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Being a Doctor is still the most popular career choice for Thai children in the year of 2016 survey
An annual survey of Thai children for the year of 2016, conducted by Adecco Group Thailand, reveals that being a Doctor is still the most popular career choice. Being an athlete arrives in the top 5 of career choices and of the coolest job that they can imagine. Their parents remain their most precious idols.
Adecco Group Thailand has revealed the results of the survey of 1,546 Thai children, aged between 7-14 years, for the seventh consecutive year, being a Doctor is the most popular choice because the majority of Thai children dream of helping people, their families, and furthermore Doctors earn a good living.
Becoming Athletes, Chefs, Engineers and Teachers are the next popular career choices. Being an Athlete becomes the new trend this year as most children like to play sports, which keeps them healthy and strong and earns a notable reputation for their country, which is very important to them. Being a Chef is also one of Thai children's career choices because of their passion for cooking.
New to this year list is being a Reviewer, a person who makes and reviews video clips, and posts them on YouTube, with the reason that their review would make people happy when they watch it and it’s their own preference in reviewing products. Barista at Starbucks is another newcomer, as people seem to enjoy drinking coffee.
When asked about the coolest job that they can imagine, being Doctors came out on top, followed by Soldiers, Police Officers, Actors/Actresses, Singers and Athletes. In most cases, the answer is usually consistent with their popular career choice, for example, if their popular career choice is being a Doctor, the coolest job is being a Doctor, or if their popular career choice is being an Athlete, the coolest job is being an Athlete. However, there are some different answers when asked about the coolest job and the career choices, for example, they wanted to be a Chef, but they think the coolest job is being a Doctor, or they wanted to be a Teacher, but they think the coolest job is being a Soldier.
When asked about their salary expectation, most children would want a salary range between 50,000 to 100,000 baht. More than 1 million baht was the maximum salary they wanted and the lowest salary was nothing – as money is not important at all. One child gave an interesting reason that he wanted to be a Doctor, to help cure people because that is worth more money than there is in the world – it’s the pride. Another child wanted to do an animation, and he doesn’t care how much the salary would be, he just wanted to enjoy what he is doing. With another child wanting to be a Scientist, and salary is not required if what he is working on brings back the beauty of nature so Thai people enjoy it more.
When asked what the first ‘three things they would do’ if they were the Prime Minister of Thailand, most of their answers were to develop our country, to reform Thailand’s education system, and to help those in needs and take care Thai people in general. There were also some children who love nature and would do what they could to protect it, while developing and maintaining our pristine environment. This reveals the fact that these kids care about the well-being of Thai people and want to have a better quality of life.
When asked who their idols were – their own parents are their first choice. Parents not only are their most important people in their lives, but they are also their role models. Doctors are their next choice of idols and the third place went to Lionel Messi, the Argentine footballer, consistent with their career choice of being an Athlete. “Yaya” Urassaya Sperbund, the Thai-Norwegian actress who recently graduated from Chulalongkorn University, ranks the forth and Gen. Prayut Chan-ocha or “Uncle Too”, Thailand’s current prime minister ranks the fifth.
A new question added to this year’s survey was what subjects they like most in school, and Science came up aces. Mathematics, Physical Education, Art and Computer Science were also amongst the subjects they liked. When asked about the most fun thing they did on weekends or on holidays, the top answer was just relaxing or travelling, followed by playing games and sports. This survey has also showed that 12 percent of Thai children were still thinking of learning even on weekends or on holidays, by reading books and taking tutorial classes.
Every year, when asked what country in the world they would like to live in, more than half responded Thailand. This year, we adjusted the question by asking what country in the world they would like to live in, apart from Thailand, and Japan was the most popular choice, followed by the United States and England. Those countries' economies and advanced technologies were their reasons for being interested.
"The survey of Thai children’s dream career for the year 2016 reveals that being an Athlete is the new stand out trend, which also reflects the influence of media access over the past few years, and the fact that Thai sports have been developed strongly. It not only builds on success and country-pride, but inspires our children as well. Another interesting fact is that children's parents are always their precious idols. So, remember that all actions are cultivating the minds of our children, and parents should always provide a positive example and be a good role model. In the last 3-4 years, we found new dream career choices affected by the passion for doing things, for example, wanting to be a Chef as they like cooking, or wanting to be an Athlete as they like playing sports. This demonstrated that when they love what they do, they commit, and this can develop into a career. Furthermore, when they do things they like, they usually do it well and are happy with their work." said Tidarat Kanchanawat Regional Director - Thailand and Vietnam, Adecco Group Thailand.
