SURVEY SECTIONS Executive Summary AgCareers Background Applicant Results      Demographic Trends      Employed vs. Unemployed      Male vs. Female      Management vs. Non-Management      Canadian Born vs. Non-Canadian Born Hiring Company Results      Companies Hiring Directly      Recruiting Agencies Recommendations to Management      The Job Description and Specification      The Interview      On the Job      Advancement Opportunities      Other Important Functions      Summary References Appendix A: Job Seeker Survey Appendix B: Hiring Company Survey

Applicant Results

The applicant questions were designed to determine how different groups of employees felt about key issues of job satisfaction. From the survey results 49.7% of the applicants are currently employed, 36.0% of the applicants are in management positions and 71.6% of applicants are male. In terms of current salary, 18.9% earn under $20,000 per year, 14.0% are between $20,000-$30,000, 12.2% are between $30,000-$40,000, 39.3% are between $40,000-$70,000 and 14.9% enjoy salaries that are over $70,000 per year. Of the applicants responding, 46.6% felt that their salaries were fair, but 51.2% felt their salaries were too low. Only 1.5% of the respondents felt their salaries were too high. The average earnings of a Canadian is $32,158 per year [4].

The applicants who responded were all relatively high in tenure. In fact, 63.8% of those surveyed have been in their current job (or were in their previous job) for over 1 year with 39.4% over 2 years and 15.9% over 5 years. Within the positions currently or previously held by applicants, 34.1% stated that they had begun searching for employment within other companies, which is an alarming trend. However, as the survey was conducted on a jobsite this is a logical statistic. A good point is that passive job seekers, that is people who post their resumes up and browse jobs on a regular basis without regularly applying, are not in a position where they will leave their current job unless a position providing major advantages over their current job shows up on the site. Only 27.1% stated that they passionately believed in the company and were enthusiastic about their work. A popular stance among the job seekers was demonstrated by 32.6% of the respondents, who enjoyed their position within the current company but were hoping for something larger within the company.

Two questions that were identified as key to the results of the survey were the 6th and 12th questions posed to the applicants. Question 6 set out to determine the main reason why employees leave jobs. The results showed that 51.2% of respondents were either terminated or laid off from their jobs. Of the remaining answers, 22.9% found a better position elsewhere, 18.3% felt that there was low advancement opportunities within the company and 7.0% felt that the pay was too low.

The above results provide an interesting comparison to question 12, which asked what factor is the most important in a job. Here, the most answers went with advancement opportunities with 36.3%. However, while over a third of people want to see these advancement opportunities, only 18.3% will leave due to this factor. This leads to the conclusion that a primary reason such as low advancement opportunities can be a driving force towards job dissatisfaction but will often result in an employee remaining with a company. This of particular interest because these dissatisfied employees can diminish an organization's productivity and increase absenteeism even though they have not chosen to the leave the company. Rounding out question 12 were 23.5% stating increased pay and better rewards, 21.6% listing more adequate managers with strong leadership skills, 9.1% listing better hours with a more flexible schedule, 4.6% listing less stressful work and 3.4% listing a safer work environment as their most important concerns in their jobs.

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