Registering with a recruitment agency? It's worth knowing exactly what you're asking it to do. This piece looks at how agencies actually work, the hidden positioning problem behind "no one's called me back," and why career strategy has to come from somewhere else first.

Most outplacement support focuses on the tools of job searching while ignoring the person who has to use them. Paula Donnan Advisory takes a different approach: one that starts with strengths, ends with clarity, and includes follow-up contact for up to three months after the formal programme ends. Because the transition does not finish when the contract does.

Here is something that does not get talked about enough. Outplacement is not just about the people leaving. It is a direct communication to everyone who remains. When your team watches colleagues being made redundant, they are asking themselves a question: if that were me, would this organisation treat me with respect? The answer they arrive at shapes their engagement, their trust in leadership and their own commitment to the business going forward.

A redundancy process does not simply remove a role. It disrupts identity, routine, visibility and momentum all at once. For many experienced professionals, the hardest part is not the paperwork or even the job search. It is the internal noise that follows. The research bears this out. Mental Health UK's 2025 Burnout Report found that fear of redundancy and job loss directly damages self-confidence in 44% of those affected.