RiseSmart® Unveils RiseSmart Spotlight™, the First Fully Integrated "Social Outplacement" Platform for Displaced Employees

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- RiseSmart, the leading provider of contemporary career transition services, today unveiled RiseSmart Spotlight, a cloud-based outplacement solution that combines one-on-one coaching from trained professionals with advanced technology to help transitioning employees pinpoint relevant job openings, network with professional contacts, develop and promote their personal brands and more – all in an integrated platform and supporting mobile app that fully leverage the power of social networks to facilitate finding a job. RiseSmart Spotlight replaces RiseSmart Transition Concierge as the company's flagship outplacement solution and further differentiates the company from traditional brick-and-mortar outplacement providers.

"When we introduced RiseSmart Transition Concierge in 2008, it was well ahead of its time – the first outplacement solution that leveraged technology to provide highly personalized job leads to transitioning workers," said Sanjay Sathe, founder and CEO of RiseSmart. "RiseSmart Transition Concierge turned the traditional outplacement model on its head – by delivering better results at a lower cost than legacy, brick-and-mortar providers.

"With today's launch of RiseSmart Spotlight, we are transforming the industry again. We have created the first truly social outplacement platform, because we know that most jobs these days are not found through searching on job boards, but through networking. More and more of that is happening online – and outplacement providers who aren't leveraging this trend are doing a disservice to their customers. No product on the market facilitates the all-important networking experience like RiseSmart Spotlight."

For transitioning workers, the RiseSmart Spotlight experience starts with SmartMatch™—a semantic matching engine that combs the Web for relevant jobs and intelligently ranks them based on participant profiles and preferences. When a user identifies a promising job opening, the Contact Discovery Engine kicks in, utilizing SmartMatch algorithms to identify the right contacts to reach out to at the targeted employer (along with available email and phone information).

Contacts are integrated automatically from a variety of sources, such as email contact lists and social profiles – and includes both contacts the user already knows, as well as individuals they should know at their target opportunities.

Next, users work with RiseSmart's Personal Brand Builder to craft their "brand." This includes automatic cover letters, resume, and a personal value proposition generator that helps users develop unique and powerful messaging. Jobseekers who are uncomfortable or rusty with networking can use a variety of RiseSmart Spotlight messaging templates and talking points designed to make reaching out to contacts easier than ever – by email or phone. To help users gain the confidence they need to win their next job, RiseSmart Spotlight also features a comprehensive Coaching Center full of original and curated content for jobseekers. The benefits of RiseSmart Spotlight are further enhanced by a native mobile app available for both iOS and Android for on-the-go access to job search tools.

This outplacement technology is only half of what makes RiseSmart Spotlight the best-performing outplacement solution in the industry. RiseSmart backs its technology with a high-touch experience that includes one-on-one coaching, advice, and support. Every transitioning worker is assigned a dedicated team of three career transition experts who collaborate through an integrated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool to meet the user's unique needs. Users are assigned an experienced Transition Coach, as well as a certified branding expert to provide custom resumes, cover letters and LinkedIn profile recommendations, and a professional Job Concierge to provide hand-picked jobs.

"It's astonishing what you've built," says John Sumser, principal analyst at Key Interval Research. "You've automated all the research and are making these services available to those for whom this was an unaffordable luxury in the past. I think this aggregated wisdom makes you the 'Malcolm Gladwell' of the job space."

By helping transitioning employees get into new jobs more than five months faster than the national average, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, RiseSmart not only helps jobseekers, but also employers. Companies limit legal liability, improve their employer brand, reduce potential costs around both future hiring and unemployment charges, and foster alumni relationships by choosing RiseSmart's outplacement solution.

"Enterprises spend a lot of attention on the talent acquisition process; however, offboarding is equally important, as you never know if your former employee will be the one who is the best fit for hire a few quarters from now," said Holger Mueller, vice president and principal analyst for Constellation Research. "Attention paid to the way employees are treated on the way out, as well as to the services offered to them during the transition process, can make or break alumni relations, as well as future referrals and customer and partner relations. Bringing modern technologies and best practices to the otherwise very traditional outplacement market is good for enterprises, people and the overall economy."

RiseSmart Spotlight is social outplacement in that it places particular emphasis on protecting employer brand. With the proliferation of social media, if companies do not take care of their transitioning employees, negative reviews on sites such as Glassdoor and other social platforms could adversely impact the talent acquisition pipeline – not to mention have a negative impact on morale of remaining employees, which can then affect retention and eventually engagement. RiseSmart Spotlight empowers employees to become vocal brand ambassadors, making their success their company's success as well.

"We take the responsibility of caring for our employees seriously – including those who might be impacted by a restructuring event," said Cassie Brown, vice president of HR Operations and Employee Relations at Scripps Networks Interactive. "Having partnered with the RiseSmart team and their proven methodology, we are confident that we can help our transitioning employees get back to work more quickly." 

"It has been a pleasure working with RiseSmart to improve our outplacement outcomes and employee experience," said Sherry Whitley, executive vice president and CHRO at Intuit. "Moving from a more traditional model of outplacement to RiseSmart's blended model was easy and has proven to have great value."

"RiseSmart was the original innovator of contemporary outplacement services," said Sathe. "We continue to act as a catalyst for disruption in the outplacement industry and look forward to rolling out more innovative solutions, such as RiseSmart Spotlight, that will help people get back to work faster."

About RiseSmart
RiseSmart is a leading provider of contemporary career transition services that strengthen employer brands, improve retention and re-engage talent. RiseSmart's contemporary approach to outplacement combines personalized services from trained professionals with unmatched technology delivered through a convenient, cloud-based platform. High-performing organizations in more than 40 industries rely on RiseSmart's outplacement solution to help former employees find new jobs faster. Landing rates exceeding 80 percent and time-to-placement averages more than 60 percent faster than national averages have helped make RiseSmart the nation's fastest-growing outplacement firm. RiseSmart's innovative approach to human capital management has earned the company a wide range of awards and recognition from organizations including Bersin by Deloitte, the Best in Biz, Gartner Inc., the Golden Bridge Awards, GreatRated!, LAROCQUE, the Momentum Index, Red Herring, the San Francisco Business Times, SiliconIndia, the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, the Stevie Awards and TIE. Additionally, RiseSmart's outplacement solution has earned the exclusive endorsement of the American Hospital Association. For more information, visit http://www.risesmart.com

CONTACT: Brittany McLaughlin, 1-972-850-5869, [email protected]

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