Is 'outplacement' used in English?

[Torsten]

It seems that the term 'outplacement' is not very often used in English although it's an English word. 'Outplacement services', 'Outplacement programs' etc. are buzzwords in German and a lot of Germans probably think that they are used in English too. It would be good to hear what the correct English terminology is for this process?

Thanks,
Torsten
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[Jamie (K)]

Outplacement is, in fact, an English word that can be found in dictionaries, and people do use it. It means an employer providing assistance to laid-off employees in finding new jobs. Sometimes the employer pays for updated education as part of the service. I know of one case where General Motors paid for a woman's reeducation if she did a certain number of hours of volunteer work at the Red Cross per week. She was being laid off from a production job and was retraining to be a nurse.

[Torsten]

Well, the strange thing is that the Wikipedia article on 'Outplacement' is available in German only. The same holds true for the term 'assessment center' which many German personal development trainers and human resource mangers love so much that they can't stop kicking it around all day...
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[Jamie (K)]

[Torsten]

Maybe, but then again, there is a large entry on 'laptops' although the word 'laptop' is probably more commonly used in English than the words 'outplacement' or 'assessment center'.
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[Jamie (K)]

[Alan]

Hi Torsten,

Your thread on 'outplacement' has stirred up that part of my brain devoted to ideas for new material. 'Out words' if I might call them such, are a rich source of material. I'll be back with more.

Alan
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[Torsten]

Sounds intriguing, Alan. I take it by 'out words' you mean words that 'out' (no longer in)?
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[Tamara]

Some 'out'-words definitely are not logical (for me) and so are difficult to remember with their true meanings.

For example, I remember that was suprised when learning the meaning of outbrave.
To me it sounded rather as 'not brave' (out of).
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[Alan]

I was thinking of words like - outdo/outclass/outdare/outbrave/outgrow/outfox etc etc.

A
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