Jobs related to e-commerce, online infrastructure and cybersecurity are among the highest in demand, recruitment agencies say, with hiring remaining robust even as a recession looms.
A study of five years of data on LinkedIn found that e-commerce jobs such as growth marketing managers and product operations managers are projected to be some of the most in-demand roles for 2023. Both of those roles accommodated remote work in more than 40 per cent of instances.
Other positions in need include dispensary technicians for the cannabis industry, technical program managers and user experience writers.
Jessy Bains, LinkedIn news editor, said jobs related to technology, such as security engineers and e-commerce co-ordinators, remain highly demanded despite high-profile layoffs in the sector.
“When we hear about layoffs, we often see other tech companies swoop in and hire laid-off employees,” said Mr. Bains in an e-mail.
“While we are seeing signs of an economic slowdown, it’s still a historically strong labour market in Canada, with near record low unemployment rates and hiring remaining steady. Shortages [of employees] appear to be broad-based across many industries.”
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Marie-Pier Bédard, executive vice-president at recruitment firm Randstad Canada, said her company’s own analysis on 2022 trends similarly found that jobs related to e-commerce and facilitating digital work were in high demand after people’s work and shopping habits changed during the pandemic.
Some of the needed jobs extended into operations roles such as warehouse workers and drivers, she said.
She added that many job openings these days don’t require a lengthy education, and workers can transition into new roles through shorter certificate programs.
“A couple of years ago to have a good job you needed to have a degree, which is not the case anymore,” said Ms. Bédard. “For some of these positions, you can just go back to school for a couple of months and have access to a very different career path.”
Companies are also more open to considering experience from different backgrounds that can translate into new roles, she said.
In Randstad’s own report, developers in tech were touted as the most in-demand workers for 2023. Human-resource managers were next on the list, as companies learned to deal with remote and hybrid work forces.
Sandra Lavoy, regional director at Robert Half, another global human-resource firm, said employers still face a highly competitive labour market, in which workers are prioritizing salaries, benefits and work-life balance through flexible hours.
The option to work remotely also remains one of the biggest draws for workers, she said.
“A lot of people since they started working remote gave up daycare, gave up bus passes, and they saved a lot of money through it. They don’t want to pay for those things anymore,” said Ms. Lavoy. “That’s really important for employers today to be able to capture the best candidates on the market.”
Note: For jobs with a salary range listed as “N/A,” there was insufficient data for the associated role.
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Salmaan Farooqui