RiseSmart announced today that Transition Concierge To-Go™, a mobile application that delivers personalized job leads and other job-search tools to laid-off workers, is now available as an iPhone Web app.

Transition Concierge To-Go is free to eligible employees of companies who use RiseSmart’s Transition Concierge™ as their outplacement solution. Transition Concierge arms workers with the most powerful set of job-search tools and transition service support available today, while making it simpler than ever for employers to measure the ROI of their outplacement programs.

RiseSmart currently has several thousand employees in the system who can begin using Transition Concierge To-Go immediately. To add the app to their iPhones, users can go to m.risesmart.com, tap the plus sign and then tap “Add to Home Screen.” An icon will be added to their iPhone’s home screen for easy, one-tap access. Users only need to log in to the app on their first use.

The app sends relevant job opportunities directly to workers’ iPhones, enabling them to see the latest job leads that match their skills and preferences; tag jobs they like for follow-up; send themselves a reminder to take action on a job lead; review notifications for job-related Webinars and networking events; contact a RiseSmart Transition Specialist via phone or e-mail with feedback; review preferences, settings, favorites and more.

A primary distinction of RiseSmart’s Transition Concierge, compared to traditional outplacement agency offerings, is that the solution provides highly personalized job leads to each employee on a weekly basis. RiseSmart uses proprietary aggregation and semantic search technology to match each employee’s job preferences against hundreds of thousands of active job listings across the Web. Then, a specialist assigned to the employee’s account hones these results by hand — ensuring that only pertinent leads are delivered to each employee.

Transition Concierge To-Go was launched as a BlackBerry application in April, and will soon be available on the iPad and Android phones. You can find the app listed in Apple’s Web app directory.

Today we announced the release of Transition Concierge To-Go, our new mobile app for transitioning workers, on Blackberry devices, with versions for the iPhone and Android to come soon.

The mobile app is a natural extension of Transition Concierge 3.0, which is all about leveraging Web-based technology to put people in jobs faster. Whereas traditional outplacement firms typically require laid-off employees to come to their offices for group seminars, grief counseling and such, we’ve always believed in taking our services to the jobseeker directly.

And what better way to do that than by delivering jobs to their phones?

Here’s the full release:

Laid-Off Workers Get Job Leads on the Go with New Mobile App from RiseSmart

Transition Concierge To-Go™ extends next-generation outplacement solution
to BlackBerry, iPhone and Android-based phones.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (April 15, 2010) – RiseSmart, a leading provider of Web-enabled outplacement and job search services, today announced the launch of Transition Concierge To-Go, a mobile application that delivers personalized job leads and other job-search tools to the smartphones of laid-off workers.

“Traditional outplacement providers still build their offerings around the outdated idea that laid-off employees should come to a physical office to attend seminars and be taught how to find a job,” said Sanjay Sathe, founder and CEO of RiseSmart. “Transition Concierge takes the opposite approach. We go where the employees are — and our new mobile app is a perfect example of this.”

Transition Concierge To-Go is an extension of Transition Concierge 3.0, RiseSmart’s next-generation outplacement offering that provides highly personalized job leads to laid-off workers each week via an online interface. The mobile app will initially be available on BlackBerry devices, followed by the iPhone and Android-based phones.

Transition Concierge To-Go sends relevant job opportunities directly to workers’ smartphones, enabling them to:

• See the latest job leads that match their skills and preferences;
• Tag jobs they like for follow-up;
• Send themselves a reminder to take action on a job lead;
• Review notifications for job-related Webinars and networking events;
• Contact a RiseSmart Transition Specialist via phone or e-mail with feedback or to request additional information;
• Review preferences, settings, favorites and more!

A primary distinction of Transition Concierge 3.0, compared to traditional corporate outplacement offerings, is that the solution provides highly personalized job leads to each employee on a weekly basis.

RiseSmart uses proprietary aggregation and semantic search technology to match each employee’s job preferences against hundreds of thousands of active job listings across the Web. Then, a specialist assigned to the employee’s account hones these results by hand — ensuring that only pertinent leads are delivered to each employee.

About RiseSmart

RiseSmart provides the next-generation outplacement and recruitment process outsourcing solutions. The company leverages a common technology platform, proven methodologies, and one-on-one support to help employers with their workforce strategy, and displaced employees with their career strategy. RiseSmart drives significant ROI to organizations by offering affordable pricing, reducing severance costs and unemployment taxes for outplacement services and reducing cycle time and cost of hire for recruiting services. For more information, visit www.RiseSmart.com.

I’ve had the privilege of speaking with analysts and editors from organizations like Gartner, Aberdeen and Human Resource Executive over the past several days to tell them about the latest generation of RiseSmart’s outplacement solution, Transition Concierge 3.0. We’ve been gratified and humbled by the response.

One analyst credited us with reenergizing the $3+ billion outplacement market. Another said our solution was unlike anything else he’d seen.

Here’s an excerpt from our press release on Transition Concierge 3.0:

Transition Concierge 3.0 significantly expands the capabilities of the original Transition Concierge service, launched in 2008, with an improved state-of-the-art CRM interface, which employees use to manage their participation in the Transition Concierge program. Through RiseSmart CRM, employees are able to access a wealth of job search and career management tools and services.

A primary distinction of Transition Concierge 3.0, compared to traditional outplacement service offerings, is that the solution provides highly personalized job leads to each employee on a weekly basis. RiseSmart uses proprietary aggregation and semantic search technology to match each employee’s job preferences against hundreds of thousands of active job listings across the Web. Then, a specialist assigned to the employee’s account hones these results by hand — ensuring that only pertinent leads are delivered to each employee.

Specific components of RiseSmart CRM include:

• Activity Dashboard: The central hub of information and the first page the employee sees after signing in to the site, the Activity Dashboard includes job search status updates, notifications of to-do items and job leads, and a snapshot of recommended events, blogs and articles.
• Job Preferences: Employees enter preferences (industry, job title, location, etc.) that are used to determine which job leads the employee will receive. The employee can upload a resume and/or enter detailed additional background information, which RiseSmart’s support team utilizes to better match the employee with search results.
• Resume Wizard: Each employee receives a professionally written resume as part of the service. The Resume Wizard captures information about employee accomplishments and experiences that a certified professional resume writer then uses, in conjunction with one-on-one consultation, to craft a new resume.
• Job Inbox: Employees receive job leads each week in their Job Inbox. The employee can apply directly to jobs from the inbox. Employees also can manage and organize their job search to show jobs they have applied or interviewed for, and to add notes and follow-up reminders.
• LinkedIn Integration: The Job Inbox features LinkedIn integration, enabling the employee to view and network with LinkedIn contacts at any company posting a job opening.
• Job Rating Engine: To improve the leads they receive on an ongoing basis, employees can rate individual job leads. This feedback is incorporated into future searches.

RiseSmart effectively uses the Web and the phone to provide a superior quality of high-tech and high-touch service, matching individuals to the right Transition Specialists and certified resume writers from our virtual network, allowing us to deliver a consistent level of service across the country. An employee has access to one-on-one assistance during every step of the job-finding process.

Measurable ROI for Employers

Because all interaction with Transition Concierge 3.0 can be monitored online, employers can accurately track program participation levels, job leads delivered to each employee, and employees placed in new jobs.

With RiseSmart, employees find new jobs nearly twice as fast as the national average, significantly reducing severance costs, unemployment taxes, and other layoff-related expenditures. According to 2009 data from the Institute for Corporate Productivity, the cost of Transition Concierge 3.0 is about half that of traditional services.

Below are a couple of screen caps from the Transition Concierge user interface. If you would like a full demo of the Transition Concierge service, e-mail us here.

Employees can manage and organize their job search to show jobs they have applied or interviewed for, and to add notes and follow-up reminders.

The Job Inbox features LinkedIn integration, enabling the employee to view and network with LinkedIn contacts at any company posting a job opening.

Affiliated Computer Services, a Fortune 500 company and global leader in business process outsourcing and information technology services, has introduced a new service offering, ACS Transition Services - Powered by RiseSmart.

Said Mark Squiers, executive managing director of ACS Human Resources Outsourcing services, in the company’s press release:

This is a new model for transition services, one that is geared to providing strong returns for both employers and employees. By eliminating costly traditional services like office space and group seminars, which have been found to be of low value to employees, the focus is on aggressively helping workers find a new job. Valuable services such as professional resume writing and personalized support for individuals remain, while companies have the ability to quickly deploy the additional services without dealing with infrastructure issues.

We are delighted to partner with ACS as we continue to transform the way outplacement works, both for employees and employers.

I don’t generally think of myself as a movie reviewer, but my critique of “Up in the Air” — written, of course, from my perspective as the CEO of an outplacement firm — has gotten some attention, first in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and then in the online Wall Street Journal.

Wrote the Journal’s Josh Beckerman of our press release on the movie (which this week was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture):

Best of all is RiseSmart’s debunking of the theory that “laid-off workers can be mollified with generic pep talks.” The company invokes Clooney’s line that “anyone who ever built an empire or changed the world sat where you are sitting, and it’s because they sat there that they were able to do it.”

RiseSmart says “the thought that this kind of condescending pep talk would ‘work’ on people is insulting to those who have actually had to go through this experience.” Right on. The downsizing victims in the movie are too easily impressed - the cynical J.K. Simmons character is rapidly persuaded about the merits of opening a restaurant during the credit crunch, and there’s a queasy suggestion that layoffs are okay because you get to spend more time with your family.

Since Hollywood doesn’t make many movies about HR consultants, my 15 minutes of fame as a film critic is probably over. So Roger Ebert, don’t quit your day job.

But I would like to add one more point about the movie, which I’ve come to upon reflection. The unflattering treatment of HR consultants in “Up in the Air” might normally be dismissed as standard Hollywood storytelling. But the movie’s popularity and Oscar nod suggest it has struck a chord of authenticity with audiences.

Why so? I think it’s at least partly because hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of workers who have been laid-off in recent years have been less than pleased with the quality — and the results — of the help they have received from traditional outplacement firms. It’s the real story of old-school outplacement, which the Wall Street Journal told a few months back.

So ironically, for all its inaccuracies, “Up in the Air” points to the reason I started RiseSmart Transition Concierge in the first place — to make outplacement services more accountable to both displaced workers and their employers, by getting employees back to work sooner.

I lived in Dallas for years before launching RiseSmart in 2007. Then, 18 months after starting the company, I moved RiseSmart to Silicon Valley.

Because of this experience, I’m often asked by entrepreneurs in Dallas and elsewhere if and when they should move their startups to the Valley, too.

To answer some of the questions I’ve received, I wrote a post for Alexander Muse’s Texas Startup Blog. You can read it here.

We are pleased to be the subject of a feature in the IndUS Business Journal that went live online today. Here’s an excerpt:

Corporate outplacement is a mainstay in corporate America and is certainly on the uptick now as the unemployment rate continues to rise and more and more companies reduce their headcounts. However, as [RiseSmart CEO Sanjay] Sathe points out, traditionally corporate outplacement provided services such as grief counseling and gave laid-off employees work space for short periods — while RiseSmart’s Transition Concierge puts the emphasis on employment.

“We really see filling an unmet need on the corporate side,” said Sathe. “We focus on what is important in the transition — to get to the next job.”

Transition Concierge provides RiseSmart’s Internet job searching power, a team of resume writers and support from a transition specialist for six months.

With reports tabbing the corporate outplacement industry at least $3 billion a year, there is certainly no shortage of opportunity for RiseSmart. Still, the company makes a strong play with its pricing for Transition Concierge, which Sathe puts at “a fraction of the cost” of more traditional outplacement services. According to him, many of these would charge $4,000-$5,000 for three months of service — RiseSmart charges $2,500 for six months.

“It is great in terms of value to the individual and the organization. And it is also very important from a price standpoint,” he said.

“[Companies] want to do the right thing. They want to help people get their next job,” he added. “We realized there is a lot of opportunity for us as a company.”

Read the full story here.

When we exhibited at HRE’s HR Technology Expo — the biggest HR tech conference in the United States — last month, we noticed something interesting. We were the only outplacement services firm there.

There’s a reason for this. RiseSmart is in the process of disrupting the $3 billion-plus corporate outplacement market by, for the first time, bringing technology to bear to reduce the industry’s cost structure, while improving service delivery. Among our innovations, we search Web-based job listings on behalf of laid-off workers to help them find jobs — something none of the big players in outplacement do currently.

We’ve been fortunate, since moving our offices from Dallas to Silicon Valley last year, to have Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) in our corner. NVP invested $3 million in Series A funding, which has helped us to grow our business to build an impressive roster of clients, including some of the most forward-thinking companies in the Fortune 500.

Now we are delighted to welcome Storm Ventures as a RiseSmart investor. We announced today an additional $4.6 million in Series A funding, including $2.8 million from Storm Ventures and $1.8 million from NVP.

In addition, Storm Ventures managing director Sanjay Subhedar will join NVP’s Venkat Mohan and myself on our company’s board of directors.

From our press release, here’s what Sanjay and Venkat say of the deal:

“RiseSmart has created a business model that promises to be a game changer in the $3 billion plus outplacement industry,” Subhedar said. “RiseSmart’s Transition Concierge is disrupting the cost structure for corporate outplacement providers, while leveraging technology to deliver superior value to a growing roster of Fortune 500 clients. “

Said Mohan: “RiseSmart has grown rapidly since NVP made its initial investment in June 2008. The company has gone the extra mile to provide an excellent customer experience to both corporate clients and transitioning workers – and that has paid off in word of mouth and new business referrals.”

I can only express my deepest gratitude in the confidence Storm Ventures and NVP have shown in RiseSmart. We don’t intend to disappoint them.

RiseSmart had a wonderful experience at the HR Technology Conference & Expo in Chicago two weeks ago, and we’re very excited to be exhibiting at HR Southwest this week at the Fort Worth Convention Center, Oct. 14-16, Booth 721.

RiseSmart was the only outplacement services provider to exhibit at the HR Technology Expo — which speaks to one of our key differentiators compared to the “big boys” in the $5 billion outplacement industry.

Namely, we understand technology, and we use it to help our corporate clients’ laid-off employees find jobs faster. That’s a win-win for both our clients and their transitioning workers.

Come visit us at HR Southwest this week to learn more about the RiseSmart difference — and how we’re shaking up the way outplacement is done.

We’re excited today to announce that Patrick S. (”Pat”) Pittard — one of the most accomplished, respected and well-connected executives in global HR circles — has joined RiseSmart’s board of advisors.

Pat is the former chairman, president and CEO of Heidrick & Struggles, the global executive search firm. During his tenure, his leadership and vision were demonstrated through the firm’s impressive financial growth and global expansion. He led the merger of the firm’s U.S. and European operations, which had operated separately for 19 years, and also led the firm’s initial public offering in April 1999, and nine months later its follow-on offering.

Since his retirement in 2002, Pittard has served as distinguished executive-in-residence at the University of Georgia’s Terry School of Business, teaching “Lessons in Leadership” to MBA students, law students and honor students. He graduated from the University of Georgia and has been honored by the Terry School of Business as its distinguished alumnus.

Pat said the following on joining our board:

RiseSmart has a disruptive business model and a veteran leadership team committed to transforming how corporate outplacement works — leveraging technology, along with a laser-like focus on results, to squeeze out the inefficiencies of traditional outplacement services. I believe in what the company is doing, and I’m excited to be a part of it.

Welcome, Pat. We look forward to your continued guidance and insight.