Beauty is no longer only skin deep

Girls aspire to be beauticians and performers according to results of a survey from Broadbean Technology.

Following recent claims from Culture Minister, Barbara Follett, that young girls today are becoming "Barbie dolled", Broadbean can reveal that a staggering 32% percent of girls in year 11 (aged 15-16) said they'd like to work in fashion, become performers or start a career in hair and beauty out of a possible 35 different vocations.

For boys, sport was the most popular career selected, followed by creative roles such as computer animation and design.

The results of the survey, created to determine how young people plan to find jobs, has provided a snapshot into the aspirations of the next generation. The results could be construed as unsettling given the current economic climate.

Application statistics released this week by Broadbean illustrate the growing competition for the type of roles favoured by young people compared with a continued lack of interest from jobseekers in key worker roles such as Nursing and Social Care.

Since 2007 Broadbean's AdCourier has processed more than double the applications per job advert in the fashion and sport industries, which suggests that there are less jobs and more candidates.

The survey also found that 68% of youngsters would like to start their own business but some expressed concerns that they wouldn't know how to go about doing so. Dan McGuire, Broadbean MD and 2007's Young Entrepreneur, has set up The Two Hour Initiative to encourage businesses to give two hours per quarter encouraging entrepreneurship in youngsters.

He said, "Young people aspire to be celebrities because it is what they see in the media every day. If youngsters had more interaction with business leaders they may be encouraged to explore a career path that they never thought they could go down. Shows like the apprentice and Dragon's Den are great for raising the profile of business but kids need real face to face interaction to get an insight into what day-to-day business is really like."

He adds, "The positive response I've had to the Two Hour Initiative has been fantastic. I had planned to target 1500 new London-based volunteers by the end of November but there has been interest from all over the world".

Read what the beaners think about this and other news stories here