As employers continue to hit the brakes on hiring, many displaced workers are shifting gears and heading back to school.

And in a job-starved recession, vocational schools offering short-term technical training often become havens. They're a place to acquire new skills – as diverse as medical billing, dental assistance, massage therapy and truck driving.

They're attracting laid-off workers like Elk Grove resident Hanh Nguyen, who lost his job a few months ago after 10 years in construction. The 41-year-old recently enrolled in the truck driving program at Sacramento's Center for Employment Training, a nonprofit trade school on 65th Street near the Florin Towne Centre.

"The hardest part is backing up," Nguyen said, following a class session on driving skills at the school's asphalt training yard last week. He's hoping to jump-start a new career as a big-rig driver.

It's the same kind of drive that's helping boost enrollments at vocational and two-year colleges across the country. But as classrooms fill up, job placements for new graduates are slowing due to the economy.

As jobs wither amid California's 11.5 percent unemployment rate, vocational schools must work harder to get graduates hired.

In California, vocational school placement rates dropped from 74 percent in 2007 to 68 percent in 2008, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools. Locally, six of seven career schools contacted by The Bee estimate that 2009 placements will fall from 4 percent to 30 percent.

But Nguyen, who expects to graduate from CET in August, isn't worried.

"I'll find a job right away," he said confidently.

CET's truck driving program is finding jobs for 90 percent of its students, according to CET director Thomas Anderson.

"At the end of the day, your paycheck is your diploma," he said.

At the OSC Computer Training school in Sacramento, which offers medical billing and other computer-based skills, this year's second-quarter enrollment is up 200 percent from 2008, said co-owner Bill Williams. OSC added evening classes to accommodate the influx of new students.

"All of these people are in the same boat," Williams said. "They've lost their jobs, they're scared and they need support."

Some are getting it at the Sacramento Employment Training Agency, which runs 12 job placement centers in the Sacramento region. With increased funding from federal stimulus money, SETA is enrolling more students in trade school and community college programs, said spokeswoman Terri Carpenter.

"I can tell you, the trend is: Now is the time to be trained," she said.

But SETA no longer steers students toward training in shrinking sectors like residential construction or call-center operations, Carpenter said.

Instead, it enrolls students in high-demand programs, such as health care and infrastructure development, places where "there's going to be a decent job and career ladder when they graduate," Carpenter said.

Facing more students and fewer job prospects, vocational schools are increasing their career assistance.

"Our sector lives or dies depending on how our students do in licensing examinations and employer hiring," said Robert Johnson, executive director of the California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools, which represents about 250 vocational schools.

Among the placement efforts: Western Career College is providing more student loans, revamping its "job readiness" courses and hosting monthly alumni workshops with motivational speakers and career advice. MTI College, which offers paralegal, business, cosmetology and health care training, is beefing up its career-assistance staff. OSC, the computer training school, is hunting for new internships at local businesses and creating new job-specific curriculum.

California Motel Training in Loomis, which normally finds quick employment in the hospitality industry for 92 percent of its students, is now focused on getting graduates into any industry, said marketing director Frank Casey.

Call The Bee's Nicole Williams, (916) 321-1045.