Hazell's Perspective:

Advice and Common Sense for the Career Seeker
in All of Us

The Outplacement Business is a lot like the Baby Food Business.

The person who buys it is not the person who uses it.

 Chris Symonds, one of our senior consultants, has just added twin boys to his family. He is now the proud father of three children under the age of two. Recently, we were discussing his change of life and our conversation turned to baby food. Chris mentioned if you were to ask his three children what they wanted to eat it would not be what he would buy for them at the grocer's. The twins, if they could talk would indicate a preference for the freshest vegetables, fruits and meats just mashed into a puree in a blender at home, not the jarred variety so available and convenient at the grocery store.

When Chris or his wife Diana cruise the baby food isle at the local supermarket they are enticed to buy the baby cuisine with a beautiful smiling Gerber or Heinz baby on it (or whatever picture depicts the most beautifully formed and coloured fruits and vegetables that look like they have just been picked from the field).

What appears on the label bears no resemblance to what you get inside. Savvy marketers know there would be few buyers if the picture on the outside of the jar was of the goop inside, mashed and smashed weeks or months ago. So, they package and sell images they know the purchaser wants, not what the consumer of the product wants. It is easier for the buyer to purchase the jar than buy the fresh materials and make freshly blended baby food.

When a company purchases outplacement services, it's a lot like that. As purchasers, they often look at things differently than the actual consumers of the services. The purchaser gets to see the external factors like marketing materials, programs, prices and service listings. The consumer gets to feel the internal factors like self-discovery, career mastery, customization, personal care and attention. The outplacement purchaser wants the equipment to do the job. The outplacement consumer needs an exceptional experience to get the job done and this means personal care and attention.

We maintain that it is the experience, not the packaging that differentiates outplacement providers. Please click on the following link, We Beg to Differ . . . to discover just how CPI/Hazell & Associates differs from most outplacement providers. It looks at outplacement through the eyes of the consumer. You will see beyond the packaging and understand what we at Hazell do to make the outplacement experience so unique and so successful. It's what we call "The Hazell Difference"

We welcome your feedback and comments: mhazell@hazell.com. And oh yes, Chris and Diana will be putting in lots of tender loving care to blending fresh fruits, vegetables and meats for their twin boys!

Best regards,

Mike Hazell & Melanie Hazell