This plan has already proved advantageous. In the
first place a bureau so situated can, by keeping in constant touch with
the departments, obtain intimate and detailed information about the
character, the work, the special aptitudes, and the physique of each
girl. Such data are extremely valuable in making wise placements, but
are difficult of access for an outside agency. In the second place such
a school bureau, open to graduates, tends to bring them occasionally to
it, and thus strengthens their interest in and loyalty to the school by
giving a practical reality to their connection with it.

Aims

The aims and working plans of the Placement Bureau are the following:
(1) To secure suitable positions for girls leaving the school--those
forced out by poverty as well as those who have really completed their
courses. The problem is to get the square peg into the square hole, and
it is solved by having a very intimate knowledge of each peg, and by
knowing of as large a variety of holes as possible from which to choose.
(2) To be a means of connection and communication between the school and
the trades, on the one hand, and the school and its former pupils on the
other. (3) To gather data about trade conditions that shall be helpful
to the several departments, or in deciding school policies. (4) To build
up a series of records that shall be of general sociological value as
well as of immediate use for school purposes.

Kinds and Methods of Work

In connection with the placement itself there are four lines of
activity:

1. _Interviews_ in the office, when girls come in to apply for
positions, and when employers ask for workers. Much valuable data as to
the experiences of the girls who have been some time in the trade have
been gathered in this way. In the case of the employer, if he is not
already familiar with the school, an effort is made to induce him (or
her) to go through it.

2. _Trade Visits_ of investigation. It is the policy of the Bureau not
to place a girl in any establishment until it has been visited, unless
it is one already well known to the school, in which case the visit may
follow instead of preceding the placement. These visits are often made
upon the request of employers or in response to advertisements, if, as
sometimes happens, a girl wishes to be placed and the employers already
known do not need additional help.

3. "_Following up._" After the girls are placed it is necessary to keep
tra