We asked, you spoke, we listened.
We also gave you the chance to tell us which areas we should be focusing on and which we should look at less. Of the areas we already cover unsurprisingly the top request was for more countryside management roles, closely followed by ecology so we've used this in our contact to potential advertisers. Education, both adult and further training as well as environmental education and forest school, was high on the list for more coverage as well as wildlife and zoology work so we're looking at sourcing more of these for you. An area that we have not majored on in recent years is sustainability and energy, this was another big hit on the more please and your high levels of requests should make it easier to persuade advertisers who've not used CJS for this sort of role to give it a try. Closely following the green revolution came rural regeneration, we've found that these posts are often very geographically localised and frequently run by or hosted by smaller regional charities but we're looking into ways to source and advertise these as well. The big surprise was that a high proportion of you wanted more research roles, 41% to increase current areas such as fieldwork and 59% to expand coverage to include areas such as plant pathology; this is going to be a project for us to look at in the coming months.
More information
Several areas were mentioned as being areas of interest but the one that stood out was the number that were seeking more information on changing careers, we know this is a popular subject, never more so as people take stock of their lives in the wake (midst still?) of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have already started sourcing information on this and the last couple of facebook live sessions should have given you some pointers but look out for more in the coming months. A specific request for volunteer work and training in skills other than practical ones especially if it can be targeted for more mature people has got us thinking and this is another area we'll be looking into.
General CJS
Your comments and feedback have also brought a few things to light, we were surprised to see how many people were unaware that the website has browse by sector and region options as well as a full job search. We've made some changes to the website which should make it more obvious that these features are already available.
Many people spoke positively on the daily email with comments ranging from "I look forward to seeing the daily emails" to the lovely "Your emails and updates are fab". News and features were also useful and interesting - which makes all the hard work worthwhile.
The last question was which charity should we support.
The results were evenly split: 50.7% for birds with the Wildlife Trusts and 49.2% for plants with Plantlife. So we've done both and will be sharing the many adoptions certificates with you over the coming weeks and gently suggesting you might like to adopt one too!
If you missed the survey you can send us your comments, thoughts and feedback at any time, simply email us and as you can see we really do listen and make changes according to what you've suggested.