The LHH sales pitch is undoubtedly impressive: a global leader, boasting a vast network, cutting-edge tools, and life-long alumni support. But as I delved deeper into my 12-week program, I couldn’t help but wonder: does the reality match the hype?
Let’s dissect the LHH experience, starting with their bold claims:
- 80% larger than the largest global competitor: While this might be true in terms of sheer size, does it translate to superior service and results?
- 19 global organizations switching to LHH in 24 months: An impressive figure, but what drove these companies to make the switch? Were they satisfied with LHH’s offerings?
- Access to 80% of hidden jobs: This is a tantalizing promise, but how does LHH actually deliver on it? Is their job board truly a gateway to the hidden job market?
- 65% of employees finding jobs easier with LHH: This statistic seems promising, but what is the methodology behind it? Is it based on a representative sample of users?
With these questions in mind, I embarked on a journey to uncover the truth behind LHH’s marketing magic.
The Full Program: A Deep Dive
After some back-and-forth, I finally received a comprehensive overview of my 12-week LHH program. Here’s what it entailed:
- Personal Coach: Up to 5 hours of 1–2–1 interactions throughout the program.
- Branding Sessions: One individual branding session and access to group sessions.
- Marketing Plan: A personalized plan developed by my coach(whatever it means)
- Job Search Work Team (JSWT) Sessions: To be booked by my coach (none were booked in the first 4 weeks).
- Ella AI Bot: Ella was marketed as your intelligent digital job search assistant, accessible for chat on the Career Resource Network (CRN) and promising targeted daily emails with great job leads. However, at the time of engagement, this was replaced with a standard job search platform, and the promised AI capabilities are not available. Despite this change, all marketing materials still reference Ella and her AI capabilities.
- Resources: Access to 48 articles, 20 videos, 8 premium tools (more on this below), 12 e-learning articles, and 3 assessment tools.
This is essentially what you receive during your program, along with your willingness and motivation to find a job.
Premium Tools in LHH Services: A Goldmine or Fool’s Gold?
The premium tools on the CRN LHH website are represented by icons for Single Sign-On, granting you access to third-party services. However, the guidance on how to effectively use these tools is minimal. These resources work well for self-learners who can independently research their functionalities.
D&B Hoovers | Database of Industries, Companies, and Contacts
- Overview: D&B Hoovers provides detailed business information on companies and industries, aiding in market research, competitive analysis, and lead generation.
- Reviews: Generally positive for its extensive database and user-friendly interface, though some users find it expensive(access is free for LHH )
- My Review: This is likely the most expensive tool on the list and the least accessible for free. It grants users access to a massive database of millions of companies globally, offering basic information on each. This tool primarily caters to marketing professionals, M&A firms, or individuals seeking information on competitors or similar companies. While a valuable resource in those contexts, it’s doubtful that someone recently laid off, especially from a large corporation, would find their next job opportunity through this platform.
Executive Grapevine
- Overview: An executive search and talent intelligence platform that connects users with executive recruiters. It helps in identifying potential job opportunities and understanding industry trends.
- Reviews: Mixed reviews with praise for its extensive network but some criticism for outdated listings.
- My Review: Executive Grapevine is essentially a publicly available database of HR and recruitment services, not affiliated with LHH. If you are new to your job search, it might be a helpful resource to learn about various recruitment companies. However, it offers limited value since there are no warm introductions. For a similar free resource, you can use Agency Central.
General Assembly
- Overview: An educational organization that offers courses, workshops, and bootcamps in tech, data, design, business, and more.
- Reviews: Highly rated for its practical, hands-on approach to learning new skills, though some courses are considered pricey.
- My review: Access to General Assembly through the LHH portal simply redirects you to the GA website where you are expected to purchase online courses with your own money. While GA offers valuable coding bootcamps and tech skill development programs, the lack of included courses within the LHH package can be disappointing for those expecting complimentary educational resources as part of the outplacement service.
Get Your Resume Reviewed by LHH’s Branding Specialists (internal tool)
- Overview: A service that provides personalized feedback on resumes to enhance their effectiveness and appeal to potential employers.
- Reviews: Generally positive feedback for detailed and constructive critiques, although turnaround times can vary.
- My Review: As mentioned, you will get only one online session with your branding specialist to rebrand your CV. This essentially means adopting a simple, plain, ATS-friendly format. While this session provides useful insights, the scope is quite limited and may not fully meet the needs of those seeking more comprehensive CV rebranding.
Interview Centre
- Overview: A resource center for practicing interview techniques and receiving feedback to improve performance in job interviews.
- Reviews: Positive reviews for its comprehensive practice tools and realistic mock interview setups.
LinkedIn Learning
- Overview: An online learning platform with a wide range of courses across various fields, aimed at professional development and skill enhancement.
- Reviews: Widely praised for its extensive course library and expert instructors, though some users wish for more in-depth content in certain subjects.
- My Review: LinkedIn is the leading platform for job search, and its learning resources are useful and sometimes beneficial for job seekers. However, the recent inclusion of influencers by Microsoft has significantly reduced the quality of the courses. The content has become very generic, mainly targeting beginners who are unfamiliar with the topics. Despite this, LinkedIn Learning remains a valuable resource to have.
LHH premium tools accessible by candidates via SSO
LHH Coaches’ Approach: A Legacy of Strengths-Based Coaching
LHH coaches, drawing on a rich history of outplacement expertise, employ a distinctive approach to their coaching sessions. Their methodology is deeply rooted in the pioneering work of Bernard Haldane, whose revolutionary ideas continue to shape modern career coaching.
Long before the internet transformed the job search landscape, Bernard Haldane laid the groundwork for today’s outplacement services. While modern technology has introduced tools like skills assessments, e-learning, and online networking, Haldane’s core principles remain at the heart of LHH’s approach.
Here’s a closer look at some of Haldane’s key concepts:
- Strengths-Based Approach: Haldane firmly believed in focusing on an individual’s inherent strengths, skills, and motivated abilities. His “System to Identify Motivated Skills” (SIMS) encouraged individuals to recognize their positive experiences and achievements, guiding them towards fulfilling work that aligned with their passions.
- Recalling Positive Experiences: Haldane’s techniques often involved asking clients to reflect on past successes and enjoyable tasks. By recalling these moments, individuals could uncover their innate strengths and “motivated skills” — activities they excelled at and genuinely enjoyed.
- Skill Identification Matrix: Building on Haldane’s work, his protégés developed tools like the “Skill Identification Matrix.” This matrix plotted skills based on competency and motivation levels, making it easier to identify an individual’s most valuable assets.
- Practical Job Search Assistance: While Haldane emphasized inner strengths, his outplacement services also offered practical guidance on resume writing, interview preparation, and effectively marketing oneself to employers.
How Did Bernard Haldane’s Approach Differ from Traditional Career Counseling Methods?
Inside-Out vs. Outside-In Approach
Traditional career counseling typically adopts an outside-in approach, starting with available job descriptions and attempting to match individuals to these predefined roles. In contrast, Bernard Haldane’s revolutionary inside-out approach begins by helping individuals identify their innate strengths, motivated skills, and positive experiences. This method ensures that career paths are explored based on personal attributes rather than fitting into predefined roles.
Strengths-Based vs. Deficit-Based
Traditional methods often focus on perceived shortcomings or deficits that need addressing. Haldane’s approach, however, emphasizes strengths by encouraging clients to recall their proudest achievements and moments of excellence. This strengths-based method uncovers unique patterns of abilities and transferable skills, shifting the focus from weaknesses to inherent talents.
Personalized Self-Discovery
Instead of relying on generic assessments, Haldane’s method facilitates a personalized self-discovery process. Clients enlist friends to observe and record the skills demonstrated through recounting accomplishments. Techniques such as the “System to Identify Motivated Skills” (SIMS) are employed, creating a tailored understanding of each individual’s capabilities.
Marketing Strengths vs. Fitting a Mold
After identifying strengths, Haldane coaches individuals on how to effectively market and present their motivated skills as valuable offerings to potential employers. This contrasts with the traditional approach of trying to mold individuals into predetermined roles. Haldane’s method empowers clients to showcase their unique strengths and contributions.
Holistic Approach
Haldane views career satisfaction as intricately linked to an individual’s overall wellbeing and self-esteem. Beyond job search skills, his approach aims to boost confidence by focusing on successes and helping individuals recognize their value. This holistic perspective ensures that career guidance is aligned with personal fulfillment and self-worth.
By prioritizing innate strengths and motivated abilities, Bernard Haldane’s pioneering approach enables individuals to craft careers that align with their true selves. This marks a significant departure from the traditional career counseling norms, which often emphasize fitting individuals into predefined molds.
How Exactly Can LHH Help with Their Approach?
So I get Bernard Haldane’s inside-out approach, but I just don’t understand how a personal coach can help me achieve this within a maximum of 5 hours. Also, I already came with specific goals based on my strengths, and I needed to target specific roles and work arrangements aligned with those strengths. This has made me skeptical, so I’m waiting for the next session with my coach, booked for Friday, to see if they can provide the targeted help I need.
LHH’s Success Metrics for Candidate Landing
The sales team at LHH presented a success metric indicating that 75% of candidates successfully transition into corporate and start-up roles within three months of program completion. The remaining 25% reportedly opt for sabbaticals, active retirement, or professional development courses.
I am eager to understand how exactly these metrics are analyzed, so I went to check this over the internet. While I recognize that some reviews might be incorrect, they still provide valuable information.
Findings from Online Reviews (mostly negative, unfortunately)
source (trustpilot, reddit, google and linkedin reviews)
Extremely Poor Job Search Help
- Multiple reviews state that LHH provided little to no actual help in finding new employment opportunities.
- “They did not help me find a job at all and were a complete waste of time and money.”
- “They did not help me find a job and were not interested in helping me at all.”
Impersonal and Generic Advice
- Reviewers criticize LHH for having a “one-size-fits-all” approach that is not tailored to individuals’ backgrounds and career goals.
- “They use a cookie cutter approach that does not work for most professionals.”
- “Very generic advice that did not take into account my specific circumstances.”
Lack of Responsiveness
- Several reviews mention LHH representatives being unresponsive, ghosting scheduled calls, and providing poor communication.
- “They cancelled appointments, did not return calls or emails.”
- “Absolutely no follow up or support from my consultant.”
Overall Worthlessness
The overwhelming sentiment is that LHH’s services are ineffective and not worth the money companies pay for their outplacement programs.
And finally, I want to leave you with a post from the former President of Adecco Group about layoffs and outplacement services.
At LHH, I led sales for the world’s largest outplacement and career transition organization. We were often asked: “How can you provide the best outplacement services at the best price?” But a more insightful question was: “How can you help us eliminate all our outplacement and redundancy costs?”
There are a few reasons why mass layoffs persist:
- Human capital is often viewed as headcount, not skills.
- HR remains subservient to Finance when decisions are critical.
- Organizational boundaries are rarely challenged, hindering internal mobility and the transition to a fluid organization.
Bigger questions lead to better answers.Read the full post by Christoph Niebel