What is the current role played by schools in helping their students who choose to enter the job market after high school graduation? An examination was made of the role of schools at four critical stages in students' transition to work--the career preparation stage, the job candidate stage, the job entry stage, and the job promotion or job shift stage. The study linked data about jobs from a nationally representative sample of 4,078 employers with National Longitudinal Survey data about the school experiences of young adults who held those jobs. The survey results suggest that the role of education is often very important for jobs that are usually filled by those with college degrees, somewhat less important for jobs filled by those with some college, and surprisingly unimportant for jobs usually filled by high school graduates. For jobs at the high school level, the current role of schools seem weak in terms of the following: (1) job preparation--academic skills are not among the most important traits that employers require, and other important traits are not acquired in most high schools; (2) job recruitment--high school placement services are not frequently used by employers; (3) job entry--current educational information from high schools is not very available, useful, or important to employers in hiring; and job promotion--accomplishments in school have little bearing on who will be promoted in most firms to jobs that do not require a college degree. These findings should be used to help the schools improve their roles in these four areas. (KC)