A teen’s perspective: What’s important to attract high school talent.

We have a guest blogger for you today, my 15-year-old son Colin has some tips for employers looking to attract high school student talent. His top 3 are below. I think his idea about referral bonuses would be particularly attractive to this age group.

Recently, I have been hearing more and more job talk from my peers. Ranging from “Don’t work here,” to “I didn’t receive a promised bonus,” to “definitely work here!” Here are a few points that I hear the most when my peers talk about where to work – and where not to..

Flexibility

High school has many activities and participation in them is great for students. If a job interferes with activities, it makes the job look less appealing.Teenagers need this time to have fun with friendsat a sports practice, a concert, or a rehearsal as well as learn skills. Offer flexibility to accommodate the busy extracurricular and curricular activities.

Word of mouth

When I talk with kids thinking about getting a job, they always have somewhere that they will not work. They usually cite what a sibling or friends have told them about working there. This ties back to flexibility. If you aren’t flexible to your high school-age employees, that will circle back and make it harder for you to get teenagers to work for you.

Wage

This is obvious, but wage is important. Teenagers aren’t going to give up most of their free time unless a parent tells them to or if the wage is good. Of course, wages depend on how much money is available, but one way to work around your budget and recruit additional workers at the same time is to add incentives, such as some money for referring friends.

Flexibility is easily the most important of these three. Let your teenage employees continue to explore different activities. That will help them in the future and there are many jobs out there that may allow them these freedoms.