Outplacement That Actually Applies | Second Wind for Employers

The market your leavers are walking into

It is harder out there than the last time you ran this

280

applications per role, up from 125 in 2022

2.5

unemployed people per vacancy

3–4

months, the average UK professional search

180

days’ pay — the maximum protective award since April 2026

Which is why six weeks of coaching calls does not move the number that matters.

Four minutes

The whole thing, explained properly

What outplacement usually buys you, what it doesn’t, and what changes when somebody actually does the applying. Worth watching before you take this to your board — or send them the link instead.

Outplacement support, explained

What it usually buys — and what it should

3:56

Sound on. Nothing plays until you press it.

The choice

There are three things you can buy

Only one of them changes what actually happens after your people walk out of the building.

Traditional outplacement

Coaches them to apply

A portal, a CV review, a few calls

They still do all the applying themselves, at 11pm, while demoralised. Take-up collapses after week two and nobody reports it to you.

AI auto-appliers

Fires off applications

Volume, with no judgement

Wrong roles, wrong level, sometimes the wrong country. Employers can tell, and it is your leaver’s name on every one of them.

Second Wind

Actually does the applying

A person chooses. A person checks. Every time.

450 applications each, genuinely submitted, written against their real experience and checked before they go. Interviews you can see on a dashboard.

The distinction that matters

By the industry’s own definition, outplacement providers coach people to apply — they do not apply on anyone’s behalf. We do. That is the whole difference, and it is why we can be funded for a cohort rather than bought as a workshop.

For your people

Six months of their search, handled

First applications usually out within a couple of working days — we start the moment they’re onboarded
Roles chosen by a person, matched to what they can genuinely win
CV and LinkedIn rebuilt for the roles they’re actually going for
Written against their real experience and checked by a person before submission

A coach-grade interview playbook every time an interview lands
A named human, not a shared inbox
Their own dashboard, showing the latest recorded activity
Six months, not six weeks. We cover the real timeline

For you

The bit no other provider gives you

A cohort dashboard — enrolled, take-up, applications, responses, interviews, offers, median days to first interview
A monthly report you can take to your board
Honest take-up data, including when it’s low

A named account contact who knows your cohort
PO invoicing, DPAs and the security documentation procurement will ask for
A service charter setting out exactly what we’ve committed to

Aggregate only — and we tell them so on day one

You see how the cohort is doing. You never see an individual’s applications, which roles they went for, or who turned them down. We tell every participant that at the start, and it is precisely why they engage with it. A programme people believe is being reported back to their employer is a programme nobody uses.

The pool

Nobody’s allocation goes to waste

Most providers give each person a fixed allowance that expires. If someone is hired in week six, whatever they didn’t use is simply gone. We don’t do that.

Hired in week 6stops drawing down

~100 used

Hired in month 3a typical search

~230 used

Still searching at month 5draws on what others didn’t need

~600 used — more than their share

30 people · 13,500 applications · used where they’re neededNothing expires. Nothing is wasted.

The question this answers

“What happens to the balance if someone gets a job in month two?” Per-head allocation answers that badly — the money is spent and the applications vanish. Pooling answers it properly: that capacity goes to a colleague who is still looking. Better outcomes for your cohort, better value for you, and no other provider offers it.

Opening carefully, not all at once.

Second Wind is currently working with a small, selected group while we prepare for the open market. Register your interest and we will review what you share. We open places only where we believe the service is a strong fit.

Before you need it

Or fund it as a benefit, before anyone needs it

Everything above is bought when a restructure is already happening. There is a cheaper, calmer way to do the same thing — pay for it in advance, as a benefit, and never run an emergency procurement round again.

Second Wind Standby

by private invitation per month fixes your programme rates below published Private access, puts activation inside 24 hours with the paperwork already done, and delivers an annual readiness review plus pay benchmarking for your roles — whether or not you ever make anyone redundant.

See how the balance works →

Why companies prefer it this way

It is the benefit people actually want in this economy, it removes the guilt tax that delays hard decisions, and it fixes your access terms before you are negotiating under time pressure.

It is a service agreement, deliberately not insurance — and we explain exactly why that distinction matters.

Priority

When speed matters more than anything

Some people can’t wait. A senior hire burning through savings, someone whose visa clock is running, a director who needs to be back in the market before the news gets around.

Priority · by private invitation

Two specialists on their search instead of one
First applications within 24 hours, not 48
The full programme front-loaded into the first six weeks
Senior positioning and direct approaches to hiring managers
Priority review on everything that goes out

Why we can do this and they can’t

We add people to a search. Coaching-led providers are limited by how many hours one coach has in a week, and they cannot add coaches quickly.

Mix and match. Most engagements put a handful of senior people on Priority and everyone else on Standard. Tell us the levels and we’ll suggest the split.

There is also an outcome-linked option — a lower fee up front, the balance payable on placement. We’ll walk you through it once we’ve agreed what counts as a placement.

The business case

Three reasons beyond doing right by people

A leaver who’s hired doesn’t sue you

From 6 April 2026 the maximum protective award doubled to 180 days’ pay per employee. Anything that shortens the gap between leaving and landing is the cheapest risk reduction available to you.

Worth knowing: collective consultation, HR1 filing and the protective award apply at 20+ redundancies at one establishment within 90 days. Below that threshold this argument doesn’t apply — and we’d rather tell you that than let you take a weak case to your finance director.

The people who stay are watching

How you treat leavers is the clearest signal your remaining team gets about what this place is. Replacing a good person who quietly starts looking costs far more than supporting the one who left.

Every one of them has a LinkedIn account

Support that visibly works generates the opposite of bad press. People post about being looked after. They also post about not being.

A note on settlement agreements

Outplacement is routinely written into settlement agreements as a non-cash sweetener, usually suggested by the employment solicitor, and those clauses commonly state the employer will not pay cash in lieu. So the “why not just give them the money” objection tends not to arise. If you’re drafting one, we can give you wording.

HR FAQ

The questions procurement will ask

Is applying on someone's behalf entirely above board?

Yes, and we're specific about how. Every participant opts in and sets the specification we work to. Every application is logged to their dashboard with the exact CV we sent, so they always know what an employer is holding before an interview. Nothing is invented — everything is something they could defend in an interview. We apply as them, with their consent, never misrepresenting who we are, and we respect each site's terms. Our full standard is published at how we work.

Is this AI, or is it a person?

Both, and we're straight about which does what. A person chooses every role. AI drafts against the participant's real CV and history, which is what lets us do this at volume and at this access terms. A person checks it before it goes out. We never let AI apply on its own.

What happens to their personal data?

Everything is set out at security: what we collect, where it sits, who can see it, how long we keep it and who our sub-processors are. We'll sign your DPA or provide ours, and we can complete a supplier security questionnaire.

What if someone doesn't engage?

Some won't, and we'll tell you. We report take-up honestly, including when it's poor, and we follow up with them — but we don't pretend a cohort is going well when it isn't. Because the allocation is pooled, someone who disengages doesn't waste the budget.

What if they're not placed in six months?

Six months covers the average UK search with room either side, but no honest provider can guarantee a job. What we commit to is the work set out in your engagement letter. If you'd rather share the risk, ask about our outcome-linked option — a lower fee up front and the balance payable only on placement.

We're only making three people redundant. Is that too small?

No. Single exits and small groups are some of the best work we do — the same six months and the same 450 applications each, with a simple monthly summary instead of a cohort dashboard. Plenty of engagements start with one person under a settlement agreement.

Why does this cost more per application than your consumer product?

It doesn't, on the measure that matters. From ten people upward you're paying less per person per month than an individual pays for our self-serve product — by private invitation against by private invitation falling as the group gets larger. The application allowance differs because yours is pooled: someone hired in month two stops drawing down and that capacity goes to a colleague who's still looking. In practice an active participant draws well more than the headline number.

Can you handle senior people?

Yes — with a different method. Executive searches are targeted rather than volume-led, with senior-level positioning and direct approaches to hiring managers. Quoted separately.

How quickly can you start?

This week. First applications go out usually within a couple of working days of a participant being onboarded.

Can we run you alongside our existing provider?

Please do. Split the cohort, give us fifteen of the thirty, and compare the interview counts at day 45. It's the fastest way to find out whether we're better, and we're comfortable being measured that way.

What do you need from us?

Very little. An introduction to the cohort, and someone we can send the monthly report to. We handle the rest.

Who else have you done this for?

You'd be among our first employer clients — which is exactly why our first cohorts are discounted in exchange for a named case study, and why you get the dashboard from day one so you can see it working, or not, in real time. We'd rather say that plainly than dress up a thin track record.

Fifteen minutes

Tell us how many people, what levels, and what your timeline is. We’ll tell you honestly whether we’re the right fit — and if we’re not, we’ll say so.

Book 15 minutes See the published Private access

Keep reading

StandbyFund it as a benefit, before anyone needs it.Read on →Our standardThe standard every application is held to, published in full.Read on →Data & securityWhat we hold, who sees it, and the procurement answers.Read on →The individual serviceWhat your people experience day to day.Read on →

Most outplacement teaches your people to job-hunt.
We do it for them.