Setting up a job placement bureau for urban high schools

68 Pages·02.904 MB·English

by  Eggink, Leroy

SETTING UP A JOB PLACEMENT BUREAU
FOR URBAN HIGH SCHOOLS
A Project
Presented to
the Faculty of the School of Education
The University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Science in Education
by
Leroy Eggink
August 1950
UMI Number: EP46283
All rights reserved
INFORMATION TO ALL USERS
The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted.
In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript
and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed,
a note will indicate the deletion.
UMI'
Dissertation Publishing
UMI EP46283
Published by ProQuest LLC (2014). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author.
Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC.
All rights reserved. This work is protected against
unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code
ProQuest LLC.
789 East Eisenhower Parkway
P.O. Box 1346
Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346
Bit '5*/ £ 3-9 (P/^'
TTtw project report, written under the direction
of the candidate’s adviser and approved by him,
has been presented to and accepted by the Faculty
of the School of Education in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of Master of
Science in Education.
Date.....
Adviser
Dean
TABLE OP CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE PROBLEM AND DEFINITIONS OP TERMS USED . . . 1
The prob l em.................................. 1
Statement of the problem................... 1
Importance of the study ................. 3
Definitions of terms u s e d ...................
Vocational guidance ....................... 5
Placement office and placement bureau . . . 6
Follow-up .................................. 6
Review of related literature ................. 6
Method of procedure and sources of data . . 9
Organization of the study ................... 9
II. GUIDANCE FOR THE NEXT STEP.............. 12
Importance of vocational growth .......... 12
Getting students ready ..................... 13
Helping students p l a n ..................... llj.
The choice of an occupation............... 15
Entering and progressing in an occupation . l6
III. ORGANIZING A PLACEMENT BUREAU ................. 18
Functions of job placement................... 18
Office and personnel......................... 21
Office and facilities ..................... 21
Records and f o r m s ......................... 23
iii
CHAPTER PAGE
Placement personnel ....................... 31
Placement office policies ................... 32
Contacting employers ....................... 32
Student's interview ....................... 35
Placing the student....................... 3&
Operating policies ......................... 39
Publicity.................................... l±Q
IV. FOLLOW-UP AS PART OF PLACEMENT................. \\2
Relationship of placement and follow-up . . 1^2
Purposes of follow-up..................... 1j.2
Gathering data.............................. ijlj.
Questionnaire f o r m s ....................... 1|_6>
Records and f o r m s ......................... 50
V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS . . ................... 53
Summary.................................... 53
Conclusions................................ 56
BIBLIOGRAPHY............ 58
LIST OP FORMS
FORM PAGE
1. Registration Blank .............................. 25
2. Student’s School Record .......................... 26
3- Employer’s Request for Help...................... 27
i|_. Report of Student’s Interview.................... 28
5. Introduction Form................................ 29
6. Personal Rating F o r m ........... 30
7- Simple Follow-up Questionnaire.................. I|_7
8. Follow-up Questionnaire for Adult Education . . . I4.8
9. Worker’s Questionnaire.......................... J4.9
10. Postal Card Follow-up............................ 51
11. Follow-up Reference C a r d ........................ 52
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM AND DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED
Educational practice has somewhat neglected the
potentialities of its human product by failing to provide
a complete program of occupational adjustment for the in­
dividual student. When jobs were comparatively easy to
0
get, before the recent depression, the question of placement
hardly existed. Economic changes and the increasing unem­
ployment have created the necessity for some public action
in the matter of helping youth find their proper places in
our world of work.
I. THE PROBLEM
Statement of the problem. Recent surveys indicated
that occupational adjustments are not made satisfactorily
by graduates of our public high schools. It is up to our
schools to see that the right people are trained for the
jobs available. At the end of training, schools should
assume responsibility for seeing that the graduates and even
their drop-outs are able to make satisfactory occupational
adjustments. It is understood that until proper placement
has been achieved, the vocational training program has not
attained its main objective.
2
Many public high schools have made considerable
progress in placing their graduates and drop-outs. Some
schools provide a general placement bureau for all students,
irrespective of curriculum, while other schools assign this
duty of placement to the various departments. If there is
no school provision for a placement bureau, the various de­
partments should assume the responsibility of placing its
product on the job. The school or department need not under­
take the entire burden, for the graduate or drop-out is
also responsible for doing his share. When the time arrives,
the school and student must each play his respective part,
but the heavier responsibility lies with the placement bureau.
It is only through guidance that placement can be
made to function. Proper guidance gives students the nece­
ssary confidence that they are making preparation in the
area in which their aptitudes, interests, abilities, and
employment opportunities are best suited. Placing students
is a distinct portion of a guidance program, as follow-up
is an essential part of all placement work. The main ob­
jective in follow-up work is to benefit those whom it has
already placed, to make the necessary adjustments in the
school, and to help those who are going to be placed in the
future. On the job problems are sure to arise, the solving
of which requires the help and adviee of the placement
office.
Importance of the study. A job is one of the most
important factors in achieving personal happiness. Prac­
tically all worthwhile activities of life depend, in some
degree, on one’s economic status. One’s economic status
depends in a large part on a satisfactory occupation. One
who is contented in his work and self supporting is more
likely to be a better citizen. The wrong job may lead to
discontent, discouragement, resentment, a sense of failure,
and a waste of education and of human resources.
The test of the effectiveness of vocational business
training is the successful performance on the job. Satis­
factory placement must be made before this test can be
applied. Consequently the quality of training being given
at great expense to society can never be known unless
students are properly placed. Every single case of malad­
justment in occupational life puts an unnecessary burden
on society.
The student’s morale and ambition should be greatly
improved by the thought that his school is standing by
ready to assist him in choosing an occupation and also in
finding a position for him in the business world. Walker
Ramsey sums up the placement importance as follows:
An efficiently organized placement bureau is many
times the means of causing more students to remain
in school, thereby promoting their social and-economic
well being, provided there is any truth in the state­
ment that ’more education and training makes its
k
recipient more of an asset.' The strain on an in­
dividual who is studying for a definite aim after
graduation is reduced when he knows that there is
assistance awaiting him on the day he is ready to
obtain a position. Placement also results in
fitting a student into a more permanent, definite,
progressive, socially adjusted, and economically
useful position.1
The fact that schools are interested in placement of
their students will in turn encourage employers to hire
students and improve conditions under which young people
begin their occupational careers. Close cooperation between
schools and business through the placement office should
lead to better working conditions in both school and business.
A well operated placement service will improve the
school’s public relations. Proper placement gives indus­
trial and business leaders of the community and others a
better understanding and appreciation of what the school
is doing for the youth of the community. Charlotte Gibson
states that the school has a definite duty to perform.
The school from which the pupil comes knows his
abilities and handicaps better than any other agency.
His friend who goes on with formal education has
been guided to the college that best fulfills his
needs. The high school graduate and the drop-out is
also entitled to placement by his school if such an
opportunity affords itself.2
1 Walker W. Ramsey, ’’Our Placement Organization,"
Journal of Business Education, lj.:21, May, 1930-
2 Charlotte Gibson, "Placement and Follow-up Programs
Used in Public School Systems," (Unpublished Master’s thesis,
The University of Southern California, 1939)» P« 6l.