Introducing CareerShift: Outplacement That Shows Your People Where to Go Next
Publication date: Nov 08When you make the difficult decision to reduce your workforce, the people leaving face a job market that looks very different from the one they entered.
Key Takeaways
- CareerShift shows each of your former employees where their skills are in demand, which step-up and lateral roles fit, and how to close skill gaps, using job market data from Lightcast.
- A Challenger coach, a job search expert, turns that data into a prioritized plan and keeps the search moving.
- CareerShift is included in every Challenger outplacement program, at every level. It’s not an add-on.
The Job Market Changed. Our Outplacement Evolved With It.
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 projects 170 million jobs created and 92 million displaced globally by 2030, with 39% of key skills expected to change over the same period. Roles are being reorganized, renamed and redefined. And searches are taking longer: in September 2026, 27.1% of unemployed Americans had been looking for work for 27 weeks or longer, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In that market, the most common instinct, applying for the same title somewhere else, is often the wrong first move. People don’t lack options. They need direction.
That’s why we built CareerShift.
What CareerShift Is
CareerShift is job market intelligence built into Challenger CareerSuite, the platform every Challenger outplacement client uses. It’s powered by Lightcast, a global leader in job market data used by 67 of the Fortune 100. Lightcast analyzes more than 3 billion job postings and 1 billion professional profiles, and tracks more than 33,000 skills across 1,900+ occupations.
CareerShift turns that data into clear, personal answers for each of your former employees. (Inside CareerSuite, they see it as Career Insights.)
See how CareerShift shows your former employees where their skills can take them.
What Your Former Employees See
- Where they stand today. A snapshot of their current role: median salary, 10-year outlook, posting volume, salary trend and the industries hiring.
- Where they can go. Advancement, lateral and skills-based career pathways, each with pay, outlook and a skills-match score.
- How their options compare. Up to three target roles side by side.
- How to close the gaps. A reskill and upskill plan that ranks skill gaps by importance, with matched Coursera courses.
- Where the jobs are. Pay, postings, remote share and top hiring companies for any US metro, plus Job Explorer for any role they’re curious about.
The Coach Turns Data Into a Plan
Data alone doesn’t land anyone a job. CareerShift isn’t a dashboard we hand to your people and walk away from.
Every Challenger client works one-on-one with a Challenger coach, a job search expert who knows what’s working in today’s market. Together, client and coach review the insights, weigh them against what matters most (pay, location, flexibility, the work they want to do) and build a prioritized plan. Then the coach keeps the search moving.
That’s how we’ve always worked. Our coaching model hasn’t changed. It’s better equipped.
Not a dashboard. A decision.
Why It Matters to Your Organization
- Better landings. Your former employees target roles with real demand and a realistic skills fit, including adjacent paths they hadn’t considered.
- Support they can feel. Real data and a coach-led plan show the people leaving, and the people who stay, how much you invested in their success.
- Insight at every program level. CareerShift is included in Launch, Signature, Signature+ and C-Suite programs.
- Nothing extra to buy. CareerShift is part of every Challenger outplacement program. It’s not an add-on.
Built on Results You Can Check
CareerShift builds on a foundation that already works. Challenger clients land in an average of 2.72 months, 96% land an equal or better role, and 97% would recommend Challenger. We publish these results because you should be able to verify what any provider tells you.
See CareerShift in action. Contact your Challenger account team or request a live demo.