Canadians want their next Prime Minister to have CEO-like qualities: Monster Poll

Vision & leadership more important than having a beer-buddy

To view the Social Media Release, click here: http://smr.newswire.ca/en/monsterca/canadians-want-their-next-prime-minister-to-have-ceo-like

TORONTO, April 15 /PRNewswire/ - For Hire: A Prime Minister for Canada who has vision and leadership, is an excellent communicator and a strong role model, is results-driven, and has a track record of success. Political experience is important. Being a good person to share a beer with, nice to have, but not a requirement.

Online career resource Monster.ca conducted a national poll by Harris/Decima asking Canadians to think of the Prime Minister as the CEO of Canada, and to identify the qualifications they felt were most important to them.  The poll revealed:

1. nine out of 10 Canadians (89%) felt vision and leadership is the most important qualification
2. the least important qualifications: being a consensus builder (67%) and customer-service focused (66%)
3. nearly three quarters (73%) of those polled said having a long political career is an important consideration

"At Monster, we're good listeners. And what we're hearing from Canadians is that they want a leader who has vision and leadership, who is strategic and who has a clear goal for the country and our future -- qualities you'd expect a CEO to  have in such an important role," says Mike Jackson at Monster.ca.

Canadians split over beer
Canadians were basically split down the middle on whether it is important to be able to sit down and have a beer or coffee with the Prime Minister.  "Canadians clearly prefer leadership and experience over the softer skills like being a good person to talk to over a coffee or beer," says Jackson. Even so, while most Canadians will never have a beer with the PM, half (51%) still consider it an important quality when evaluating who to vote for.

Less important than being a good person to have a beer with was tweeting: 43% of Canadians feel it's important for their Prime Minister to be an active tweeter.

Clear vision, strategy, goals tops
"Monster fills thousands of senior level positions every year, in both the private and public sector," says Jackson. "Canadians recognize this is a serious job that requires important skills, skills not unlike those that would be required of a CEO."

Nearly a third (31%) of Canadians polled said the leader should be strategic; that they could see there as a plan and where it is leading.  The number one question Canadians would ask if they could conduct the job interview: "what is your vision for the country and for the future?"

Experience definitely an asset
"Relevant experience is always crucial in the business world, and Canadians are telling us that being a lifelong politician is a valuable or desirable attribute for the country's top public servant," says Jackson. "Career politician doesn't appear to be a bad label to Canadians." Interestingly, 83% of Conservatives think having a long political career is important, while 65% of Liberals and 77% of NDPers said the same.

Vote for PM; but vote for CEO?
Prime Ministers get voted in, but CEOs?  When asked if employees should be able to vote for their CEO every four years, Canadians were split: 47 per cent said yes, 47 per cent said no.

"The job for Prime Minister ultimately rests in the hands of the Canadian electorate. By showing Canadians that the election is like one giant job interview, Monster wants to encourage everyone who is eligible to get out and VOTE on May 2."

Rick Mercer for PM?
For fun, Monster asked what Canadians -- outside of those currently campaigning -- would be best for the job. Nearly a quarter (22%) said Rick Mercer, followed by Canada's most recent CEO of the Year Ed Clark of TD Bank at 16%. Hockey legend Don Cherry received 11% of the vote and hockey great Sydney Crosby came in at 10%. Teen singing sensation Justin Bieber got a mere 1% of the vote (likely because his constituency isn't yet eligible to vote, nor is he).

This Monster poll was conducted by Harris/Decima via teleVox, the company's national telephone omnibus.  A total of 1,002 Canadians were surveyed from March 31st to April 3rd, 2011.  Results are accurate to within +/- 3.1% 19 times out of 20.

Monster Worldwide Canada Inc. is a subsidiary of Monster Worldwide, Inc., the world's leading online careers and recruitment resource. Monster provides powerful tools to help public and private sector organizations connect with the best and brightest candidates in the world.

/NOTE TO EDITORS: Media Assets accompanying this story are available as follows:

Photo:  http://smr.newswire.ca/media/articles/1219/trump-pointing.webready.jpg

http://smr.newswire.ca/media/articles/1219/trump-w-jack-layton.jpg

http://smr.newswire.ca/media/articles/1219/trump-with-conservative-foam-finger-2.jpg

http://smr.newswire.ca/media/articles/1219/trump-with-liberal-sign.jpg

http://smr.newswire.ca/media/articles/1219/trump-the-political-animal.jpg

Video: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/mmnr/smr/Monster2-viral-RC5.flv

/NOTE TO PHOTO EDITORS: The photo accompanying this social media release is also available at http://photos.newswire.ca. Images are free to accredited members of the media/

SOURCE Monster.ca

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