Incoming: New Grads With Canada’s Most In-Demand Skills
The sun is out, the weather is warm, and graduation season is upon us. Digital and innovation-focused talent is hard to hire these days, but luckily there will be thousands of extremely talented people graduating from Canada’s top programs. Wondering what those are? Check out our lists below for the top program graduates to look out for.
It’s no surprise that digital talent is in high demand. In fact, new digital-focused roles are emerging every year, expanding the breadth and depth of skills businesses need.
And we know - it’s been tough hiring! Canada has been experiencing record high employment rates and the overall demand from employers has outpaced the supply of candidates. The result has been intense competition amongst brands, long hiring times and productivity bottlenecks.
That’s why we’ve created a power-list of the top institutions and programs that produce amazing graduates who can swoop in to save the day. We’ve helped businesses hire hundreds of people for these disciplines, and the graduates from these programs have consistently made it to hiring shortlists. Both new schools and big name universities have been introducing new, highly specialized programs in digital fields - and we love it! Our own Ari Aronson has been an advisory member for Sheridan College’s Interaction Design Program for over 8 years and has hosted multiple networking events connecting employers to new grads and talent. We’ve seen first hand just how incredible the grads from these innovative programs are.
So check out the list below! We’ve also included job portal links so you can easily post your open positions at the institution websites that allow it.
Jump to a discipline:
UX & Design Thinking
Digital Marketing
Product Management
Data Science & Analytics
Creative Design
UX & Design Thinking
The digital experience is becoming the experience for most brands. Graduates from these programs have learned how to create human-centric designs that help differentiate brands and increase the ROI from customer interactions.
Sheridan College Job Portal - Bachelor of Interactive Design Program
University of Toronto Job Portal - UX Design Certificate
OCAD University Job Portal - UX Design Certificate | Master of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation
Simon Fraser University Job Portal - Honours BA/BSc in Interactive Arts & Technology
University of Waterloo Job Portal - Master of Digital Experience Innovation (MDEI)
Concordia University Job Portal - UX Certificate
Digital Marketing
Media, SEO, social, content, analytics, and ecommerce - these skills have become critical to every business, and many seasoned marketers are still trying to pick them up. In these programs, students have learned both a breadth and depth of skills to help brands optimize and prioritize their digital marketing strategy.
University of Toronto Job Portal - Digital Marketing Management Certificate | e-Commerce and Online Business Management Certificate
York University Job Portal - Digital Marketing Certificate | Digital and Content Marketing Certificate
McMaster University Job Portal - Digital Marketing Certificate
Sheridan College Job Portal - Digital Marketing Certificate
Centennial College Job Portal - Digital Marketing | Marketing, Digital Engagement Strategy
George Brown College Job Portal - Digital Marketing
Humber College Job Portal - Digital Business Management | Advertising Media Management
Cumberland College - Digital Marketing Diploma Program
Product Management
The demand for product management talent continues to soar as brands seek agile critical-thinkers to accelerate product releases and enhancements. Luckily, these new grads are here to help! These experts have learned to leverage technology and UX design to launch new products and deliver frictionless experiences.
York University Job Portal - Product Management Certificate
University of Alberta Job Portal - Software Product Management Program
Queen University Job Portal - Master of Digital Product Management
University of Toronto Job Portal - Product Management and Ownership
Centennial College Job Portal - Product Design and Development Program
Sheridan College Job Portal - Digital Product Design
Data Science & Analytics
Businesses have more data than ever before, but still struggle to extract insights and business direction from this data on an ongoing basis. The brilliant minds from these programs have helped businesses tackle digital transformation, overcome ongoing disruption, and create the foundations needed for more data-driven decision making.
McGill University Job Portal - BSc, Statistics and Computer Science | MSc Data Science
University of Waterloo Job Portal - Master of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
Western University Job Portal - Master in Data Analytics
Ryerson University Job Portal - MSc in Data Science and Analytics
University of Alberta Job Portal - MSc in Statistical Machine Learning
University of Toronto Job Portal - BSc in Data Science | BSc (Statistics) in Machine Learning and Data Mining | MSc in Applied Computing, Data Science
University of British Columbia Job Portal - BSc Data Science | MSc Data Science
Creative Design
From ideation to creation and experience analysis - the need for design talent and work seems endless these days. These grads have had amazing success in this field and can apply analytical, creative, and UX skills to a wide variety of design projects.
OCAD University Job Portal - Bachelors of Design, Graphic Design
University of Fraser Valley Job Portal - Graphic and Digital Design Program
George Brown College Job Portal - Graphic Design Program | Interaction Design Program | Digital Experience Design Program
British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) Job Portal - Digital Design and Development Program
Toronto Film School - Graphic Design & Interactive Media Program
Sheridan College Job Portal - Bachelors of Design
Northern Alberta Institute of Technology Job Portal - Digital Communications Program
Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) University - Interdisciplinary Design
Emily Carr University Job Portal - Communication Design | Interaction Design
McGill University Job Portal - Graphic Design
Concordia University Job Portal - Graphic Design
Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Job Portal - Bachelor of Graphic Design
Our take
Many of the current in-demand skills and roles didn’t even exist 10 years ago. That’s why the gap between (1) what businesses need today and (2) the talent pool size of people with multiple years of experience has become huge. There are also widening skill gaps amongst senior roles, with leaders being required to spearhead strategy in disciplines that have only recently emerged. That’s why we love the programs listed above. They have been designed to develop experts and leaders who can bring those future ready skills to the table - either to fulfill new roles or bridge increasing skill gaps.
Our advice? Don’t to wait until you needed that hire yesterday.
We work everyday with dozens of businesses trying to hire talent from each of these disciplines. The reality? It’s become a candidate’s market. Demand is up, salaries are increasing, and candidates have more options than employers do. So start your search early and consider hiring graduate talent. Oftentimes hiring new grads can be more affordable for businesses. It can even result in higher retention rates given the opportunity for growth graduate-level positions have, increasing ROI in the form of mitigated turnover costs.
So what are you waiting for? Go hire those graduates!
If you’d like to accelerate and improve your hiring, don’t hesitate to reach out. Our team at Ari Agency & Ari Executive have spent over a decade helping companies build future-ready teams and leaders. We specialize in the most in-demand talent across digital, marketing, and innovation-focused functions including executive leaders. We’re always happy to chat and see how we can help you find your next all-star.
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