Watch Steve Preston, MD, sharing SMP Solutions approach to Career Transition / Outplacement. This is followed by a heartfelt testimonial from one of our Executive Outplacement clients who has made a remarkable career and life transformation as a result of our coaching and following our highly successful SMP Six Step Career Navigation Cycle and Change process.
CLICK HERE to access full ‘Winning Through Redundancy’ course information
SMP has developed an enviable reputation for bespoke executive outplacement and career transition support, providing quality coaching for top executives and senior managers from private and public sector organisations.
The majority of our business comes directly from executives who have been given a budget to source the right programme of Outplacement coaching support for themselves. Also, known HR contacts who have been previous clients of ours. Either way it’s the result of recommendations and referrals from previous happy executives we have supported and helped to transform their careers and lives, following redundancy. So, what makes us different?
Because, instead of set programmes, SMP has developed a flexible 3 page menu of options based around your budget and the needs of your executives, providing truly personalised support.
This isn’t just coaching support to help executives find another similar job, although it can be if this is the goal.
What sets us apart is our specialist executive career coaching, using our unique, proven SMP 6 step Career Navigation Cycle process. We focus on your executives career and personal development needs, taking them on a ‘voyage of self-discovery’ to:
In addition to providing typical Outplacement support around CV’s, Interview Skills, Job Search strategy, LinkedIn, Networking, Self Marketing, other sample options can include:
An excellent value option, providing quality outplacement workshops for companies or organisations looking to maximise budget
SMP’s group outplacement workshops will give your people a head start to win another position quickly or change careers.
SMP Solutions run a number of full and half day workshops Or online group video meeting /webinar sessions for groups of up to 15 people (can be more if over Zoom video meetings) for different aspects of career development including:
Depending on time and budget, half day workshops can be combined into a full day event or run back to back for larger groups.
Please note: We can also tailor specific group workshops to be run for 1-2 hours over Zoom video meeting calls or webinars. Group sessions can also be combined with follow-up 1:1 career coaching support for maximum impact.
Our individual outplacement support programmes are based on face to face sessions or remotely over Zoom video meetings, depending on location, budget and personal preferences.
We know that ‘one size’ does not fit all. Some options are also suitable for staff ‘at risk’, facing possible redeployment
Therefore, we provide a flexible range of career coaching to meet the needs of your budget and your individual employees, which can include:
“After 28 years service working at senior level within one of the largest global companies in the world, leaving my comfort zone and heading out into the big wide world was unthinkable, especially given the current climate. A good job, pension and many years service – it was scary and although usually a confident positive person – made me doubt myself, my capabilities outside of the corporate arms that had been surrounding me for so many years…
As a senior executive, I had learnt many management techniques over the years but when it came to applying them to myself, I failed to see a path and lacked the confidence to break away from the security that I had known for so many years. I needed someone who would understand and be able to work with me as an individual, not put me on a course or tell me to attend a series of workshops or take a ‘one size fits all’ approach. I found Steve on LinkedIn and engaged his company to run a totally bespoke programme of tailored support for my executive outplacement.
We talked through my fears, concerns and tangled weeds that had built up in my mind… very quickly I found that the cloud was lifting. At my first session, Steve understood and started to help me turn my Fears into Focus…. The weight that I felt on my shoulders started to feel lighter and the cloud began to turn to glorious sunshine…. Steve and his team engaged quickly and enabled me to understand the value of my experience and network that I had built up over the years, they helped me to ‘reinvent’ myself as my own person, not that of a corporate brand… they helped me to really look at what was important to me and again through some great tools and techniques, focus and follow my passion into a field that I love.
Three months after our first meeting, I had the courage to leave the company that I had worked for so long and venture out to create my own company. I now feel totally energised and excited about the future and am flying forward and truly believe that this is down to Steve and his team, their excellent words of wisdom and overall executive outplacement support. They have provided me with a fantastic toolkit that enabled me to be logically shown the potential paths and be given the appropriate tools to help me gain back my energy, passion and make it possible… I feel younger and energised and so positive that not only my family and friends but my children’s friends are commenting on my positive vibes….
If you want to be in charge of your own future I strongly recommend that you engage SMP Solutions for your executive outplacement for a truly personalised service. Steve and his team have turned my dark world into a glorious bright future and I am sure he can do the same for you – don’t delay, turn your fear into focus and take charge of your own future – doing something that you love”
Steve – a massive THANK YOU AGAIN and AGAIN… I could not have done any of this without you and your team….
Jane Seeley
I contacted SMP Solutions at a rather low point of my career, as I had been blindsided by an out-of-the-blue redundancy that shook my self-belief and confidence to the core. I was at least fortunate that my company had given me a very generous budget and freedom to choose my outplacement provider.
After undertaking due diligence with 5 career management companies and outplacement providers, I chose to work with SMP Solutions. This was because within only a few minutes of talking with me, MD Steve Preston, displayed a rapid understanding of my situation and my emotions.
Steve was then able to explain, in real terms, how SMP Solutions bespoke executive outplacement programme and executive career coaching, following their proven Six Step Cycle, could help me to regain control over my career and life.
The following few months working with SMP Solutions and Steve’s expert coaching, were made up of moments of brilliance, trauma, inspiration, humour and challenge. It was EXACTLY what I needed and I wouldn’t want to change one moment of my time working with them. Ultimately, Steve was able to take me from a very dark and lonely place to a point where I am now in control of my future, with the confidence to develop a career under my terms and, importantly, with the right blend of work and play. Steve’s book “Winning Through Redundancy” and the exercises within is simply fantastic as is his Portfolio Careers book.
Having experienced the ‘SMP Solutions effect’, working with Steve Preston, I am 100% confident in recommending Steve and his company to any executive or senior professional needing help with their career development to successfully transition their career, as a result of redundancy.
On top of all this, Steve’s impressive work is complemented by the fact that he is a wonderful human being and a gentleman. Thank you, Steve and SMP Solutions, you have changed my life for the better.
John Watson
I was introduced to SMP Solutions and MD, Steve Preston, by my sister who he had coached a few years back with great success. I was at the end of my tether, having had numerous job application rejections and failed interviews. I had all but had given up on my job search, lost motivation and feared I would never rekindle my previous executive banking career. I had lost all my confidence and self-belief and was really bad at interviews. That’s how Steve found me!
At the height of my career, I was a high flying city banking executive, who had come from a humble upbringing and I loved my job. I unfortunately had to give up my job, as my wife became very ill and I became the carer for my daughter. I thought this would only be a short career break but through more bad luck by the time I was ready and able to rekindle my career it had become a 5 year break. I found myself always having to justify my time out to recruiters and employers and unable to sell myself in a positive light, as I felt a failure.
Things had got really bad. I was getting more rejections than interviews and down to my last shot at the big time. This was the job I really wanted but it seemed out of reach.
I’m so glad we met. Steve coached me to understand my strengths, my positive attributes and how I could turn the negatives of my time out of the sector into positives. He focused on helping me see things from a different perspective, how I had set up my own trading business, learnt many new business skills, kept up to speed with the sector through a huge amount of reading, also how I had learnt to become resilient through all the challenges I faced.
My answers changed. With Steve’s interview skills coaching and focused practice, came confidence. I put my trust in Steve and whatever time I phoned him, he would always offer encouragement. Then my body language changed and my attitude. I made it through three rounds of tough interviews, then was called to an informal meeting. Steve told me this must be a positive sign, just to show interest and be my natural self and I would get the job. It seemed to go well and suddenly I believed.
I can’t tell you how happy and relieved I was when finally offered the job in a leading city institution! I have told others about ‘the Steve Preston effect’. Not only is Steve a great coach but a gentleman too and I can’t recommend him and his company highly enough.
Arif Syed
I first approached SMP Solutions on a personal recommendation from a colleague. I had suffered a series of knock-backs on job applications, where on paper and in terms of experience I should have had what it took, yet each time, typically in the final round I had been eliminated.
My organisation sponsored me for an Executive Transition programme with the aim of helping me achieve my career goal of aspiring to a top job in the Education sector. Our first session helpfully set out the ground of my career to date and the appointments that I was seeking. I was coached to focus on seeing me in those roles and transferring my strengths over entirely. We talked through the presentation of my cv and how best to convey the narrative of my abilities in the context of new applications. Also, in depth coaching around how to sell myself more effectively especially in an interview. The result….I have achieved my dream job in one of the most prestigious educational establishments in the UK!
Thank you. I appreciate greatly your sound advice and direction
Hi Steve (and team),
Just a quick email to thank you for all the help you gave me over the last three sessions of my Outplacement programme.
I have found the time we spent extremely useful and invaluable, especially having been traumatised by the shock and suddenness of my redundancy. Your career development approach is something I think that everyone should go through, regardless of their situation, not necessarily just as part of a redundancy scheme. It has certainly given me a new insight into the ‘Job World’. I am very grateful for all the time you spent with me. I now feel ready to face my new job, quite a career change for me and I hope it will work out well. I am now looking forward to starting and saying good bye to the Job Centre on Monday!!!
‘The main benefits are that the programme has provided a structured approach to reviewing my skills, talents, attributes and values. In addition, it has highlighted the many successes that I have had and the significant contribution that I have made and can make to the workplace and, in fact, my family.’
‘The trouble with finding your ideal role is that it takes time and effort, we all want to just step into a new job or career path but it just doesn’t work like that. The SMP Career Transition Masterclass was great as it allowed me a day out to focus on myself, my direction and keep the momentum of the job search going with new people to network with and share new ideas and areas to explore.’