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 services have sometimes been provided as part of vocational education in high schools. Section 322 of the 1990 Perkins Amendments specifically authorizes localities and states to "improve, expand, and extend career guidance and counseling programs to meet the career development, vocational education, and employment needs of vocational education students and potential students."

These services can target a broad range of students. In a survey of programs which emphasize these components, the following categories of students were identified by at least one program as its focus: handicapped, disadvantaged, at-risk, limited-English proficiency, teen parents, migrants, and displaced homemakers, as well as the entire school population (California Institute on Human Services, 1990). The career counseling and job placement approaches, clearly, are thought to be quite versatile in the kinds of students they can benefit. The Perkins Act requires that career counseling and job placement services be offered to special populations of students enrolled in vocational education, and Table 7 (from Stern, 1992) indicates that the availability of such services is widespread. Coverage is not universal, but it is expanding.

Examples of the career counseling and job placement components of school-to-work programs are less distinctive than more general approaches to the school-to-work problem. Indeed, career counseling and job placement are examples of dimensions upon which programs are created. The job placement element of a program, for example, generally involves help with writing a résumé, job search skills, and interview techniques. In addition, students are informed of job leads--or, in some cases, placed in a position by program staff. For example, the Boulder Valley Teen Parenting Program offers to teen mothers the opportunity to continue high school by providing pre- and post-natal health services, transportation, and on-site child care--but also career assessment and job placement counseling (Parmerlee-Greiner, 1993).

An example of a more aggressive approach to job placement can be found at Duncan Polytechnical High School in Fresno, California. In this four-year vocational magnet school, the administration has created a "Job Developer" position, who is responsible for reviewing want-ads, calling on local businesses, attending job fairs, and informing students of job opportunities that exist. In addition, students at Duncan are counseled on job finding skills such as telephone etiquette, résumé writing, and interviewing techniques (California Institute on Human Services, 1990).

Evaluating the contribution that career counseling and job placement make to school-to-work programs is difficult. Since these features rarely stand on their own, it is not always possible to isolate their effects from other features of the program (e.g. workplace-based skill training, academic instruction, and mentoring). However, a set of "70001" program sites, which emphasize the pre-employment services of career counseling and job placement have been evaluated (Lah et al., 1983). Participating students were ages 16 to 21, over 80% minority, 60% women, and almost all high school dropouts. Participant and comparison groups (not randomly assigned) were evaluated. The findings were that 70001 participants earned significantly higher wages than nonparticipants and enjoyed a higher probability of finding employment. These differences, however, did not persist: The positive short-term effects seemed to decay in the case of female participants and disappear for male participants. There was, in fact, no evidence of long-term positive effects (24-40 months after program intake). These findings indicate that such programs do seem to place youth in private sector jobs, allowing them to experience earnings gains, but also that, eventually, comparison group members will get jobs on their own and the advantages enjoyed by participants will disappear. The researchers concluded by speculating that career counseling and job placement programs, at least in the case of disadvantaged youth, are only limited steps in a series of necessary interventions. Additional services subsequent to pre-employment training might be necessary to sustain economic gains.

Despite the difficulty of evaluating the effectiveness of career counseling and job placement programs per se, the literature on the school-to-work transition continues to identify these as important features of effective practice. In both research and policy documents, counseling and placement efforts have been treated as necessary if not sufficient elements of school-to-work programs (e.g., Bishop, 1988; Weber, 1987; William T. Grant Foundation, Commission on Work, Family, and Citizenship, 1988).

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.