As a small number of companies, including the big job search engines, prepare to spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads this Sunday, I’m pondering a few questions about the search engines’ ad campaigns:

1. Are most jobseekers as miserable as CareerBuilder and Monster portray them to be — or is there something Freudian going on here? Maybe the truly miserable ones are the advertising agency creatives who can’t come up with a better reason to use the typical job board than, “You’re so desperate and unhappy — try us!” Of course, the idea that you could find relief from misery by searching for jobs online is a little ironic to us. RiseSmart customers come to us specifically because searching for jobs online makes them miserable.

2. What is it with TheLadders.com and CareerBuilder and the use of animals (and even monsters — yes, I get the joke) in place of actual people in their commercials? To paraphrase John Merrick, you are not an animal! You are a person, and chances are, your professional yearnings and desires are far more personal, and more important to you, than these ads — playing for laughs — would suggest. That’s why RiseSmart’s service is human-powered — with a real HR professional engaged in every job search on our customers’ behalf.

3. Is it really effective for TheLadders.com to work your ego so transparently? “We only work with the big talent,” the ad says. From what I can gather, as long as you plunk your money down, you’re in. Now, what they don’t bother to tell you in this ad is that they only have a small fraction of available $100K jobs on their site — because they charge employers to post listings. That’s the kind of exclusivity that can cost you a job — not find you one.

So as I sit back and watch Super Bowl XLIII on Sunday, I’ll take satisfaction in knowing that while the big search engines are offering jobseekers intangible benefits like a relief from misery or a stroke of the ego, we continue to focus on delivering what our customers want most: a job.

For nearly half a century, forward-thinking corporations have provided outplacement services to their laid-off workers to help them make the transition to their next job. But today’s historic recession — combined with the rising costs of traditional corporate outplacement services — have forced some employers to slash the number of laid-off employees receiving this exit benefit, or to eliminate it altogether.

Why is this happening? Traditional outplacement services have simply become too expensive in the minds of many companies. Employers are frustrated with these services, because they cost a lot but typically don’t demonstrate measurable results for employees. During a time of financial pressures, they’ve become a target of budget cuts.

Outplacement consulting firms have mushroomed to a $3 billion industry by collecting large sums from corporations to provide their transitioned employees with career counseling, the temporary use of office space and supplies, and other support services. However, these firms often come up woefully short in addressing employees’ most pressing need: finding a new job.

Fortune 500 HR Execs Endorse Outplacement 2.0

RiseSmart recently introduced a smarter solution: RiseSmart Transition Concierge, which provides high-touch, results-oriented outplacement services at a fraction of the cost of traditional firms. RiseSmart’s Web-enabled “Outplacement 2.0″ approach is a disruptive innovation in a marketplace that has been paying too much for outplacement services for too long.

Executives at Fortune 500 companies who have reviewed the service are giving us high praise, as announced in a press release we distributed today:

Lora Villarreal, executive vice president and chief people officer for Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), said RiseSmart Transition Concierge is a good solution for companies concerned about the high costs of traditional outplacement services.

“Cutting outplacement services is rarely a good idea,” said Villarreal. “Both your departing employees and those who stay with your company pay close attention to how you handle these situations. If you handle them poorly, studies show that it hurts your productivity as well as your ability to attract quality talent.”

Carol Maxwell, assistant vice president of executive talent for Tenet Healthcare, added that RiseSmart’s service is a disruptive innovation in the transition management industry — promising to make quality outplacement services available to a broader range of employees than currently receive them.

“RiseSmart Transition Concierge dispenses with the overhead and focuses on results,” Maxwell said. “In today’s economy, that’s the kind of approach that employers of all sizes are looking for in an outplacement service provider.”

Kyung Yoon, CEO of Talent Age Associates and former vice chair of Heidrick & Struggles, one of the world’s leading executive search and leadership consulting firms, added, “Today more than ever, job candidates are keenly aware of which employers treat their employees well — and which don’t. RiseSmart Transition Concierge is an excellent solution for companies that wish to be on the right side of that line.”

How Outplacement 2.0 Works

RiseSmart Transition Concierge’s Web-enabled service provides all the value of traditional outplacement services, without the overhead. The service provides transitioned employees with help in marketing themselves through a rewrite of their resumes and cover letters; guidance from a transition specialist, including assistance in using online social networks; and — most importantly — actionable job leads from across the Web based on their specific criteria, for a period of up to six months.

To identify these job leads, a dedicated RiseSmart HR professional is assigned to each transitioned employee. Utilizing state-of-the-art search technology, the HR professional searches more than one million job listings across the Web, returning only the listings that best match the employee’s specific criteria. RiseSmart then listens to employee feedback to continually enhance the results it delivers to each transitioned worker.

In addition to its standard service package, RiseSmart offers an executive package that incorporates resume distribution services, weekly phone counseling sessions, and other high-touch services.

With both service packages, corporate clients receive a custom, company-branded portal where they can access detailed reports showing RiseSmart’s results for their transitioned workers. For more information about RiseSmart Transition Concierge, visit www.risesmart.com/transitionconcierge or e-mail transition@risesmart.com.

Asking for a raise during a recession is not for the faint of heart when it comes to climbing the career ladder. But the fact is, you can’t simply put your career on hold because the U.S. economy is in the tank. And that means that — despite the economy — now might be the right time to ask for a raise, or at least a bump in non-monetary compensation.

If you think I’m talking about you, then I probably am. So here are five tips to follow before taking the plunge:

1. Make sure you’re underpaid. Your first step is to gain an understanding of what your job pays at other companies. You can use sites like RiseSmart partner PayScale, or you can talk to others in your field. One of your best resources is an executive recruiter, if you’ve built a relationship with one who works in your industry. Recruiters can tell you the latest real-world salary info based on their recent placements.

2. Document your performance. Prepare a memo that highlights your accomplishments, focused on measurable results. Write it with the same care and approach as you would your resume. Use lots of action words, bullet points and impressive numbers — but no fudging the facts!

3. Time it just right. The best time to ask for a raise is just after you’ve completed a major project or scored a big sale. That’s when you can argue your value with the least resistance. Speaking of timing, it’s a good idea to choose a day when your boss is in a good mood, too.

4. Consider a non-monetary boost. If cash flow is tight at your company, you may wish to consider asking for non-monetary compensation, such as an increase in vacation time, tuition reimbursement, a more flexible work schedule, telecommuting from home, or other possibilities. If you ask for a raise and your boss says “no,” requesting perks can be a good fallback position.

2. Don’t settle for “I’ll get back to you.” Ask for an answer in your meeting. If you don’t get one, schedule a follow-up discussion to revisit your request. Don’t leave it open-ended — make sure a plan is in place for your boss to make a decision.

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that reading the newspaper lately — particularly the business section — can be a depressing experience.

In the New York Times today, for example, I counted no less than 18 headlines focused, in one way or another, on our country’s current economic mess. On the subject of jobs, in particular, I read stories on an increase in New York’s unemployment rate, slashed jobs at Microsoft, and a column projecting “withering” paychecks for Wall Street workers who are lucky enough to survive the ax.

If you are currently in a corporate management job — even one that’s not fulfilling for you — all of this doom and gloom is probably encouraging you to keep your head down, suck it up and forget about looking for a better job. After all, there aren’t any job openings out there anyway, right?

Wrong.

Certainly, the overall rate of joblessness has been increasing in the United States over the past year, and that is expected to continue for at least two more quarters, and perhaps longer.

But the organizational changes that occur within companies during periods of economic turmoil can actually yield new opportunities — including many that might not have become available if not for a change in the winds of the marketplace.

When companies take a close look at their organizations to streamline and improve efficiency, they often identify new positions that are needed while eliminating others. It’s a time when corporations are forced to be creative, and if you are opportunistic, you can pounce on these opportunities through networking and otherwise keeping your ear to the ground.

For example, I have an acquaintance who recently became a vice president at a Fortune 1000 company. It was a new position created when another executive role was removed from the org chart.

Did you know that our RiseSmart Job Concierge team is currently searching among more than one million senior-level job openings online? That’s a lot of jobs — and a lot of opportunity for someone who refuses to be dissuaded by the doom and gloom in the papers.

Try us out for free today to find out for yourself.