TORONTO — A new study shows Canadian employers are willing to hire workers with no job-related experience due to a tight labor market.
Research released today indicates that experience and education – once crucial for many positions – are becoming less important due to labor shortages.
The findings are based on an online survey of 1,000 employers across Canada conducted in May by Censuswide on behalf of Indeed, an employment website for job postings.
The survey found that 77% of Canadian employers see value in hiring a candidate based on their “general” interpersonal skills and attitude toward learning rather than job-related knowledge and skills. specialized”.
It also found that four in five employers said their company would consider hiring candidates who don’t have a job-related degree or certification and instead provide on-the-job training for new workers.
The survey suggests that employers are also willing to sacrifice the need for relevant experience in light of difficulties finding candidates.
“We’re quite frankly facing one of the tightest labor markets we’ve ever had,” said Michelle Slater, director of Indeed. “There is a definite labor shortage.
Canada‘s unemployment rate fell to 5.1% in May, Statistics Canada reported earlier this month.
This is the lowest rate since at least 1976, which is as far back as comparable data goes.
The tight labor market is fueled by a strong pandemic recovery and changing demographics.
“An aging population and a rapidly growing economy means the pool of available skilled workers is quite small,” Slater said. “Employers need to be much more creative.”
The survey of Canadian employers was conducted to find out what employers are doing differently to fill some of the labor shortages, she said.
The survey found that employers are increasingly willing to hire based on skills such as communication, adaptability and attention to detail, rather than so-called hard skills such as technical knowledge or training.
“Canadian employers care more about what the person can bring to the team in terms of attitudes versus the skills they have and bring to the role,” Slater said.
The results are positive not only for young people who are out of school or starting their first job, but also for older workers changing careers, she said.
“That means people who may not have that skill on their CV could still have the opportunity to land their dream job.”
As labor shortages affect all industries, research found that the hardest-to-find jobs for required skills in digital and IT technology, project management, engineering, software development software and coding.
The polling industry trade body, the Canadian Research Council, says online polls cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 20, 2022.
The Canadian Press