Provides job assistance?

ABETS

Think of a word meaning "aids secretly" that starts with "A" and ends with "S."

The word "abets" means to assist or encourage someone, often in a wrongdoing, which loosely ties to "providing job assistance." The clue plays on the double meaning—while "abets" isn’t about employment help, it fits the definition of aiding someone. It’s a clever misdirection where the solver might first think of career-related words before realizing the trick. The answer relies on interpreting "assistance" in a broader, slightly sneaky sense.