TORONTO - A dream job may not be as elusive as you may think.

Nearly half of Canadians recently surveyed say they're working in their dream jobs, according to a poll by the Bank of Montreal.

Forty-seven per cent say they have found their dream jobs, with two-thirds (65 per cent) saying they look forward to going into the office each day.

The poll, released Wednesday, also showed that 70 per cent of those surveyed say they feel valued at work. Men (51 per cent) were more likely than women (43 per cent) to say they were employed in their dream jobs.

Despite the high level of satisfaction at work, a majority (64 per cent) say they would quit their jobs in a heartbeat if they ever won the lottery. It wasn't a similar case for small business owners, with only 39 per cent saying they would sell their business if they ever hit the jackpot.

The survey, conducted by Pollara, used results from an online sample of 1,005 Canadians between July 12 to 16. The polling industry's professional body, the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.

The survey also found that one's income level didn't have a major effect on work satisfaction.

The poll found that 58 per cent of those surveyed with an annual household income of less than $50,000 say they look forward to going into their jobs each day, compared with 69 per cent among people who made at least $50,000 a year.

Meanwhile, nearly half (46 per cent) of those under the age of 35 say they are living the dream at work.

"We know that satisfied workers are more engaged and more productive and this can directly correlate to improvement in business profitability, customer satisfaction and lower turnover and absenteeism," said Lynn Roger, the chief talent officer at BMO Financial Group.

"But the inverse is also true; thus business owners and business managers need to be much more strategic in their hiring, not only finding employees with the right skills for the job, but also who possess a genuine passion for the vocation itself."

News from © The Canadian Press, 2013