Boutique financial services recruitment firm Thomas Hancock Associates has launched a new outplacement service in response to demand from workers who have been retrenched during the financial crisis.

"You look at the number of retrenchments that are around at the moment and people need to be supported during these times," managing director Tom Hancock said.

"In these times if you are retrenched or you are looking for work you need to have strategies in place to talk to your family about where you are and have realistic expectations about when you are going to get a job."

The service will specialise in providing middle to senior executives within the financial markets, funds management and superannuation sectors with the skills to target job opportunities in the current environment.

Hancock said the service will provide realistic advice about employment possibilities during the financial crisis.

"I have been through three of these down cycles and I found that while other outplacement services looked after their clients, they were never really realistic about what the market possibilities were for candidates," he said.

This service was a natural progression from the current Thomas Hancock Associates executive search and recruiting business, Hancock said.

However, he does not intend to take on any more staff, preferring to keep a more personalised service.

"I will keep it at this level at the moment. It has been an attraction for a lot of people because they are able to talk to someone with 30 years of experience," Hancock said.