions she'd typically get asked and tightening up how she answered them, until she felt genuinely ready rather than just rehearsed.

By the end, she wasn't just further along in her job search. She'd shifted how she felt about the whole process — steadier, clearer, and a lot less anxious about what came next.

"I went in expecting a formality. I came out with an actual plan, and honestly, more confidence than I'd had in the role I was leaving."

We reckon that's the real value of good outplacement support: it's not a formality, and it's not generic. Done well, it meets people where they are and gives them something they can genuinely use, clarity, practical tools, and confidence, at a time when all three can feel in short supply.

If you're an organisation weighing up whether career transition coaching is worth offering your people, or if you've been offered it yourself and aren't sure it's worth your time, we'd love to change your mind too. Get in touch to find out more.