Extra felicity O’Dell fce

That is the end of Part 3. 
Now turn to Part 4.
You will hear an interview with Stella McDonald,
who works for a company which investigates social
trends. For questions 24 to 30 choose the best
answer (A, B or C).
You now have 45 seconds in which to look at Part 4.
M Stella, you work for the Social Statistics Agency, is
that right?
F
Yes, I do. We are a government organisation involved
in investigating all sorts of aspects of change in
society – family relationships, work and leisure
habits, consumer trends. It’s very varied and
interesting work.
M So, what have you been involved in recently?
F
My most recent project was to investigate the
increasing tendency for people to opt for
temporary jobs. It is not a trend that had been
predicted and we were curious to try to find out
the reasons for it. We were particularly surprised
by the fact that the tendency is more pronounced
among men than women. 
M Yes, that is not what I would have expected either.
So what did you discover about the motivations of
people choosing temporary work?
F
Well, by far and away the main reason was that
temporary work allowed people more flexibility with
their time. This enabled them to pursue other
dreams – they could choose to work intensively for a
couple of months and then take extended periods
off to travel, they could take odd days off when they
were suddenly offered opportunities of furthering
their ultimate dreams of becoming an actor or a disc
jockey; they could opt for weekend work or double
shifts if that suited them for some personal reason. 
M What other factors were important?
F
The second main motivation for doing a temporary
job was to gain experience of a different branch of
work. A lot of people said they weren’t sure whether
to train for a particular career or not and a stint of
temporary work in the field gave them a bit of a
taster to help them make up their mind.
M I can certainly see the attraction of temporary
work. If you were a novelist or a journalist, for
example, it would be interesting to do a range of
different temping jobs – you’d get lots of different
insights that could be useful in your work.
F
Well, yes, the interest of variety was the third main
reason presented for the popularity of temporary
work. Quite a few people said that they had started
out temping because they couldn’t find a
permanent job but that they had enjoyed the range
of opportunities it offers so much that they now
see themselves as ‘career temps’ and never intend
to apply for a permanent job again! They are
convinced that even if they don’t earn so much this
is well compensated for by the richness of the
work experience which they gain.