There were five different job placement sites and the choice of a placement site was negotiated between Carrie and the students. To choose a placement site, Carrie said she wanted the students to express an interest in the placement and wanted to ensure the student would be capable of performing the activities related to the placement. She referred to this process as determining the "job fit". The sites were a childcare facility, a grocery store, a discount department store, the school board cafeteria, and the coffee shop, which became a modified placement. The sites were chosen for a variety of reasons, including their potential for future employment, their willingness to accept adult student placements, and their ability to provide meaningful employment experiences. The childcare—run by the school board for students in various adult education programs—is one of the few established childcare facilities in the city that hires childcare assistants without credentials. The assistants can earn over $10.00 an hour and work up to 30 hours per week. A well–known chain grocery store, located near the centre of the city, accommodated students in both its bakery and produce departments. The grocery store placement was considered a good site because there were opportunities for students to learn a variety of jobs, including a coveted job as a cashier. A popular discount department store was chosen as a site because there was a potential to be hired and there were a variety of jobs within the organization. The school board cafeteria was chosen mainly because it also offered a variety of training opportunities, and it had a history of working with high school students on placements. Finally, the coffee shop became a modified placement site to accommodate students with childcare needs.

Once the students completed their placements, they were encouraged to return to the program, unless they received a job offer. Re–entry into the program was established in order to support a transition form the employment preparation program to the workplace. Initially, the transition period was intended only to support students during their job search. But in addition to this support, Carrie recognized an even more valuable reason for students to return to the program after completing their placements. The returning students displayed more confidence, she explained, and other students began to inquire about his or her experiences in the placement. The returning students were more than willing to share experiences with those who had not been on a placement, and they compared experiences with those who did have a placement.

While the students were on their placements, the classroom became the setting in which they discussed placement experiences. The instructors initially thought the students would use the classroom for literacy support but they were rarely asked to help students solve problems related to either literacy or numeracy. Instead, students needed help dealing with a myriad of non–literacy issues, such as working with others, dealing with supervisors who didn't permit them to do any challenging tasks, or who expected too much, and working with staff members who either didn't understand that the student was a volunteer, or even felt threatened by the student. The classroom then became a setting for focusing on the behaviours and culture of the workplace, as they related to the job placements, rather than literacy.