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Profiling helps recruiters target new blood
http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=c276dbbe-61ac-4a54-a43c-e77473ce12dc
Do you like sitcoms and action flicks? Prefer listening to rock or rap? Are you a Cosmo girl or a People watcher? If so, then a new survey says the military is for you, Jack Aubry writes.
Jack Aubry The Ottawa Citizen Monday, July 23, 2007
An extensive profile of potential recruits to the Canadian Forces reveals personality traits of being more extroverted, more agreeable, marginally more "open, less conscientious and less emotionally stable than the average Canadian, according to a recently released federal government report.
In order to prepare future recruitment programs for the Department of National Defence, the profile also finds that potential future soldiers prefer comedies on television, action flicks, rock and rap music and Cosmopolitan and People magazine on their reading table. The national survey, which cost taxpayers $156,000, was conducted by TSN Canadian Facts Inc. in February and March.
Among the small pool of respondents who said they were likely to join -- only six per cent of the population said they were somewhat or very likely to enrol -- it identified men, aboriginals, those under 25 and the unemployed as the demographic groups most ready to sign up.
"Canadians likely to join the Forces full-time or part-time are more likely to see themselves as 'creative', and 'outgoing', but 'disorganized' compared to their peers," said the survey findings, which asked potential recruits to take a "Ten-Item Personality Inventory" to provide a wide scope of personality attributes.
It noted a few differences by gender where men are more likely than women to characterize themselves as "uncomplicated, quiet and disorganized" while women tend to view themselves as "dependable and outgoing."
The possible recruits were also asked to rank themselves under a "Big Five Personality Trait" framework, with the five categories being openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeability, and emotional stability. It explained that those who are emotionally stable, for instance, tend toward a calm and stable emotional nature rather than being anxious, high-strung and temperamental.
"To better engage its target audience, the Department of National Defence has requested a current and comprehensive psychographic and demographic profile of eligible Canadians between the ages of 16 and 34," said the report, adding that the Harper government wants to increase the regular military force by 13,000 soldiers and the reserves by 10,000.
It says the challenge of meeting the targets is exacerbated by Canada's aging population and decreasing birthrates over the last 20 years. "This profile will examine the habits and interests of potential recruits and will allow DND to be more effective in their communications and advertising," it said.
Capt. Holly Brown, a spokeswoman for the Forces, said so far this year, the military is ahead in meeting its targets and is already using the profile from the report to put together future recruitment campaigns.
The Harper government has nearly tripled spending on advertising for the military, boosting its ad budget from about $10.2 million to $27.7 million as it attempts to boost enrolment of soldiers and meet the demands of the country's mission in Afghanistan.
"Almost half of Canadians who are eligible say that there is nothing the Forces could do to encourage them to join. The top activities cited that would encourage them to join are increasing awareness, changing work regulations and improving the monetary benefits," said the report. It also stressed the importance of the recruitment centres and the Forces' website because of the high Internet use among that age group of the population.
The national survey involved 1,504 completed telephone interviews of Canadians between the ages of 16 and 34 between Feb. 6 and March 4, 2007.
The findings have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 per centage points, 9.5 times out of 10. As well, self-administered interactive surveys with 1,712 respondents were conducted for the report between Feb. 15 and Feb. 21, with a margin of error in the findings of plus or minus 2.4 per centage points, 95 per cent of the time.
The report found that those likely to enrol are more interested in "combat" than any other area of employment, suggesting that "there is a fairly strong association between a career in the Forces and combat roles."
The primary motive for signing up for the potential recruits, according to the report, is a paycheque, a job and a career. "In fact, fully half (50 per cent) of those likely to enrol in the Forces report that they are job seeking and thus more receptive to communications messages that speak about employment," said the report.
Certainly for Sophia Vasquez, a 26-year-old mother of three who showed up at a recruitment centre in Ottawa on Friday, this is true. Ms. Vasquez said she believed the chance at training and a career while being paid was a big draw for the military.
"I like the discipline and interesting work that the Canadian Forces offers, but I also want to do it because it would be a better job for me," said Ms. Vasquez.
She associates the forces with "disaster relief," especially that provided to her parents and home country of El Salvador. The Canadian Forces sent two Hercules aircraft there to deliver disaster relief supplies after the country was hit by an earthquake in 2001.
The profile offered by the report also shows that potential recruits spend, like most Canadians their age, more than three hours a day on the Internet, with TV and radio, newspapers and magazines playing a smaller role in their daily lives.
It also shows that from a TV perspective, they prefer such network comedies as Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond. They also indicate a stronger liking for rap and alternative music than the rest of the population. They are not big magazine readers, and People magazine is the most popular, with six-per-cent readership among potential recruits.
When it comes to movies, the recruits are true to form, saying they like "action" flicks best (42 per cent compared with the Canadian average of 27 per cent). There are, of course, significant differences between male and female recruits, with women preferring comedy (31 per cent), followed by drama (15 per cent) and then action (14 per cent).
Recruits are more positive about the Canadian Forces than the average Canadian (80 per cent compared with 69 per cent) with only 19 per cent of average Canadians saying they are "very" positive about the military compared to 45 per cent of recruits. Also, almost twice as many recruits say they are familiar with Canadian Forces (65 per cent) as the average Canadian (38 per cent).
And the likelihood of joining the Forces jumps among recruits when a fully paid education is mentioned as a possibility, going from six per cent to 23 per cent when it is mentioned.
Unlike the average Canadian, Afghanistan is not the first thing that comes to mind for possible future soldiers. Only 11 per cent said the mission was top of mind when asked what they think of when they hear the words "Canadian Forces," as compared with 18 per cent of all Canadians. Instead, "peacekeeping and humanitarian aid" and the specific branches (army, air force and navy) of the military received about 20 per cent each of the responses.
More at link
http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=c276dbbe-61ac-4a54-a43c-e77473ce12dc
Do you like sitcoms and action flicks? Prefer listening to rock or rap? Are you a Cosmo girl or a People watcher? If so, then a new survey says the military is for you, Jack Aubry writes.
Jack Aubry The Ottawa Citizen Monday, July 23, 2007
An extensive profile of potential recruits to the Canadian Forces reveals personality traits of being more extroverted, more agreeable, marginally more "open, less conscientious and less emotionally stable than the average Canadian, according to a recently released federal government report.
In order to prepare future recruitment programs for the Department of National Defence, the profile also finds that potential future soldiers prefer comedies on television, action flicks, rock and rap music and Cosmopolitan and People magazine on their reading table. The national survey, which cost taxpayers $156,000, was conducted by TSN Canadian Facts Inc. in February and March.
Among the small pool of respondents who said they were likely to join -- only six per cent of the population said they were somewhat or very likely to enrol -- it identified men, aboriginals, those under 25 and the unemployed as the demographic groups most ready to sign up.
"Canadians likely to join the Forces full-time or part-time are more likely to see themselves as 'creative', and 'outgoing', but 'disorganized' compared to their peers," said the survey findings, which asked potential recruits to take a "Ten-Item Personality Inventory" to provide a wide scope of personality attributes.
It noted a few differences by gender where men are more likely than women to characterize themselves as "uncomplicated, quiet and disorganized" while women tend to view themselves as "dependable and outgoing."
The possible recruits were also asked to rank themselves under a "Big Five Personality Trait" framework, with the five categories being openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeability, and emotional stability. It explained that those who are emotionally stable, for instance, tend toward a calm and stable emotional nature rather than being anxious, high-strung and temperamental.
"To better engage its target audience, the Department of National Defence has requested a current and comprehensive psychographic and demographic profile of eligible Canadians between the ages of 16 and 34," said the report, adding that the Harper government wants to increase the regular military force by 13,000 soldiers and the reserves by 10,000.
It says the challenge of meeting the targets is exacerbated by Canada's aging population and decreasing birthrates over the last 20 years. "This profile will examine the habits and interests of potential recruits and will allow DND to be more effective in their communications and advertising," it said.
Capt. Holly Brown, a spokeswoman for the Forces, said so far this year, the military is ahead in meeting its targets and is already using the profile from the report to put together future recruitment campaigns.
The Harper government has nearly tripled spending on advertising for the military, boosting its ad budget from about $10.2 million to $27.7 million as it attempts to boost enrolment of soldiers and meet the demands of the country's mission in Afghanistan.
"Almost half of Canadians who are eligible say that there is nothing the Forces could do to encourage them to join. The top activities cited that would encourage them to join are increasing awareness, changing work regulations and improving the monetary benefits," said the report. It also stressed the importance of the recruitment centres and the Forces' website because of the high Internet use among that age group of the population.
The national survey involved 1,504 completed telephone interviews of Canadians between the ages of 16 and 34 between Feb. 6 and March 4, 2007.
The findings have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 per centage points, 9.5 times out of 10. As well, self-administered interactive surveys with 1,712 respondents were conducted for the report between Feb. 15 and Feb. 21, with a margin of error in the findings of plus or minus 2.4 per centage points, 95 per cent of the time.
The report found that those likely to enrol are more interested in "combat" than any other area of employment, suggesting that "there is a fairly strong association between a career in the Forces and combat roles."
The primary motive for signing up for the potential recruits, according to the report, is a paycheque, a job and a career. "In fact, fully half (50 per cent) of those likely to enrol in the Forces report that they are job seeking and thus more receptive to communications messages that speak about employment," said the report.
Certainly for Sophia Vasquez, a 26-year-old mother of three who showed up at a recruitment centre in Ottawa on Friday, this is true. Ms. Vasquez said she believed the chance at training and a career while being paid was a big draw for the military.
"I like the discipline and interesting work that the Canadian Forces offers, but I also want to do it because it would be a better job for me," said Ms. Vasquez.
She associates the forces with "disaster relief," especially that provided to her parents and home country of El Salvador. The Canadian Forces sent two Hercules aircraft there to deliver disaster relief supplies after the country was hit by an earthquake in 2001.
The profile offered by the report also shows that potential recruits spend, like most Canadians their age, more than three hours a day on the Internet, with TV and radio, newspapers and magazines playing a smaller role in their daily lives.
It also shows that from a TV perspective, they prefer such network comedies as Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond. They also indicate a stronger liking for rap and alternative music than the rest of the population. They are not big magazine readers, and People magazine is the most popular, with six-per-cent readership among potential recruits.
When it comes to movies, the recruits are true to form, saying they like "action" flicks best (42 per cent compared with the Canadian average of 27 per cent). There are, of course, significant differences between male and female recruits, with women preferring comedy (31 per cent), followed by drama (15 per cent) and then action (14 per cent).
Recruits are more positive about the Canadian Forces than the average Canadian (80 per cent compared with 69 per cent) with only 19 per cent of average Canadians saying they are "very" positive about the military compared to 45 per cent of recruits. Also, almost twice as many recruits say they are familiar with Canadian Forces (65 per cent) as the average Canadian (38 per cent).
And the likelihood of joining the Forces jumps among recruits when a fully paid education is mentioned as a possibility, going from six per cent to 23 per cent when it is mentioned.
Unlike the average Canadian, Afghanistan is not the first thing that comes to mind for possible future soldiers. Only 11 per cent said the mission was top of mind when asked what they think of when they hear the words "Canadian Forces," as compared with 18 per cent of all Canadians. Instead, "peacekeeping and humanitarian aid" and the specific branches (army, air force and navy) of the military received about 20 per cent each of the responses.
More at link
