If any of you have had personal experience with the Job Corps, I'd appreciate any info or insight you may have that may be helpful. I guess my main concern is, is it good for teens? Do they have strict/mild supervision? Does joining the Job Corps benefit in the long run with helping to find a decent job afterwards? I see all the commercials, I read the brochure, I am awaiting a call from an advisor soon, but want to hear first hand info if anyone is out there. Thanks in advance. 

My BIL is currently there right now. He is doing the forestry program and he is close enough that for about 6 months straight, he was coming home every weekend. Now it's hit/miss with the fire season. I think it has done wonders for him. I know they are limited as to the things they can do and they are on a fairly strict schedule. He is 21 and married, so he only sees his wife on the weekends or if she goes to visit him for a couple of hours. He finishes up in a couple of months, but they are suppose to help you with job placement and give you money towards getting set up with a place. He seems to enjoy it and I definitely see a completely different person. He came home for 2-3 weeks at Christmas time as well as in July for their winter/summer break.

My cousin also did JC for landscaping. He landed a job right after returning home. While landscaping is pretty season where I'm from, it helped him gain the work experience skills, so he went back for a few season afterwards.

Seeing what it did to my cousin, I encouraged my BIL to do it, he always told us no. I don't really know what made him change his mind, but like I said, he's different. I think if someone doesn't want to do college, or has no job or motivation, this would be great for them. It teaches you a trade, while helping you become independent. 

My husband was in Job corps, and the one he went to was VERY strict. EXTREMELY! You screwed up and you were OUT. 

Thanks ladies. BDom it sounds like a good experience to help build skills and prepare them as they discussed with me.

CSGray, I definitely want it to be strict for him. He needs to focus on preparing for adulthood soon and learning to be independent. He needs to know that being an adult means you need a skill, job, trade to be able to adequately support yourself. He is very hard headed. I just hope he will want to go and give this a try. 

Their dorm rules were extremely strict. No males and females could be together alone without a supervisor. No locked doors allowed. Even in the couples dorms. Sex, even between married couples, was forbidden. You couldn't leave campus without written and approved permission, and most of the time without a supervisor.
They performed random room and person searches. Foul language was dealt with harshly. Lights out was strictly enforced. When I went to visit my husband during the week, There were only certain places we were allowed to be together.

PDA was strictly forbidden, and the clothing you wore had to be work place appropriate at all times.

He also got paid while he was there. minimum wage, 24 hours a day, but they also took out lodging, and food, so in the end he only got about $30 a week. But it was enough to buy himself hygiene products, some clothes, and a few other things.

Good Conduct was rewarded with things such as weekend passes, the permission to drive your own vehicle when you left, clothing allowances, field trips, and other things most people take for granted. 

Sounds good. Thank you so much for the info. I talked to him extensively and he wants to go, I just want to make sure he is seruous about it, and willing to put an effort in to work hard and learn a skill that will help him get a job when he is on his own. He has not showed much motivation for anything the past two years. I would like to snap him in gear if possible. I sure hope this works. He tends to hang out with all the wrong kids, but he is also old enough to make choices. You choose whether you want to get into trouble or not. Unfortunately most of his choices have been poor choices thus far. 

Great thing about Job Corps, other then teaching work ethic and responsibility for your actions, is that they actually line you up for a job on graduation. They don't just train you and dump you. 

My best friend went in Cali, and they were strict she completed her certifacte in massage therapy, (she didnt go for diploma) she met great people, and they did get set amount they get weekly which wasnt a lot as well as vochures for clothing theres were for Ross.

She seemed to enjoy it overall.

another friend of ours didnt do so hotl. 

another friend of ours didnt do so hotl.

Lol. Thanks Ella. I take my son in on Tuesday to speak to an advisor in person where I can decide, and he as well needs to decide if he is serious enough. I think success is all in the individual's own personal reach. If they want it bad enough, they will work hard for it. i just hope he is dedicated enough to reaching his own success. We all want the best for our children, but we cannot force them to make the right decisions, and reach their goals. He has been a tough one to say the least! 

I went to job corps myself in San Francisco, the one I went to was like college not much supervision and not many rules. I got my GED and did the facility maintenance program and my husband did the carpentry program and got his highschool diploma there. I will tell you though,that the certifications you get there will do absolutely nothing for you when you try to get into the union they will make you do EVERYTHING all over again. I havent been to job corps in about 4 years but I have heard that they have gotten much better due to the fact that they were taken over by new ownership. but every job corps is different so you never know good experience though! 

I also joined the military through Job Corps 

Yeah I heard they were all different, but I heard all of them were pretty strict and require them to keep up on their grades. He was gung ho about it UNTIL some loser kid that ALWAYS gets in to trouble just told him today that he got sent away there for acting up and that he hated it and was restricted from going off campus for the first 6mths! And he said he also got kicked out! Hmmm, not a very good source! I hope it did not ruin my son's personal decision on whether or not he wants to go. 

The kids who mess up bad get kicked out and yes they may not let them off campus for the 1st 6 months but there is quite a bit to do on campus. Its really what they make it and that kid made it a bad experience for himself. 

Okay, so we went through the orientation, and my son got an interview. It all went well. He did get officially accepted into the program. He will be attending one of the Northwest Centers(which is the only center choices for our area if you attend the Lakewood Job Corp orientation and program) I choose one of the two closest locations which would be Tongue Point, and Cascades(that offered the job trade choices he preferred).They are both approx. 4 hrs away, one of the locations is on the border of Oregon. NOW I am looking to speak to other parents out there who have children in these particular centers, OR in the Northwest Job Corps Centers for the current programs, as my son will be joining them soon. I know everyone has their own experiences, and opinions. And I am open to listening to all of them. SO far we have been emailed by other parents and kids that are in the programs with all positive feedback. But I'd REALLY love to hear from parents/kids that are in the Northwest Dorms and get your feedback and experiences. Thanks so much in advance. My son is very anxious to get started, and I hope this will be a great experience for him. I am just glad he will be within a reasonable distance for us to visit. Oh also each center has it's own rules as to how long they limit their off campus restrictions when they first get there. So far it seems the first 60-90 days is the norm. for most of our centers here in the Northwest. We also got to speak to 4 of the teens who have graduated from these locations and have provided us feedback from their experience and knowledge they gained, plus their experience in the job placement program. All 4 were placed in a job position in their field within 4 mths of graduating!