The practical goal of graduate education is placement of graduates. But what does "placement" mean? Academics use the word without thinking much about it. "Placement" is a great keyword for the graduate-school enterprise. For one thing, its meaning certainly gives a purpose to graduate education. Furthermore, the word is a portal into the way of thinking about the success or failure of what one does. So who determines the definition of placement that directs--and also constrains--the work of graduate deans? None other than their fellow deans and administrators. The problem is embedded in the foundation of the edifice itself. Reform therefore depends upon a more self-conscious definition of the word "placement." It should mean the jobs that graduate students want--not just the academic kind. A broader definition would overturn the common assumption that a Ph.D. is a pipeline leading to an evaporating pool of academic jobs. How do advisers know what kinds of jobs their graduate students want? By asking them, and then by periodically asking them again, to see if the answer changes over time. That's part of good graduate advising. Successful placement of graduate students has never been harder these days, and not just because the academic job market is a mostly dry well. As recent graduates know, the nonacademic market isn't exactly overflowing, either.