Recognized by business managers as a useful and practical tool to assist them in responding to a set of complex business challenges, the need for outplacement counseling - the process of assisting employees who have lost their jobs to develop effective career plans and to find new employment - has grown dramatically during the past two decades. Given this rapid expansion of the field, assembling, organizing, and clarifying the body of knowledge and information available about outplacement has become critically important. The first comprehensive effort in the field, this book presents authoritative, up-to-date information on an exhaustive range of outplacement topics. A psychologist and experienced outplacement practitioner, the author has recently been chosen as one of the charter fellows of the Outplacement Institute, the sole certifying organization for outplacement practitioners.

Of value to all those interested in the field including current and future practitioners as well as human resources professionals, this volume contains essential information for candidates receiving outplacement services, counseling students, and researchers involved in the study of counseling in business and industry. With such a broad audience in mind, it contains a wide range of information--counseling theory and practical suggestions geared expressly to the needs of practitioners, descriptive material on all topics, and brief case histories of actual outplacement candidates. Written in non-technical language, the volume brings to life the flavor of outplacement practice.

This unique volume covers topics not addressed elsewhere in the current outplacement literature including:

• the psychological barriers to a successful job search
• the behavioral and counseling implications of the outplacement setting
• the theoretical basis of outplacement counseling
• the relation between outplacement and psychotherapy
• the professional development opportunities for outplacement practitioners
• the supervision of outplacement practitioners
• the cross-cultural issues to be considered in outplacement
• the relation of outplacement to other career development professionals, and
• the marketing of outplacement services

Also of importance, the appendices offer data not previously disseminated to the general public including:

• competencies standards for OPC practitioners as established by the International Association of Outplacement Professionals (IAOP)
• standards of ethical practice for outplacement professionals as established by the IAOP, and
• listings of information resources for OPC practitioners and candidates featuring a section on computer-based sources for conducting career-related research