CareerBridgeIQ
Supporting Your Employees Through a Layoff Does Not Have to Be Complicated
CareerBridgeIQ gives departing employees real career tools and COBRA guidance the day they walk out the door. Built by someone who spent their career in the staffing industry. No agency fees. No outplacement overhead. Just real support that protects your people and your reputation.
What Your HR Team Is Up Against During a Reduction in Force
A layoff is not just a business event. For the people affected, it is one of the most disorienting moments of their working lives. Health insurance ends. 401(k) decisions have to be made under pressure. The job search starts over in a market that looks nothing like it did the last time they were in it.
Your HR team is managing all of this at once: legal review, WARN Act compliance, severance packages, manager preparation, survivor morale, and the outplacement question that never quite gets a clean answer. We built CareerBridgeIQ to solve the last one.
Built by Someone Who Has Spent Their Career on the Hiring Side
CareerBridgeIQ was not built by a tech startup. It was built by someone who spent their career in the staffing industry, working with both employers and job seekers every day. That background shapes everything about how the platform works.
When your departing employees use CareerBridgeIQ, they are not getting generic AI advice. They are getting guidance informed by real hiring experience, from someone who has sat on the other side of the table, knows what recruiters actually look for, and understands where job seekers consistently fall short.
That is what makes this different from every other outplacement alternative on the market. And it is why HR leaders and People Operations teams at mid-to-large companies are choosing CareerBridgeIQ to support their departing workforce.
COBRA Support for Employers
When a job ends, employees have 60 days to decide whether to elect COBRA continuation coverage. Most of them have no idea what COBRA actually costs, what alternatives exist, or whether another option would save their family money.
Your HR team cannot walk every departing employee through those questions individually. Our benefits advisors can, and there is no cost to speak with one.
COBRABridge connects departing employees with licensed benefits advocates who compare COBRA costs against ACA Marketplace alternatives, review dental, vision, and life insurance options, and help people enroll in whatever makes the most sense for their situation. This service is completely free to the employee and costs the company nothing. No subscription is required.
COBRABridge is the only service of its kind built into a career transition platform. There is nothing else like it in the career tools space.
Workforce Reduction Support for Employees
The job market your departing employees are entering today is different from the one they left five or ten years ago. ATS systems filter out most resumes before a human reads them. LinkedIn matters more than it ever has. Competition for open roles is intense.
Recommending CareerBridgeIQ to departing employees is a goodwill gesture that gives them something real to work with the day they leave. They get access to:
• Resume IQ: Analyzes their resume against the specific job they are targeting, identifies keyword gaps, and scores ATS compatibility. Real analysis, not templates.
• LinkedIn IQ: Reviews their profile the way a recruiter sees it and gives them a clear improvement plan. Users see measurable increases in profile views and recruiter outreach within 30 days.
• Interview IQ: Written and phone interview practice with immediate scoring and honest feedback. Not encouragement. Actual critique.
• JobMatch IQ: Maps transferable skills to target roles and identifies exactly what gaps need to be closed before applying.
• Research IQ: Company-level research covering financials, culture, salary benchmarks, and recent developments so employees walk into every interview prepared.
• Email IQ: Drafts the networking emails, follow-ups, and offer negotiations that most job seekers struggle to write.
• JobTrack IQ: Keeps the entire job search organized in one place, tracking every application, contact, and follow-up so nothing falls through the cracks.
Employees can try these tools at no cost. For companies that want to provide broader access as part of a severance package, contact us to discuss partnership options.
How to Protect Your Employer Brand During Layoffs
Glassdoor reviews from laid-off employees can stay visible for years. The way a company handles a reduction in force follows it into every future hiring cycle, every culture conversation, and every recruiting call.
The companies that come through layoffs with their reputation intact are the ones that gave departing employees something real. Not a goodbye email and a cardboard box. Real resources, real support, real follow-through.
Providing CareerBridgeIQ to every departing employee sends a clear message: the decision was a business necessity, not a dismissal of the people affected by it.
It matters to the people who stay, too. They are watching how their colleagues are treated on the way out. How you handle a layoff shapes morale, retention, and your ability to attract talent in the next hiring cycle
RIF Process HR Best Practices
A reduction in force handled well protects the company legally, financially, and reputationally. These are the fundamentals experienced HR leaders return to every time:
• Define selection criteria before any individual is identified. Criteria documented around role requirements and business need are far easier to defend than those tied to individual performance ratings alone.
• Run a disparate impact analysis before the list is finalized. Review age, race, gender, and protected class distribution across those selected and those retained.
• Review WARN Act obligations with employment counsel before proceeding. Whether federal WARN or a state equivalent applies depends on your company size, the number of employees affected, and your location. Many states have stricter rules with lower thresholds than the federal law. This is not a step to guess at.
• Brief managers before anyone else knows. A manager who hears about the layoff at the same time as the employee creates unnecessary legal and reputational risk. Give them clear talking points, defined limits on what they can say, and enough time to prepare.
• Have legal review every severance agreement carefully. If you are asking employees to waive age discrimination claims in exchange for severance, the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act requires a minimum of 45 days to review the agreement and 7 days to revoke it after signing, for group layoff situations. Individual terminations carry a 21-day review period. Confirm with counsel which applies to your situation.
• Deliver benefits information on the day of notification. COBRA letters and 401(k) rollover information that arrive weeks later reach people who are still managing the shock of the news. Put it all in their hands on day one.
• Provide real outplacement support. Not a list of job boards. Tools your employees can actually open and use.
Reduction in Force Checklist for HR Teams
Before the announcement:
• Selection criteria documented and reviewed by legal before individuals are identified
• Disparate impact analysis completed across all protected classes
• WARN Act and state equivalent obligations confirmed with employment counsel
• Severance packages prepared and reviewed by counsel
• Manager briefings completed before any notifications take place
• Communication plan approved by leadership and legal
• COBRA election packets and benefits continuation information ready to deliver
• 401(k) plan administrator notified and rollover information prepared
• IT off-boarding schedule and equipment return process confirmed
• Outplacement access arranged for all departing employees
On notification day:
• Managers conduct all meetings with HR present
• Written notification and severance offer provided in the meeting
• COBRA packet and all benefits information delivered same day
• IT access revoked on the agreed schedule
• Final paycheck timing and delivery method communicated clearly
After the announcement:
• Remaining employees addressed by leadership with transparency
• Benefits and payroll questions routed to a dedicated contact
• CareerBridgeIQ access communicated to all departing employees
• WARN Act notice filed if applicable
• Severance agreement signature deadlines tracked
What Does Outplacement Actually Cost?
Traditional outplacement firms charge anywhere from $500 to $10,000 or more per employee depending on service level and seniority. For a company managing a significant reduction in force, that number adds up fast. And the service often amounts to a few coaching sessions, a resume review, and access to a job board.
CareerBridgeIQ gives departing employees access to a full suite of job search tools on day one, built by someone who came from the recruiting side of the table. Employees can start using it immediately with no onboarding lag and no agency coordination.
For companies looking to provide broader access as part of severance, we work with HR teams to find an arrangement that fits the size and timeline of the situation. Contact us to have that conversation before your next announcement.
Ready to talk? Reach out before your next announcement.
We will walk you through how CareerBridgeIQ works as an outplacement alternative, what it costs for your specific situation, and how to get access to departing employees the day of notification.
No sales pitch. A practical conversation with people who understand what HR teams need