The author addresses what he sees as the paradoxical or inconsistent posture of rehabilitation educators and administrators who pay lip service to the central role of job placement in the rehabilitation process but fail to provide sufficient training or effective administrative support systems to ensure that clients receive high quality placement assistance. The author suggests that some may see job placement as “academically tainted and professionally unseemly,” The author plays “devil's advocate” by suggesting that those who hold such views would need to support their position by accepting one of four proposition: 1) Work is not important. 2) Clients of rehabilitation agencies do not need special job placement assistance. 3) Agencies have been successful in job placement and should redirect their allention elsewhere. 4) Counselor education programs and in-service training efforts have equipped practicing rehabilitation counsellors with all requisite skills and knowledge to do effective placement. The author then disputes each proposition drawing from available evidence and concludes by arguing for more concerted and systematic attention to job placement as a professional practice and a vital service to clients.
