Workopolis: News Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Toronto, Ontario (January 10, 2005) – According to a new poll by Workopolis, Canada's leading provider of recruitment and job search solutions, Canadians are drawn to the strength of CBC news anchor Peter Mansbridge's rich tone when asked which famous Canadian has the most appealing speaking voice. Almost one quarter (22%) of Canadians chose Mansbridge's voice, followed closely by singer Shania Twain (19%) and CTV anchor Lloyd Robertson (17%).

"The top three voices chosen by Canadians – Peter Mansbridge, Shania Twain and Lloyd Robertson – all convey a sense of confidence, composure and personality," said Patrick Sullivan, President of Workopolis. "These are characteristics that would serve job seekers well at every stage of their job hunt, as well as on the job."

Workopolis explored the issue of voice quality because it is kicking off some hiring of its own. Workopolis today launched a search for the new Official Voice of workopolis.com. The internet recruiting company has posted a new job on workopolis.com inviting interested candidates to submit voice auditions that explain why they should be the next voice of workopolis.com. The selected candidate will record radio commercials for workopolis.com.

"In a job market that's so dependent on the internet, it's important to remind job seekers of the vital role of human contact and the power of the voice once they are selected for interviews," added Sullivan. "While online technology has created great efficiencies in the recruiting and hiring process, for some positions, a person's voice and personal presentation on the phone or in a job interview play a crucial role in shaping impressions. Candidates should plan and practice for job interviews. They may not be able to achieve the rich authority of Peter Mansbridge's delivery but they can still make a powerful impact."

Quebeckers were most taken by the sound of Shania Twain, with more than one-third (38%) citing her voice as the most appealing. Prime Minister Paul Martin was selected in second place in Quebec with 16 per cent, and in a distant third, six per cent chose Peter Mansbridge.

Canadian residents over the age of 18 can visit workopolis.com between January 10 and January 30, 2005 to find out how to apply for the job. Interested candidates should click the Apply Now button on workopolis.com to submit their resumes. They will also be given instructions to call the audition hotline to record their voice audition. Finalists will be contacted by telephone after the contest closes. The new voice of workopolis.com will be revealed on February 14, 2005.

About Workopolis:

Workopolis is Canada's leading provider of Internet recruiting and job search solutions offering a fully bilingual suite of award-winning applications, products and services to both large and small Canadian companies:

• workopolis.com™, Canada's biggest job site—with the most jobs, visitors and employers of any Canadian job site
• workopolisCampus.com, Canada's biggest job site for students and recent graduates
• CorporateWorks™, Canada's most implemented recruitment management solution using the tools that power workopolis.com to power corporate career sites

Workopolis is a unique and complementary partnership of three Canadian media companies, The Globe and Mail division of Bell Globemedia, Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd. and Gesca Ltd., the newspaper publishing subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada. Workopolis has offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Guelph, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.

About the poll:
The poll was conducted between December 29, 2004 and January 3, 2005 via a national omnibus telephone survey conducted by Decima Research among a representative sample of 1000 adult Canadians. The margin of error is +/- 3.1%, 19 times out 20 if the entire adult Canadian population was polled.

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