Clients need to be aware that just because a course is offered by a community college or private school doesn't mean there's employment for the graduates. Unfortunately, some people have invested time and money in training and have not gotten work. The responsibility for determining the quality and relevance of a program of study rests with the student. For example, with regard to finding jobs, the 1992 National Graduate Survey of 1990 graduates in Canada found that 94 percent of electrical engineering graduates at the bachelor degree level found permanent jobs after graduation while only 64 percent of political science graduates did. Another important factor for clients considering an educational program is whether they will find a job in their field of study.
Many programs teach job skills which can be directly applied to a specific occupation.
Others provide a broader base of knowledge which can generally be used in many occupations such as communication skills. Graduates from programs that do not have a direct link with a particular job, such as undergraduate degrees in arts, humanities and many social science programs, may be forced to seek employment in a range of occupations which may or may not be related to their field of study. Similarly, graduates from programs that do have a direct link with an occupation may have to find employment in unrelated jobs if the demand for workers in that occupation is low. Therefore, National Graduate Survey outcomes should be used with other career planning tools. For example, the Job Futures publications give employment prospects for hundreds of jobs in Canada and for some provinces as well.