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3.23 Activities to Support Students’ Job Search
To assist students in their job search, the programs conduct various activities, such as providing job market information, training students for job interviews, having an employment center (bolsa de trabajo), coordinating job interviews with firms, and having agreements with private firms to hire graduates (figure 3.23). Providing job market information is the main activity in each country. Only in Peru is this activity (slightly) surpassed by training or arranging job interviews. Running employment centers is popular in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru but not in Brazil or the Dominican Republic.
Given their focus on employment, the programs provide relatively little support to students’ job search. Although information provision is useful, students might need more practical, immediate assistance in their job search—such as arranging job interviews or providing assistance through an employment center for resume preparation and job applications.
More than 78 percent of the programs conduct faculty evaluations and analyze student performance more than once a year (figure 3.24, panel a), which allows them to address student- or faculty-related issues quickly. Other activities related to students’ labor market outcomes are conducted less frequently. The programs are less likely to collect data on graduates’ employment, gauge employers’ satisfaction with the program graduates, or inquire about local firms’ needs more than once a year. And although some programs collect data on their graduates’ initial jobs (regardless of how often), the fraction of such programs varies widely, from 42 percent in Brazil to 97 percent in Peru (figure 3.24, panel b).
Programs and Competitors
In the view of the program directors, the program feature that is most valued by students is training quality, as given by the program’s academic quality, faculty
Figure 3.23 Activities to Support Students’ Job Search
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Percent 50
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Brazil Colombia Dominican Republic Ecuador Peru
Providing job market information Training students for job interviews Arranging job interviews with firms Having employment agreements with firms Running an employment center
Source: World Bank Short-Cycle Program Survey. Note: The figure shows, for each country, the percentage of programs that support their students’ job search through each of the following mechanisms: provision of job market information, employment agreements whereby firms will hire the program’s graduates, training students for job interviews, arranging job interviews, and running an employment center or bolsa de trabajo. Only São Paulo and Ceará are included for Brazil, and licensed programs for Peru.
