Often, it is not enough to have hard skills, or technical skills. Canadian employers want to hire people who also have soft skills.
Soft skills are sometimes called employability skills. They include:
Employers want every employee to have these skills. Someone who has these skills will be able to learn and grow in a job. These people can get along with their co-workers and are a long-term asset for the organization.
Each job type has its own set of skills, called hard skills. Hard skills are the technical skills you need to do a certain job. For example:
Understanding labour market information can help you identify what kind of experience employers want. The labour market is many things, but in brief, the labour market is information about jobs and salaries, industry sectors, profiles of cities and communities, future trends and conditions, statistics.
How your professional qualifications are valued in Canada is very important. It can help you find work in your field. By finding out how your experience is valued, you will know if you need to do any academic upgrading or exams to get the same kind of work in Canada.
You might need to have your academic or professional credentials assessed. In regulated professions or trades, you cannot work in your field unless you have had your credentials and experience evaluated.
After you have assessed your skills, you need to be able to show employers that you have these skills. You can ask someone at a settlement agency or Employment Resource
Centre (ERC) for help with your resume and job search. To find help in your area, call 2-1-1 and talk to a Community Information Centre representative.
