Employment and placement specialists are a vital link between job seekers
and the jobs they seek. They understand the needs of employers. And they help
students and others get work suited to their skills and experience.
Employment and placement specialists work in various settings. Colleges
and universities employ them. So do federal, state and local agencies.
Employment and placement specialists go by a lot of different titles. Some
are called assistant or associate directors. Some are called employment counselors
or officers. Others are coordinators or directors of placement.
The work responsibilities are varied. But all of these specialists have
one key goal: to get people jobs with which they'll be satisfied.
To accomplish this, employment and placement specialists conduct surveys
of the labor market. They need to know about trends. Then they can help people
move into areas that offer advancement and stability.
Here are some other things that employment and placement specialists do:
- Meet with employers to understand their staffing needs
- Conduct mock interviews to help applicants prepare for the real thing
- Assist with resumes and cover letters
- Instruct applicants in job search skills
- Determine interests and qualifications of applicants
- Arrange job interviews with employers
- Collect and study occupational, economic and educational data
For some people in this field, employment and placement is a temporary
field. They move on to other areas such as education and counseling after
a few years.
"It really varies," says Janet Lenz. She is the associate director of the
career center at Florida State University. "I've been in the field for 25
years. Then you've got a lot of assistant directors who tend to move in and
out of the field. [Then] I've got colleagues who have been in the field 30
years."
Lenz says people often move on in search of higher pay. Where they go varies
greatly. "Some of them move into the private sector," she says. "Some of them
move into HR [human resources] and recruitment kinds of jobs. And some of
them may move into something totally unrelated to this field."
Eric Ritskes is an employment officer. He works with a lot of employment
and placement specialists who use the work to further their related ambitions.
Many are working towards degrees.
"You see a lot of people who use this as a stepping-stone, especially if
they're in education," Ritskes says. "This is good work experience for them.
But there are a lot of people who either want to make this their sole career,
or this as well as teaching."
People with many types of physical disabilities could do this work.