How do I become an outplacement consultant? What training is available and what is required?

Outplacement counseling and coaching is a continuing education profession. This means that to work as an outplacement consultant, you need to have successfully completed an apprenticeship or university degree and have several years of professional experience.

Training and qualifications:

To date, there are no training courses that deal exclusively with outplacement counseling.

Rather, the path - via shorter and longer training and further education courses - goes via the field of coaching in general with specialization in the direction of career advice and career guidance.

There are various levels of coaching training. The entry level often consists of non-federally regulated courses that conclude with the school's own certificates. These are often based on the specifications and quality standards of national and international professional associations, such as

Swiss Society for Counseling (SGfB)
Swiss Professional Association for Coaching, Supervision and Organizational Consulting (bso)
European Assosciation for Supervision and Coaching (EASC)
European Coachings Assosciation (ECA)
International Coach Federation (ICF)

The certificate courses are often credited towards the subsequent acquisition of federally recognized qualifications. These can be found at various levels:

Federal certificate "Company mentor" (professional examination)
Federal Diploma "Supervisor-Coach" (Higher professional examination)
federally certified "Business coach NDS HF" (postgraduate studies at the university of applied sciences)
(in the near future also) federal certificate "Job Coach" (professional examination). The draft examination regulations were submitted to the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) on November 10, 2020.

Requirements:

Some training courses require previous training and experience in coaching and counseling. Vocational training is open to people from all professional fields.

Especially in outplacement, however, it is an advantage if you have already gained experience in the field of education, consulting or management. This means that you are already familiar with the processes involved in the dismissal procedure, job search and application process. Knowledge of the job market, its needs and trends - possibly industry-specific - is also valuable.

Coaches and outplacement consultants are particularly helpful and trustworthy if they have valuable knowledge and a network from their previous professional life that they can bring to bear in coaching.

Most providers of coaching courses and further training require:

At least 3 years of professional experience
(partly) a minimum age of 24 years
(Partial) successful completion of basic coaching training
(partly) at least 30 hours as coachee in coaching sessions and as supervisee in supervision sessions
Interest in (self-)reflection
Willingness to help, empathy and assertiveness to accompany people on their career path in the working and professional environment

Many providers also offer admission "sur dossier", i.e. on the basis of your individually assessed personal background. The school or course management decides on final admission.

Provider of training in outplacement counseling and coaching