MEMBERS
HDA Associates Limited
Trading as HDA
Registered Office address:
Avon Wharf
23 Bridge Street
Christchurch
BH23 1DY
Company registration no:
01981354
VAT Registration no:
220 2406 29
OUR SERVICES
Key Career Stage Reviews and Coaching
Why we work in this area
HDA has worked in this area for 30 years, with significant success supporting clients seeking a significant career change at all stages of the career life-cycle; including within their organisation, from employment to self employment, across disciplines and professions, from employment into early retirement, and so on,
People are now taking more direct control of their careers and are relying less on their organisations, industries and professions to help them to achieve their career objectives. At the same time there is a trend away from linear careers towards people embarking on the next career stage in order to seek satisfaction, enjoyment and personal lifestyle choice in the first instance. Whilst this trend is strengthening, people often require support to help them to unlock optimum career change opportunities, and our coaching approach adds leverage to them,
Our activities in this area include:
- Career Change Enablement Coaching – a comprehensive coaching service via which we have successfully coached investment bankers to become yacht valets and hotel proprietors, senior Stock Exchange managers to become farmers, process operators to become E-Bay entrepreneurs, managers at all levels to become independent consultants and interim managers, media directors to become heads of charities, etc,
- Executive Career Reviews (see also under: Executive and Expatriate Career Transition and Outplacement) - supporting senior managers who face a career cross-roads, and who are supported by their organisation to actively review their career and consider alternative career paths, either within the organisation, or outside the organisation, (subject to the organisation's commercial/talent management objectives),
- Early Retirement Programmes – a comprehensive service via which we actively support people at all levels (including financial, health and commercial components), to enter fit-to-purpose early retirement; including supporting commercially active early retirement, and ongoing active contributions to commerce and society in the form of ongoing voluntary activity, experienced mentorship, etc.
Our competencies in this area
- HDA's team includes consultants with significant day-to-day experience in this area; providing fit-to-purpose leverage to people at all levels, and at all career stages, with complex career development needs, largely on a one-to-one basis (career change enablement coaching executive career reviews, and early retirement), and sometimes on a group basis (early retirement),
- As a business involved in business and executive coaching, we bring these skills to bear in supporting clients to make big career jumps, and to make correspondingly big lifestyle changes, by giving them the advice, tools and contacts to support their career change decisions
- HDA has a well developed complementary range of assessment tools and knowledge resources to support career transition needs at all stages,
- HDA partners with a range of professional specialist organisations, both in the UK and internationally to leverage careers at all career stages.
Our approach in this area
- Our principal approach is to provide fit-to-purpose one-to-one career coach-led support to people we work with at all career stages,
- HDA's support combines strong devils advocacy and probing (eg. via psychometrics, 360s, etc.) combined with a dedicated outcomes-focused approach, to move people forward to optimal career decisions within optimal time frames,
- Our one-to-one support is complemented by a range of workshops and networking events, where appropriate
Our Career Transition Workshops
HDA runs a range of highly effective career transition workshops and seminars which complement our one-to-one support. To see more on our full list of candidate workshops and to get a taster of HDA Online (A website developed specifically for individuals experiencing a career transition), please login onto our candidate site via this link, entering ‘guest’ and ‘guest’ into the username and password boxes.
Who we work with in this area
HDA has recently worked with organisations like Fidelity Investments, Orange, UPM Kymmene, Henkel, Virgin, St George's Hospital Medical School, CFA Institute, Greater London Authority, Woodside Energy, NCH, Proctor & Gamble, Ilex Energy, HMRC, Virgin, Rethink, EEF, B&Q, SimplyHealth and many others in this area. See more here.
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Bob Ferneyhough, Executive Director Human Resources, Henkel |
"Very pleased with contribution HDA have made to our recent site closure and redundancy programmes." |
"The ultimate measure of whether outplacement has worked or not is if people get jobs in a timely manner; this has certainly been the case with the closure of the UK office and I attribute a lot of this success to the way outplacement was managed. The program we devised with HDA was flexible enough to cope with individual needs and timely so that people got thinking about their future quickly enabling them to make clear decisions. The team at HDA have always been responsive, flexible and professional; it has been a pleasure working with them in this difficult time."
European HR Manager, Engineering Company
"HDA's consultants are of a high quality and the matching process with employees is working successfully. I have found HDA to be flexible and adaptable to meet the company's needs and above all, our employees feel supported through what can be a difficult and emotional process"
Senior HR Manager, Financial Services
Our key career stage reviews and coaching case studies
Our opinions in this area
UK Recession, Redundancy and Outplacement Report - Clayton Glen July 09
HDA - 2009 Outplacement Survey Results - Joanne Simpson June 09
Outplacement…the Key to Talent Retention? - Melissa Gallagher - June 09
New Age, New Retirement - Tricia Dicks - December 08
Are you controlling your outplacement costs? - Tricia Dicks - November 08
'Getting out of the City' - Executive Grapevine - Clayton Glen Commentary - November 08
Outplacement Support - Measuring the Return on Investment - Joanne Simpson - October 08
Client Feedback Audit 2008 - Melissa Gallagher - August 08
2008 Outplacement Survey Results - Joanne Simpson - July 08
In house Advice Article in The Executive Grapevine - Clayton Glen - June 08
Support for those dismissed on the grounds of ill health - Tricia Dicks - May 08
Large-scale change: can outplacement be delivered effectively, and remotely within a tight budget? - Tricia Dicks - Febuary 08
How best to measure Return on Investment (ROI) on the provision of outplacement support - CNI & HDA - December 07
Retirement and Knowledge Retention: How Honda manages ‘Soft Retirement Exits’ - Tricia Dicks - November 07
Effective Networking for Career Development in the Age of the Internet - Melissa Gallagher - July 07
The New Retirement - Tricia Dicks - May 07
The New Reality - Ongoing Economic Activity in Retirement - Executive Grapevine - Tricia Dicks - April 07
Networking and Personal Branding for Senior Executives – Developing a Strategy for Success - Executive Grapevine - Melissa Gallagher - March 07
Providing effective redundancy & redeployment career transition support- Executive Grapevine - Melissa Gallagher - January 07
See more on our recent briefings, press releases and opinions
Who to contact about our services in this area
Luke Bennett, Senior Account Manager - llb@hda.co.uk / +44 (0) 207 484 5481
Joanne Simpson, Managing Career Consultant - jxs@hda.co.uk / +44 (0) 1202 481 811
Redundancy
There have been a few times in living memory when the threat of redundancy has seemed so real for so many.
Many are contemplating or coming to terms with redundancy after thinking it would never happen to them, yet redundancy is something most of us will experience at some stage, often more than once.
No-one can claim redundancy is easy. Keeping calm when emotions and worry are inevitably involved and negotiating the best redundancy deal can be tough.
But once the initial shock of redundancy has subsided, it’s common to use it as a chance to take stock. Often, it is an opportunity to make a big career change.
Career Transition
Of course, these days, there is nothing unusual about making a career transition. We no longer work for the same company for 40 years, and making more than one career change in a working life is increasingly common. But, often, redundancy can be the specific trigger for a significant career transition.
Naturally, the prospect of a career change or a career transition can seem daunting, especially if you have done the same job for years. But, most people find that, once they have made their career change, their only regret is not having done it sooner.
Of course, your career transition can mean many things. You may want to move abroad, downsize or be promoted, follow a dream or just have a complete career change.
You could be taking stock and considering a career transition at any stage of your career, and you may well make more than one career change during your working life, and not just because of redundancy.
Some people make a career transition at an early stage of their career if they feel they have started out in the wrong job. For others, their main career transition comes in the middle or towards the end of their careers. Some senior staff may make big decisions following executive career reviews.
Career Change
A career change can take many forms. It can mean a total career transition, or redeployment within the same organisation.
Redeployment is a way for employers to hang on to valued staff and skills, and a common alternative to redundancy. A company may also consider redeployment to keep staff for example if a disability means they can no longer continue in their role. Equally, redeployment can be a way of limiting the use of agency staff.
In a fast-changing and competitive world, redeployment can be a way of using skills and people as efficiently as possible. Indeed, corporate redeployment of staff is becoming routine.
Redeployment
Redeployment comes in various forms. Redeployment can mean displacing employees out of the company (through separation, redundancy or retirement) or internal redeployment through retraining, internal recruitment and flexible working schemes.) But redeployment is also an emotive and complex issue which needs careful management.
If this sort of career transition is not handled properly, redeployment can end up being a costly exercise. Equally, many employers find staff are, at least initially, resistant to any kind of involuntary career change. To help with any kind of career transition, it’s worth considering the use of a professional coaching organisation, such as HDA. At senior level, where the stakes are higher, executive career reviews can be crucial in making any career change.
Executive Career Reviews
Executive career reviews can help employers be sure that senior managers are ready to make a career change, eg. promotion or an important lateral move. At the same time, executive career reviews are helpful in supporting managers themselves as they prepare to make a career transition. One organisation which leads the field in executive career reviews is HDA Associates. We have been carrying out executive career reviews, and coaching for other kinds of career change for three decades.
Our executive career reviews draw on our strong understanding of senior management, and we have conducted executive career reviews for a wide range of private and public sector clients. Our unique range of senior psychometric and 360 tools makes our executive career reviews stand out.
Our executive career reviews take a thorough look at career to date before planning the next move with a detailed plan of action. Our comprehensive executive career reviews incorporate three planning and four action phases.
So if you feel you or your staff could benefit from executive career reviews you will find it pays to talk to us at HDA Associates first.