Talent Wanted: Industry Signals the End of the Hiring Freeze

Working remotely for the past 18 months has come with a full slate of operational challenges. Thankfully, sharp pivots and doubled down commitment and investment towards accommodating the “new normal” have paid off. By all accounts, the industry appears to be getting itself out of the woods.  

Next week’s Remote Talent in a Connected World event will unpack the latest trends on recruiting and retaining top talent as well best practices in developing culture in a long-term remote working scenario.  

IAB Canada’s latest Talent barometer survey revealed that our members are optimistic for the future with over 65% of respondents indicating that they will be looking to hire this year. We reached out to Jeff Lancaster, North America Agency Lead at LinkedIn, to better understand what trends LinkedIn is seeing specific to where these new jobs could be coming from.  

IAB Canada – As found in our Barometer report, are you seeing more activity with employers looking to hire talent?  

Jeff – LinkedIn’s 2021 Top Companies in Canada list is out, ranking the 25 best workplaces in the country. These companies are ones that scored well on metrics tied to an individual’s ability to advance their current skills, opportunities to gain skills as well as other criteria detailed here. To the barometer findings, most of them are currently hiring, and here’s what they told me about their plans: 

  • Desjardins is planning to expand its IT and project management workforce in Quebec over the next year, especially in Montreal and Lévis, and is also hiring for roles in Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver. 
  • Scotiabank says it changed the wording for “job requirements” in some of its job postings, instead indicating which skills would be valuable for a role. The firm uses assessments in various recruitment processes, to avoid reliance on resumes or background. 

IAB Canada – Looking forward, what do you think the future of work in Canada could be? Can talent come from anywhere or will we go back to talent being centralized to 2-3 major markets? 

Jeff – While many of these Top Companies reduced their headcount over the pandemic in a challenging economy, some areas have seen more robust hiring than others over the past year. 

  • In absolute terms, these Top Companies hired the most net-new employees in Ontario, while hiring growth across the province slowed down; 
  • New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island saw small setbacks in their share of hiring among Canada’s Top Companies, compared to the previous year; 
  • Meanwhile, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Alberta – compared to their pre-pandemic hiring levels, fared better, growing their share of these companies’ new hires in Canada.  

When it comes cities: 

  • The Greater Toronto Area saw a declining share of new hires this year, as did the metropolitan areas around Calgary, Victoria, Quebec City and Moncton. 
  • Compared to areas in and around Montreal, Kingston, Ottawa, Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Edmonton, Vancouver, Montreal, Halifax and Winnipeg, which fared relatively better. 

IAB Canada – Great insights, thank you Jeff!  

To learn more about the implications on the future of the digital marketing workforce, join us on Tuesday May 11th and Wednesday May 12th, from 1pm to 3pm EST, as we dive deeper into the latest LinkedIn research, Talent Sourcing trends and challenges, the future of work and more during our Remote Talent in a Connected World event. Tickets are free for IAB Canada members and you can register here!