More Canadians Than Ever Using The Internet To Look For A Job

Vancouver, BC--Online Canadians are embracing the Internet as a tool to help find a job and to stay on top of the job market, according to the latest results from Ipsos-Reid's Canadian Inter@ctive Reid Report, a quarterly look at Internet trends in Canada. The study found that 60% of online Canadians in the workforce¹ have utilized the Internet for a job search. This translates into nearly 8.5 million Canadians, up from the 7.6 million reported in the first quarter of 2002. Use of the Internet continues to be an integral part of helping Canadians find jobs.

When it comes to specific job search activities, 55% of Canadian adults with an Internet connection have looked at job postings online. This translates to 43% of the entire adult Canadian population. Although not as popular as looking at job listings, many Canadians are not averse to posting their resumes at job sites. In fact, 22% of those with Internet access, or 17% of Canadians as a whole, have posted their resume online. Both of these activities are more popular among people 18-34 years of age as well as those who have a university degree. Regionally, people in Ontario are the most likely take part in online job search activities. In fact, 47% of Ontario residents have looked at job postings online while 21% have posted a resume online.

"Browsing through job listing is one of the more popular Internet activities among Canadian adults," said Rhys Gibb, Senior Research Manager at Ipsos-Reid. "It is one of those rare Internet activities that has been very popular from the day the Internet became mainstream, and it continues to be popular. Job hunters not utilizing the Internet in their job search are clearly limiting their options."

The popularity of online job search activities can be largely attributed to the many advantages it provides. When those who have used the Internet to help search for a job are asked to name the primary advantages of using the Internet, the two most commonly cited responses are that it provides access to a variety of sites, positions, and employers (29%) and that it is quick (27%). Other advantages given are that it is convenient (18%), there is no need to travel to apply (13%), and that you gain access to very broad search capabilities (10%).

However, online job hunters do not think that online job hunting is a perfect tool. There are distinct limitations to using the Internet for job search activities, the primary disadvantage being that it is impersonal. There is no personal contact possible. As such, it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd. More than one-quarter (28%) of people who have used the Internet to help search for a job list "no personal contact" as a disadvantage. Other disadvantages mentioned are that job postings typically have incomplete information (8%), many positions are not listed online (8%), and that many other people are using the online approach to job hunting leading to a much more competitive marketplace (6%). "The very advantages that the Internet provides in job search activities can also be disadvantages," says Gibb. "It can be very easy to send out a glut of emails to a mass of companies in a shotgun approach when a targeted approach would be more likely to bring success. There is no getting around the fact that doing your homework about a company, tailoring your resume to that company's needs and crafting your cover letter to show that you are the best fit for an available position are vital steps in getting through that first challenge of being noticed by a potential employer."

Methodology

The Canadian Inter@ctive Reid Report is the largest, most comprehensive, and authoritative source of its kind about quarterly Internet trends in Canada. The results are based on two separate data collection instruments. In the first, 1,000 Web users from Ipsos-Reid's Canadian Internet Panel are surveyed online. Panelists are chosen through random telephone surveys conducted on an ongoing basis across Canada. Results are complemented by a further 1,000 interviews via telephone with Canadian adults in order to verify results of the panel and track issues among non-Internet users. Telephone interviews for this release were conducted between March 23 and 30, 2004, while the online data was collected between April 7 and 14, 2004. These data are statistically weighted to reflect the population proportions of regular online users by online expertise and regional distribution. Our panelists represent approximately 14.4 million Canadian adult Internet users who are online for one hour a week or more (there are a total of 17.9 million adults who have Internet access).

With a national sample of 1,000 (for each component), one can say with 95% certainty that the overall results are within a maximum of 1773.1 percentage points of what they would have been had the entire population of Canada's regular online users been surveyed. The margin of error will be larger for sub-groupings of the survey population.

¹Defined as those Canadians with Internet access who are either employed or looking for work.

For more information on this press release, please contact:

Rhys Gibb
Senior Research Manager, Ipsos-Reid
Vancouver, BC
604.257.3200

About Ipsos-Reid

Ipsos-Reid is Canada's market intelligence leader and the country's leading provider of public opinion research. With operations in eight cities, Ipsos-Reid employs more than 300 researcher professionals and support staff in Canada. The company has the biggest network of telephone call centres in Canada, as well as the largest pre-recruited household and on-line panels. Ipsos-Reid's Canadian marketing research and public affairs practices are staffed with seasoned research consultants with extensive industry-specific backgrounds, offering the premier suite of research vehicles in Canada--including the Ipsos Trend Report, the leading source of public opinion in the country--all of which provide clients with actionable and relevant information. Ipsos-Reid is an Ipsos company, a leading global survey-based market research group.

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