When we talk about the workforce, it’s easy to assume we mean adults. However, over 1.5 million teens are currently working in the United States. Many of those teens are minors (aged 13 to 18 years old) and they prefer seasonal work because it works well with their school schedules and other commitments.
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Benefits of Hiring Minors for Seasonal Work
While some employers might be skeptical at first, there are quite a few benefits to hiring minors for seasonal work.
- Minors will appreciate abbreviated work arrangements, and they’re probably less likely to get upset if their role doesn’t turn into a full-time arrangement because they’ll have to worry about going back to school and other commitments.
- Minors will be eager to learn and do a good job, especially if it’s their very first job. They will want to put something positive on their résumés.
- Minors will bring new skills to the table. Current minors comprise one of the most tech-savvy generations in history and might be able to help with many tech-related and mobile-device hiccups, among many other things.
- Extra workers help improve employee morale. If your current employees aren’t asked to work extra hours or pick up extra slack during your busier seasons due to understaffed shifts, they will welcome the extra help.
Even if you missed the opportunity to hire minors for the summer season, you can still create a strategy to hire them for the 2018 holiday season, when they’re out of school or looking for some extra cash. Keep reading to learn more.
How to Attract Minors for Seasonal Work
Start recruiting early. Don’t wait until the week before you need seasonal help to start recruiting minors. Plan to recruit minors a month or so before your busy season starts so that they can clear it with their parents or guardians and so that they can figure out how to balance a job with their other commitments.
And if you’ve hired minors in the past for seasonal work, reach out to them first to see if they want to come back to rejoin the team during your busy season, especially if they were reliable and worked hard. Also, make sure you clearly advertise that your seasonal positions are available to teens under 18.
Use mobile platforms for recruiting. Because minors are so tech-savvy nowadays, use mobile apps and mobile-optimized sites and platforms to recruit them. They may not know your seasonal positions exist otherwise.
Offer more than minimum wage or other incentives. While you don’t have to offer a lot more than minimum wage, consider offering 50 cents to a dollar more than minimum wage to attract the best candidates. And consider offering things like free lunch on Fridays or other small incentives and perks to keep them happy, working hard, and engaged while working for your organization.
Make it fun, but also represent roles as valuable learning opportunities. Yes, teens like to have fun. But most of them also want to be valuable members of the workforce when they get a job.
So, while you will want to advertise your organization as being a fun place to work with great perks, don’t overdo it—minors still want to become professionals one day and learn the ropes so they can be successful in the future.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s Advisor, which will cover how to effectively hire and train minors for seasonal work.