Fighting the recession: The gloom busters

The following is an excerpt from The Sunday Business Post on Sunday, January 04, 2009 featuring John Fitzgerald of Harmonics.

Harmonics

Few companies can claim to see an upswing in business during a recession, but career and coaching firm Harmonics is an exception to the rule. One of the reasons for this is that outplacement is one of its core services and, with job losses mounting by the day, demand for its services is increasing. For those unfamiliar with the service, outplacement is often provided by companies who are laying off staff. Professionals are called in to help departing workers to find new positions.

Traditionally, outplacement is seen as providing help with CVs and interview training. However, according to John Fitzgerald, managing director of Harmonics, the firm adopts a somewhat different approach.

‘‘Our policy is to say that you have to stand back from that and really ask where you are going,” Fitzgerald said. ‘‘You need to ask yourself if the ladder is up against the right wall - quite often people are in the wrong industry and they need to change. It can be painful to switch, but they have to.”

In addition to this, outplacement consultancy is also important to a business that is shedding staff. Managers need to be assisted in managing the change process. In many cases they can end up overseeing people who disagreed with the staff cuts or wanted to avail of redundancy, but couldn’t.

‘‘The talent left behind after a downsizing is the future of the business,” Fitzgerald said.

‘‘If they remain unfocused and fearful of the future, there is no leadership and the company dies.”

Harmonics has been in business for just over two years and much of the inspiration for its business model came from Fitzgerald’s own experience. Out of work for six months, he found himself stuck in a rut, focusing only on the negatives of his situation.

After meeting coaching adviser Pat Hennessy, he began to view things differently and started looking at his opportunities instead. Hennessy became a co founder of Harmonics and the firm now has six full-time staff, as well as a 12-strong team of associate contractors.

It is getting most of its work in the main urban areas of Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Belfast. While Fitzgerald declined to provide exact figures, he said the company had grown 35 per cent in terms of turnover in the past 12 months.

Outplacement is not the only aspect to Harmonics’ business, as it is also involved in recruitment and coaching. The latter service is probably more important than ever at present.

‘‘When we decided to set up this business, we decided to focus on three areas: recruitment , coaching and outplacement,” Fitzgerald said. ‘‘We felt that this was going to recession-proof our business, because in the good times recruitment will do well and in the bad times outplacement will perform well.

‘‘For businesses, it is the same thing. They have to ask themselves what they can be passionate about and where can they make their margins. There are companies involved in sectors which, for one reason or another, shouldn’t be in those businesses.

‘‘They have added on a service that isn’t making money and because of their egos, they felt the need to keep it running. But sometimes you have to be pretty harsh, and now is that time. You have to make the unpleasant decisions.”

By Michelle Devane, Martha Kearns. Nicloa Cooke, Dick O' Brien, Emma Kennedy, and Gillian Nelis

The full article can be seen here