U.S. Department of Labor
Office of Inspector General
Audit Report
ADOPTING BEST PRACTICES CAN IMPROVE PLACEMENT
SERVICES TO STUDENTS TERMINATING FROM THE
JOB CORPS PROGRAM
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Report Title: Adopting Best Practices
Can Improve Placement Services to Students Terminating From the Job Corps
Program
Report Number: 03-98-006-03-370
Issue Date: March 31, 1998
In a cooperative effort with the Office of Job Corps, we conducted an
audit of the services being provided by a sample of placement contractors.
Our objectives were to evaluate the nature and extent of placement services
provided to Job Corps students during PY 1996 and, more importantly, to
identify best practices being used by placement contractors.
Placement contractors play a critical role in Job Corps' efforts to
find jobs for its students. Job Corps spent over $20 million in PY 1996
on placement assistance contracts with private companies and State Employment
Security Agencies.
Even though there have been significant improvements in placement results
in recent years, our audit clearly shows that improvements need to be made
in delivering and documenting the placement services provided to Job Corps
students. These improvements can be achieved by implementing, where practical,
best practices as summarized below:
-
Making early contact by becoming involved with students during the time
they are in training at the center and before they terminate from the program
so they understand the importance of placement and where to go and who
to contact in order to receive services.
-
Ensuring that comprehensive assessments are conducted and documented by
using a model assessment form which standardizes the required elements
and prompts placement specialists to ensure that all required elements
are addressed.
-
Enhancing placement opportunities by identifying demand occupations, making
and maintaining contact with employers, and involving employers more directly
in student training.
-
Ensuring followup with students after placement by establishing policies
requiring that followup contacts be made on a periodic basis and implementing
tracking systems to notify placement specialists when followup contacts
need to be made.
We recommended that Job Corps communicate the best practices to all placement
contractors and encourage them to implement these practices wherever possible.
To follow up on the implementation of the best practices, we recommended
that future Job Corps monitoring efforts focus on assessing the quality
of placement services, as well as the achievement of placement goals.
Job Corps agreed with the findings and recommendations reported and
is forming a workgroup to develop the necessary policy statements and related
products to implement the audit recommendations.
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