From Graduation to Occupation: Connecting At-Risk Youth to Careers through a Simple Texting Intervention

Disengagement in the K-12 classroom is a complex issue that affects many parts of students’ lives. Decreased face-to-face interaction and learning loss have contributed to an increased unemployment rate among recent high school graduates. In previous studies, texting interventions and artificial-intelligence powered chat bots have helped students matriculate into college following high school graduation. This study attempts to use a low-cost, artificial-intelligence assisted texting intervention program to connect recent high school graduates with local job opportunities during the summer following high school graduation. Nineteen participants completed both the pre and post survey, which collected current data on employment rate, college enrollment rate, and perceived impact of the text intervention. Overall, viable completers witnessed a 15.8% increase in employment, with 53.3% being generally impacted by the text intervention. Future research needs to be conducted in order to determine the overall effectiveness of low-cost, low-complexity texting interventions in connecting at-risk youth to job opportunities.

A text message program was created with the goal of connecting recent high school graduates to careers. Thirty-two participants, all of whom were recent graduates of “Glenn High School,”  registered for the study through direct links obtained from posters and handouts. Text messages, containing two job opportunities each, were sent to each phone number on a weekly basis for a total of ten weeks during the summer following graduation. A post survey was sent to each participant following the final text to assess the impact of the intervention.

The small sample size was the most significant limitation of the study. Sample size was further reduced by noncompleters. Completers submitting multiple responses to the post test also resulted in mixed responses. If participants submitted multiple post test responses that did not have duplicate answers, this data was not viable for use. However, results of the current study do suggest that text interventions have potential to impact the job choice of recent high school graduates. Despite limitations, the majority of completers indicated that the texts did make a difference in their post high school job search. Further research is needed to determine the overall effectiveness of text interventions in connecting at-risk youth to job opportunities.

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This study received ethical approval from the Miami University IRB (approval #05023e) on April 25, 2025.

  Respondents consented to participate in the study through pre survey completion. The informed consent to participate was written.

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Miami University Honors College, Miami University Center for Career Exploration and Success, and Miami University Office of Research for Undergraduates.