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POLL
© 2004 All rights reserved The
Forward Group
Teens4Hire.org received more than 3,000 responses to
a poll conducted in March 2004 of why and where teens
would like to work in 2004.
Asked, “Why do you want a job?” teens were given the
following five answers to choose from and responded
accordingly;
1. 30% need
money to help family
2. 23% to get
work experience
3. 22% need money
for college
4. 14% to buy
fun stuff
5. 11% to keep
busy
Asked, “What kind of work do you want?” teens were
given the following six answers to choose from and responded
accordingly;
1. 44% to work
in a retail store
2. 23% to work
in a fast food place or restaurant
3. 17% to work
in an office
4. 10% to work
outdoors
5. 5% to work
in health services
6. 1% to work
from home
Asked, “At What Company Would You Like to Work?” only
5% of teens named a specific company and no company
was named more than 20 times. Typical responses to this
question were, “any company”, “I don't care”, and “it
doesn't matter”.
This clearly demonstrates a lack of any real “employment”
branding amongst teens. It's ironic given that many retail
chains, fast food places and restaurants market their
products and services so aggressively to teens. |
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| According to our survey (see
side bar), the Top 3 places where teens would like to work
are:
- in a retail store in sales, stocking inventory, and/or
customer service. Teens like to work indoors (with air-conditioning)
during the hot summer months. Commissions and store discounts
help to attract them as well.
- in a casual-dining restaurant as a host person, wait
person, or bus person. Here tips, food discounts, and a
positive social atmosphere are seen as the benefits.
- in an office environment where a teen can use their computer
and Internet skills in an administrative, clerical, data-entry,
telemarketing or customer service type position.
We believe that teens skew towards the positions noted above
because they perceive that these are the most readily available
and the most likely to hire teens.
The majority want to earn a paycheck and say the money is
a necessity rather than a luxury. They need the money for
clothing, school supplies, transportation and savings for
college. Others want work experience to help them prepare
for the future.
Work-based learning through internships, co-ops and apprenticeships
can make education relevant and interesting.
Teens crave work-based learning experiences, preferably paid,
but school credit is acceptable too.
Teens want jobs that they can do year-round, as well as,
during the summer months and year-end holiday season.
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