Stern, D., Finkelstein, N., Stone, J. R., III, Latting, J., & Dornsife, C. (1994). Research on School-to-Work Programs in the United States (MDS-771). Berkeley: National Center for Research in Vocational Education, University of California.

Career Counseling and Job Placement

Career counseling and job placement offices of some kind have become nearly universal on two-year community and technical college campuses. For students from special populations enrolled in federally supported vocational education, Perkins legislation requires that schools provide individual career counseling and job placement assistance. The National Assessment of Vocational Education (NAVE) survey found that the great majority of two-year public postsecondary institutions do in fact report that they provide these services, as shown in Table 10 (from Stern, 1992).

																																																																Service provided in																				Trend in service since 1990-1991
																																																																1990-1991																				More																				Less																				Same
Disabled: Guidance and counseling on   transition to further education or employment																																																																92.0																				39.2																				1.9																				58.9
Disabled: Job placement services																																																																82.1																				27.1																				2.3																				70.6
Disadvantaged**: Guidance and counseling on   transition to further education or employment																																																																91.6																				39.5																				2.5																				58.0
Disadvantaged**: Employability and/or job   search																																																																86.3																				35.0																				2.4																				62.6
Disadvantaged**: Paid employment through a   school-coordinated program (e.g., co-op)																																																																48.7																				12.7																				2.4																				84.9
Disadvantaged**: A stipend or subsidized   employment in conjunction with   occupational/technical education																																																																17.0																				5.9																				1.0																				93.1
Limited-English proficient: Guidance and   counseling on transition to further education   or employment																																																																84.4																				29.1																				1.7																				69.2
Limited-Enlgish proficient: Job placement   services																																																																75.5																				21.7																				2.3																				76.0
Single parents, single pregnat women, or   displaced homemakers: Child care																																																																66.3																				24.7																				5.0																				70.3
Single parents, single pregnat women, or   displaced homemakers: Job placement   services																																																																83.8																				29.9																				2.7																				67.4
Job placement in nontraditional fields to   eliminate sex bias																																																																57.0																				25.3																				2.0																				72.6
*Denominator includes only schools that report enrolling each special population in vocational education.
**Includes educationally and economically disadvantaged.

While, traditionally, two-year colleges have done a more complete job of providing job placement than career counseling services (Hafer, 1982), Table 10 indicates that counseling services have recently become more of a priority for these colleges.

Two related conclusions have been reached about guidance and placement programs that suggest that current practice can be improved. First, the same NAVE survey found that the major responsibility for finding jobs for vocational/technical graduates in general (not only special populations) falls on students themselves, with help from their particular instructors and less help from job placement services. Table 11 illustrates this finding.

Second, counseling and placement programs have been more successful at helping those students who want to move on to further education than students who want to move into the labor market. A survey of Michigan community colleges revealed that for most guidance programs, perceived strengths are educational counseling and program planning/course selection. Weaknesses tend to be in job placement and career vocational counseling (Manley et al., 1986). The preceding two findings suggest that those who have already experienced success in the academic context--the academically able and those intending to transfer to four-year colleges--are better served by two-year college counseling and placement programs than those who have been less successful in the school and college environment. This conclusion indicates that for many two-year colleges, increased attention to counseling and placement practice is appropriate.

Several guides to "best practice" in two-year college guidance counseling and job placement programs exist (e.g., Hafer, 1982; Muha et al., 1988; Virginia State Council of Higher Education, 1987). A report from Virginia, based on a survey of higher education in that state, offers a useful framework (see Figure 3).

Stern, D., Finkelstein, N., Stone, J. R., III, Latting, J., & Dornsife, C. (1994). Research on School-to-Work Programs in the United States (MDS-771). Berkeley: National Center for Research in Vocational Education, University of California.