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What do Canadian Employers want?

Often, it is not enough to have hard skills, or technical skills. Canadian employers want to hire people who also have soft skills.

Soft Skills

Soft skills are sometimes called employability skills. They include:

Communication
Problem solving
Positive attitudes and behaviours
Adaptability
Working with others

Employers want every employee to have these skills. Someone who has these skills will be able to learn and grow in a job. These people can get along with their co-workers and are a long-term asset for the organization. Find out what employers across Canada had to say on having the right attitude at work from Diversity Canada's article on what employers are looking for.

Hard Skills or Technical Skills

Each job type has its own set of skills, called hard skills. Hard skills are the technical skills you need to do a certain job. For example:

Using computer programs
Measuring and calculating
Analyzing data
Speaking a language
Operating a machine

Experience

Understanding labour market information can help you identify what kind of experience employers want. The labour market is many things, but in brief, the labour market is information about jobs and salaries, industry sectors, profiles of cities and communities, future trends and conditions, statistics.

How your professional qualifications are valued in Canada is very important. It can help you find work in your field. By finding out how your experience is valued, you will know if you need to do any academic upgrading or exams to get the same kind of work in Canada.

You might need to have your academic or professional credentials assessed. In regulated professions or trades, you cannot work in your field unless you have had your credentials and experience evaluated.

After you have assessed your skills, you need to be able to show employers that you have these skills. You can ask someone at a settlement agency or Employment Resource

Centre (ERC) for help with your resume and job search. To find help in your area, call 2-1-1 and talk to a Community Information Centre representative.

Dressing for Success

How you dress and present on the day of the interview can affect the outcome of your success in getting that job. Canadian employers still expect candidates to dress properly to make a good first impression. Employers expect to see candidates follow three main goals when it comes to how they present, they expect a: clean, appropriate and neat appearance.

You can find out more about how we dress for an interview and tips on what employers across Canada had to say in Diversity Canada's "What Employers Say" tip sheet.

For More Information

Employment Ontario - Find Services in Your Area - You can search for different kinds of employment services in Ontario. From Employment Ontario.
23 Tips for How To Keep Your Job - Tips and explains the benefits of staying with your current employer from Employment Connections North Corp.