A Wisconsin model called Designated Vocational Instruction establishes linkages among vocational and special educators, guidance and administrative personnel, adult support agencies, parents and students. Its goal is to help students with special needs learn entry-level job skills and competencies. (Author/JOW)

A study of 300 employed college graduates in Hong Kong found that early-career workers use strategies to enhance promotability and improve their image with supervisors more than strategies to build external networks. They were less inclined to make long-term career plans because of the uncertain, rapidly changing environment. (SK)

This taxonomy of learning tasks new employees must complete has four categories: individual (attitudes, expectations), people (relationships, supervision), work tasks (knowledge, skills, abilities), and organization (culture, roles). Learning tasks are accomplished through three types of intervention: orientation, job training, and workplace…

Investigates individual, relational, and organizational factors that influence how and from whom new hires seek information when they experience uncertainty in the workplace. Suggests that new hires' information-seeking strategy choices are determined by perceived social costs of seeking information, which are inversely related to overt…

Using the DACUM Process, teams reviewed lists of competencies developed in 1993 to revise curriculum standards for entry-level office-related positions. Competencies in organization/operations, information, technology, interpersonal skills, and resources were identified. (JOW)

A study of on-the-job training for 36 Dutch call center trainees and 46 new post office clerks found that training goals were only partly achieved. Self-efficacy, prior experience with tasks, management support, and workload were the most powerful influences on the effectiveness of training. (SK)

Reports the findings of a qualitative study that explored what factors were likely to influence graduates' decisions to stay with or leave their first employer in the early years of their career. Uses results to propose how employers might take action to maximize retention, and to discuss the importance of career guidance in helping graduates…

Nurses in service fault beginning nurses' insufficient clinical and patient management skills. Nurse educators maintain that practicing nurses do not facilitate the transition of entry-level nurses. More collaboration between teachers and practitioners is needed. (Commentaries by Sally Glen, Patrick Crookes, and Pam Walter follow.) (SK)

Investigates the demographic diversity of the labor pool for entry-level professional positions in student affairs. Overall, women were found to comprise 67% of the labor pool for entry-level positions; African-Americans: 12%; Hispanics 4%; Asian Americans: 2%. Data was also analyzed by geographic region. (Contains 17 references and 6 tables.)…

Future Geographic Information Systems (GIS) librarians face a number of challenges that other Library and Information Studies (LIS) graduates may not when preparing for a career in academic librarianship. This article discusses these challenges and offers suggestions to help entry-level GIS librarians begin successful and rewarding careers.

The aim of this article is to develop the foundations of a socio-cultural approach and to determine how this shapes our perception of a newcomer's construction of identity in two different workplaces: a high-technology delivery ward with newly employed midwives and a real estate agency with newly employed real estate agents. We explore how…

Ten temporary and ten permanent employment agencies in Cleveland, Ohio were surveyed to determine the standards required for entry level typists and the kind of employment tests currently being given, in order for business teachers to better prepare their students. (LH)

Results from Bruning's Second Survey of Drafting Technicians Needs, taken from a cross-section of large, medium, and small firms throughout the country, are discussed. Architectural design job-entry training programs are seen as being in need of more careful planning in order to meet employer requirements. (LH)

To determine the first things that a new principal does during the first few months on the job, an intensive case study was conducted of 12 first-time high school principals in Florida, Virginia, Missouri, and Colorado. Each beginning principal was assigned a research team member who conducted on-site visits, reviewed documentation regarding the…

This report on a job creation program for poor people deals with the organizations within which jobs were created, the responses of the organizations to the jobs, and the techniques which seemed useful in working with the organizations. Major sections include: (1) Employment, Unemployment and New Careers, (2) Organizational Barriers, (3) The Forms…