Job Seeking and Career Planning Among Graduates of a Teacher Aide Program

99 p.Thesis (Educat.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1983.This follow-up study of a group of 130 community college graduates describes: (1) the graduate's use of job seeking and career planning strategies, (2) the relationship of these strategies to age, income, level of education, level of occupation and level of spouse's occupation, (3) the relationship between career planning scores and job seeking scores, (4) demographic characteristics of the graduates, (5) differences among groups of graduates in relation to job market attachment, (6) perceptions of the subjects regarding their previous training, and (7) recommendations for improvement of the program.One hundred eighty-four graduates were sent a mailed questionnaire which included: the Career Planning Scale, Job Seeking Scale, and the Personal Data Form. It included nineteen strategies to rate on a Likert type scale and an additional twenty-eight survey questions. The instrument was developed by the investigator who utilized career development, labor theory, and survey research literature in its preparation. A 79% rate of return was calculated.Findings show a fairly strong relationship exists between high scorers in career planning and high scorers in job seeking. Significant relationships were found between use of career planning strategies and level of education and age. Job seeking strategies related significantly to level of education and age. Those who scored higher on career planning and job seeking were younger and more educated. Employed graduates who used more career planning strategies had husbands with lower occupation levels, and those who used more job seeking strategies had lower household incomes.Data showed that handicapped graduates were less likely to be attached to the work force. Disadvantaged and non-handicapped or disadvantaged were more likely to be attached. Ninety-five percent of the subjects had been working for an average of seven years.Of the forty-two or 32% who indicated they had problems finding a job, half reported they overcame their problems. Persistence was mentioned most often as a method to overcome problems.This survey instrument can provide counselors, teachers and administrators with valuable information. Results could impact curriculum and program development.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD