The 10 skills Canadian HR managers want the most

A survey has unveiled the 10 skills that Canadian HR managers are seeking in their new employees, and it’s not an expensive education

A new survey has unveiled the top 10 skills Canadian HR managers are seeking in their new employees, and it’s not an expensive education.
 
Online job website Workopolis polled 250 employers and analysed millions of job advertisements to find the top 10 employee attributes HR are seeking.
 
The results show communication skills were rated the highest, followed by writing, customer relations and sales, all of which require communication.
 
In contrast, the survey found only 4% of employers thought that the Canadian workforce lacked sufficient education for the roles being advertised.
 
“It's not more education that candidates need in order to be hired,” the Workopolis report said. “Although Canadians increasingly are adding more education to their resumes, this isn't what employers are looking for.”
 
The rest of the top 10 are organizational skills, Microsoft office, policy analysis, supervisory skills/leadership, problem solving and teamwork.
 
The report said essentially, on-the-job experience, interpersonal skills, and technical abilities were priorities, and soft skills outweigh the technical.
 
Workopolis said those who have communication skills are particularly suited to jobs in healthcare and wellness, 60% of which require communication skills.
 
They are also being keenly sought after by employers in technology and digital media, sales and business development, and marketing industries.
 
Workopolis’ data suggests that 32% of companies plan to increase their staff numbers over the next 12 months, though 68% expect to find it very or somewhat difficult to find the people that they need to hire to fill those roles.
 
Employers said that the top things that employees were lacking were experience (38%), soft skills (29%) and technical skills (23%), rather than education.
 

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