The pandemic has changed what organizations are looking for – with HR leading the charge
Canadian employers are now shifting their ‘wish list’ for future employees amid a tight labour market, a new study has revealed. An online survey by Censuswide, on behalf of LinkedIn, revealed that more employers are willing to hire employees based on "soft" skills instead of "hard" ones.
"Soft skills" refer to an applicant's interpersonal skills and attitude toward learning - and 77% of the study's respondents said they are willing to hire a candidate based on this. According to the survey, employers are willing to hire based on communication, adaptability, and attention to detail.
"Canadian employers care more deeply about what the person can contribute to the team in terms of their attitudes versus what skills they have that they're bringing into the role," said Indeed director Michelle Slater as quoted by The Canadian Press.
"Hard" skills, on the other hand, refer to abilities or capabilities that an applicant has mastery or expertise over, suggesting that education and experience might be getting less popular as a qualification among employers.
Read more: 6 soft skills needed in the workplace
This sacrifice of selecting new staff based on soft skills instead of hard skills may be attributed to the tight labour market in Canada, according to Slater.
"We are quite honestly facing one of the tightest labour markets we've ever had," said Slater in a statement. "There is a definite labour shortage."
This labour shortage may be driven by the country's recovery from the pandemic, with the unemployment rate hitting record-low at 5.1%, and an evolving demographic.
"An aging population and rapidly growing economy has meant the pool of skilled workers that's available is pretty low," said Slater. "Employers are having to be much more creative."
This is also why older workers switching careers, aside from first-time jobseekers, might find the shift in qualifications an improvement, according to Slater.
"It means that individuals who might not have that hard skill on their resume could still have an opportunity to get the job of the dreams," she said.
The online survey sought the responses of 1,000 employers across May, with the Canadian Research Insights Council saying it will not have a margin of error because it did not randomly sample the population.