Toward an Understanding of Successful Career Placement by Undergraduate Speech Communication Departments.

Noting that placement of graduating speech communication students is an important measure of the success of career programs, and that faculty and department heads who are presently developing, recommending, or supervising career programs may be interested in useful career attitudes and placement activities, a study was conducted to determine what attitudes and activities relative to career placement were most useful at the college department level. Ferris State College (Big Rapids, Michigan) was selected for this study because of its unusually high success rate in placing students. A questionnaire designed to elicit information on career placement attitudes and frequency of career placement activities was completed by the directors of 25 programs related to the study of speech communication at the college. The results indicated that career-sensitive attitudes and placement activities at the department level were crucial variables in the placement success at Ferris State College, in marked contrast to results of other nationwide studies indicating that most speech communication departments felt they should not be career oriented or responsible for providing career guidance at the undergraduate level. The findings suggest that the widespread use of internships by Ferris College program directors may be the most important department level activity contributing to career placement. (HTH)