Canadians less optimistic about the economy and their prospects for a raise than last year.
In a year that ended with oil plunging to its lowest levels since 2009, Canadian job seekers are more pessimistic than usual says a survey conducted by Randstad Canada.
According to the year-end Randstad Canada Workmonitor study, when Canadians were asked about the expected economic condition of the nation in 2015, they were split down the middle. Forty-seven per cent predicted a slide backward and 54% believed we'd see an improvement.
In comparison to last year when asked the same questions, respondents were much less fearful about the year to come with 53% believing the economy would improve and only 31% believing it would deteriorate.
"With a New Year comes new opportunities – it is better to plan for the future than dwell in the past," said Tom Turpin, President of Randstad Canada. "We've read this story before, oil slides down and the market retracts, but in a few months the market will have corrected and companies that have been impacted will be hiring again."
As well, Canadians at the end of 2014, were less expectant of a raise than 2013, with 59% believing they'd receive an increase in Q4 2014 opposed to 65% believing the same the year prior. The Conference Board of Canada's annual compensation outlook for 2015 reports that employers expect "moderate" base salary increases this year.
Glass half full for manufacturing and tech workers
While there are some segments that have seen hiring slow, such as the oil and gas industry, others will see an uptick from a lower Canadian dollar and lower cost of fuel.
"I expect this to be a great year for manufacturing and warehousing and logistics. Transport costs will be lower and with the strength of the American dollar, our largest exporting partner, Canadian companies will be hiring to meet demand for new orders," said Turpin.
Randstad Canada expects the roles such as mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, warehouse managers and welders to be a high demand.
Finance's IT security roles are the hardest roles to fill
With companies facing new security dilemmas almost every week, businesses looking to keep their clients' personal information safe are scrambling for IT professionals to secure their networks, manage their clients' identity information and protect both their institutions and customers from fraud.
"One of this year's most in demand skill's in IT will be for business analysts and data analysts in Identity Access Management and Anti-Money Laundering," said Turpin, explaining that changes to legislation that governs the prevention of terrorism funding or digital crypto currencies has placed an added burden on firms.
Identity Access Management jobs or IAM, is the governance and connections of peoples' online personas from email to social media accounts and in many cases their credit or financial information.
"Today with more transactions being completed through digital tools through our debit and credit cards, it is more important than ever that creditors and banks can be sure of who is actually making on an online transaction. IAM professionals connect these dots – that's why these will be some of the hardest roles to fill in 2015," said Turpin.
Roles in mobile and web development will still have the highest demand in volume, with a increased demand for mobile applications than web development.
"We're seeing higher salaries for developers with experience building applications opposed to building websites. More tools are smart tools, moving past a phone or tablet to TVs and refrigerators. Basically, applications are everywhere," said Turpin.
Toronto and Montreal, digital leaders – western Canada had the highest salaries
In 2014, Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec followed by Vancouver, British Columbia were the largest employers of Canadian IT professionals while salaries out of Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, were the highest in the country.
"We will see what happens this year - but from last year's perspective, Calgary was a great city to be an application developer in, in 2014," said Turpin.
