Canadian employers are happy to hire people without the necessary job experience because of the tight labour market, according to a study released by Censuswide on behalf of Indeed on Monday. ."We are quite honestly facing one of the tightest labour markets we've ever had," said Indeed director Michelle Slater. ."There is a definite labour shortage.".Survey results obtained by The Canadian Press revealed experience and education are becoming less important amid labour shortages. .The survey suggested 77% of Canadian employers see value in hiring a candidate based on their soft skills and attitude toward learning rather than job-related knowledge and hard skills. .It said 80% of employers claimed their company would consider hiring applicants without a degree or certificate related to the job and would offer job training to new workers. Employers said they are willing to sacrifice relevant experience because of challenges finding candidates. .The tight labour market is being driven by a strong economic recovery and changing demographics. .Slater said the survey asked employers what they were doing to fill these labour gaps. .It said employers were starting to hire based on skills such as communication, adaptability, and attention to detail rather than hard skills such as technical knowledge or training. .While labour shortages are affecting all industries, the research showed the toughest jobs to find candidates for required digital and information technology skills, project management, engineering, software development, and coding skills. .Slater said the findings are positive for young people coming out of school or starting their first jobs and older workers switching careers. ."It means that individuals who might not have that hard skill on their résumé could still have an opportunity to get the job of their dreams,” she said. .Canadian employers were seeking to fill more than one million vacant positions in March 2022, according to that month's Statistics Canada report on job vacancies, payroll, and earnings..The number of job vacancies across Canada reached a record-high of more than one million in March — more than the previous record of 988,300 in September 2021..Vacancies increased by more than one third in accommodation and food services and retail. Accommodation and food services employers were attempting to fill approximately 158,100 vacancies, and retail employers had 109,200 slots..Record-high immigration is necessary to fill job vacancies in Canada, said Immigration Minister Sean Fraser..“We cannot fill those jobs with a domestic labour force,” said Fraser. .“If we want to maximize our economic potential as a country to pay for all the things we enjoy, we need to bring more people into our workforce.".The survey was conducted online with 1,000 employers across Canada. The Canadian Research Insights Council said online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not use a random sample.
