5 creative ways to think about sourcing talent for your hard-to-fill roles.

While the labour market has changed quite dramatically in the past year or so, certain jobs and skills are still in high demand, which creates hard-to-fill roles. Whether the difficulty comes with recruiting or retention, the fact of the matter is that you have some jobs which, if critical for your organization, you need to pay special attention to. With employers continuing to demand more time in the office versus the employees’ continuing call for flexibility and hybrid work, the relationship and expectations between employee and employer continue to be in flux and differentiated.

Keeping abreast of the latest in compensation, total rewards, and employee experience offerings is a necessity nowadays. With the latest data, you’re better able to craft an employee value proposition that allows you to find and keep job-engaged employees.

State of the labour market in Canada

Despite continued stints of market volatility, economic indicators continue to show signs of easing as we head into the Fall. In early August, the economic data coming out of the US indicated that the economy was slowing down at a faster pace than anticipated. Non-farm payrolls for July were lower than expected, which led to a sell-off in the stock market due to concerns of a potential recession.

The slowdown is also being felt in Canada, with the unemployment rate ticking higher in August, up to 6.6% from 6.4% in July. Job creation is also struggling to keep up with population growth.

With this backdrop of slowing economic growth, we continue to see the path forward towards normalization in inflation, here in Canada and across developed economies, and a long-awaited normalization sign is central bank policies, and here at home, we can see that the Bank of Canada has now firmly embarked on its easing cycle.

In Canada, inflation has cooled and is now well within the Bank of Canada’s preferred range, with the latest total CPI reading coming in at 2.5% in July and 2.0% in August. While the housing market remains a challeng, inflation has moderated in some areas, with slower year on year increases in food prices, gas price and clothing.

Housing costs are still up 5.7% year on year, with items such as rents and mortgage interest payments still up sharply year over year. And Housing affordability continues to be a key challenge for Canadians and will likely continue to dominate public policy discussions in the months to come.

But what does that mean looking forward?

While the future is uncertain, One thing is clear, the economic environment is starting to look much different from the past few years of the COVID era, where we had elevated inflation and a tight labour market. There seems to be trend back to normality.

Hot jobs in Canada

Organizations can attract more talent, retain current talent, and increase employee satisfaction by building workforce strategies based on the latest insights. Data from current surveys can tell employers what employees are looking for in jobs, development opportunities, rewards, and general company characteristics. Surveys can also provide an organization with insights into the compensation offered by its competitors so that the company can get the most out of its salary spend.

What jobs and skills are in demand now?

By mining Mercer’s Skills database, we found that the jobs in high demand in Canada include a variety of customer-facing roles, including cashiers, customer relationship representatives, receptionists, general customer service, and retail sales. Administrative assistants, office cash control, airline passenger/services sales, and variety of jobs involved in shipping and warehousing round out the jobs in high demand. As you can see, many are hourly positions rather than salaried.

When we look at year over year pay movement for same incumbents as a proxy for which jobs are “hot,” it should be noted that year over year growth has slowed dramatically. There has been a 48% decrease in the number of jobs that even saw over an increase of 5% year over year for the same incumbent. This tells us that employers are not adjusting pay much beyond what they deliver during the annual increase process. That holds true based on the findings from our most recent Compensation Planning Survey.

The jobs with incumbents who did receive higher year over year increases are across a variety of job families, ranging from IT application development to general customer service to compensation professionals.

Note: Common organizations, common jobs, common incumbents across 2023 and 2024 CA MBD/TRS. Jobs with fewer than 10 distinct organizations and 100 incumbents in the sample were excluded.

Industries with heavy front-line workers continue to deliver higher increases as well. Customer Service & Contact Center Operations, Human Resources, and Supply Chain had the greatest year over year base salary change out of the top 10 most populated job families. However, all job families saw smaller increases than were seen from 2022 to 2023.

Due to the high demand for employees to fill these jobs, organizations should consider their level of total rewards and what makes them competitive. Although it’s not all about the money, it’s still critical to be competitive, especially when roles are hard to fill.

Organizations are concerned about more than just filling roles. As organizations move toward workforce and staffing models that are more agile, many are seeking particular skills to meet specific needs to drive their success.

In Canada, the hottest skills that organizations are seeking seem to correspond mostly with some of the jobs in highest demand. They include (not in order of demand):

• Bookkeeping, Accounts Payable, Ledgers
• Merchandising, Selling Techniques, Retail Sales
• Office Procedures, Office Supply Management
• Project Management
• Data Entry
• Proofreading

Hard skills, such as accounts payable and office supply management, can be taught to someone hired without those skills or to current employees. It is often more difficult to fill roles that require soft skills, such as troubleshooting and selling techniques, as these skills are often more challenging to teach. It is usually more effective to find someone who already has those skills and then provide resources for developing their skills further.

It is often hard to assess whether someone has good soft skills based on a resume or a half-hour interview. It’s likely you have a better idea of who possesses those soft skills within your own team. This is just one of the reasons it’s time to approach filling hot jobs in a different way.

5 ways to secure talent for your high-demand jobs in 2025

Use these five tips to keep a pipeline of talent for your high-demand jobs that require the hottest job skills.

1. Leverage your internal labour market

Did you know that you have a highly trained talent pool at your fingertips?

Your current labour force is your greatest asset for filling in-demand jobs as well as developing a pipeline of talented employees to fill roles in the future. Rather than compete against other organizations for those roles, plan to train current employees who can fill the role and are looking for their next career step. You can build the talent you need through mentorships, training programs, and upskilling. As an added benefit, think about the valuable institutional knowledge that you can leverage and retain by training and promoting from your own labour market.

If you plan your talent movement right, you’ll line up someone else from your company to backfill the open position. In this way, the remaining open role will be in a field that is less in demand, giving you more talent options and fewer competing organizations.

Succession planning used to focus on leadership roles, but many companies have found that succession planning throughout the organization and understanding the skills needed allow them to better leverage their internal labour market.

2. Explore new recruiting sources

Money.com listed ZipRecruiter, Indeed, LinkedIn, and Glassdoor as the top job search sites. This means that when using these sites you’ll have the greatest competition and must build a more compelling job posting to even catch the eye of prospective candidates.

If you are tired of attracting the wrong applicants or good employees overlooking your job listings? It might be time to consider alternative recruiting sources. For example, attending college job fairs and partnering with trade schools allows you to connect directly with eager talent just entering the workforce. Another alternative could be to partner with local employers to support career changers: provide networking, learning events, and job boards to share opportunities reciprocally. In an age where employees are seeking employers who truly care for their well-being, what could be better than helping them find their next job when they are ready?

3. Optimize your employee value proposition

Your employee value proposition (EVP) summarizes what you offer employees — from compensation and benefits to flex working and charitable contributions — and hopefully aligns with what they want.

In the fall of 2023, Mercer surveyed more than 2,000 employees working for organizations with more than 250 employees in Canada. Although some concerns employees cited remained consistent, others changed from prior years. What are the top concerns your employees have?

Financial matters have been among top concerns for the past three years and include covering monthly expenses, ability to retire, and personal debt.

Burnout and health remains a top concern, with workload/life balance and mental/emotional health remaining in the top 5, joined by physical health and fitness.

By understanding these employee concerns, you can make adjustments to your EVP that will be important to your teams.

Additionally, consider how you communicate your EVP not only in the wording and content, but also in the channels and frequency with which you reach your employees and prospects. The best offerings are useless if the employees and prospects aren’t aware they are available.

A simple example of where a communication strategy takes on some complexity is when you have a mix of office workers and employees on a manufacturing floor. The office workers are regularly on the computer and can access things like emails and the company intranet site. The latter group might not even look at email during a regular work week and may instead rely on in-person communication from team leaders. How will you make sure that your employees are aware of your EVP?

4. Use incentives where it makes sense

Offering a sign-on bonus can give you an advantage when a candidate is considering multiple offers. But, how much do you offer? Look for surveys as well as real-time data from job postings to find out the appropriate amount to secure the competitive position that you want.

Retention bonuses can typically provide an incentive for employees to stay for a prescribed period of time in order to receive the payout. By ensuring that key employees are retained, you will be able to leverage their expertise, perhaps identify new opportunities and ways to leverage their institutional knowledge, or just keep things running while you seek a replacement. Again, understanding the right amount to balance budgetary concerns but making the payment enticing is key to a successful retention bonus program.

5. Encourage more referrals

Referrals are a valuable source of talent because you don’t need to invest in recruiting. You also have a connection with someone who can personally vouch for the potential employee.

To increase the number of referrals, consider implementing a referral bonus or increasing your existing one to determine which employees have friends in the job market or know passive talent who may want to join your team.

A few more things to consider...

Since we’re all looking for new ways to increase our competitive advantage, we employed the use of generative AI by asking for a few more creative strategies to attract talent for hard-to-fill roles.

Offer flexible work arrangements. In today's workforce, flexibility is highly valued. Consider offering flexible work hours, remote work options, or compressed work weeks. This can be particularly appealing to candidates who value work-life balance or have specific scheduling needs.

Provide professional development opportunities. Highlight opportunities for growth and development within the company. Offer training programs, mentorship initiatives, or tuition reimbursement to attract candidates who are looking to enhance their skills and advance their careers.

Showcase company culture through video content. Create engaging video content that showcases your company culture, work environment, and employee experiences. This can give candidates a glimpse into what it's like to work at your organization and can help them envision themselves as part of the team.

Team up with educational institutions like universities, colleges, or vocational schools to establish internship programs, co-op opportunities, or apprenticeships. This allows you to tap into a pool of talented students or recent graduates who may be interested in gaining practical experience in their field.

Think outside the box and offer unique perks or incentives that set your company apart. This could include wellness programs, on-site childcare, pet-friendly policies, or even sabbatical programs. Tailor these offerings to align with the interests and needs of your target candidates.

Participate in online communities, forums, and social media groups that are relevant to the industry or role of the open position. Engage in discussions, share valuable insights, and establish your company as a thought leader. This can help attract the attention of passive candidates who are already interested in the field.

Need a push in the right direction?

In a complex labour market, there are so many levers you can pull to improve your chances of finding and keeping the talent you need. Whether revamping your EVP or setting up a way to mine internal talent, Mercer has tools, insights, and experts to help. From providing data specific to your industry or location to developing a multifaceted communication strategy, we have a solution that is right for you.

Call us at 855-286-5302 or email us at surveys@mercer.com to learn more about our workforce surveys.