Only Half of the Top 10 Companies Hiring Tech Talent in Canada are Homegrown

The demand for tech talent in Canada will only increase over the next few years, but where will those workers end up?

Indeed has released new data that shows what companies are hiring the most tech talent in Canada over the second half of 2017. Tech and finance giants seem to need the most new hires, which makes sense as they are typically the companies with the most employees in the country regardless of sector.

Coming in at the top of the list is Amazon, who had two per cent of all the tech-related job postings in Canada.

There were eight other companies who all garnered one per cent of tech-related job postings in Canada: CGI Group, RBC, IBM, Fortinet, TD Bank, Scotiabank, COFOMO INC., and SAP.

Finally, Morgan Stanley garnered 0.5 per cent of all tech-related job posts.

Only half of the 10 companies on the list are headquartered in Canada: CGI Group, RBC, TD Bank, Scotiabank, and COFOMO. Three of those are among the largest financial institutions in the country, while the other three are large IT companies. The three banks are headquartered in Toronto, while COFOMO and CGI are based in Montreal.

“As every industry is being disrupted by digital innovation, virtually every company is becoming a technology company and seeking tech talent,” said Jodi Kasten, managing director at Indeed Canada. “Our list of the companies hiring the most tech talent highlights the significant demand for tech experts in Canada—and where that demand is coming from.”

The report comes with both excitement and trepidation for the Canadian tech sector. While it is great to see five Canadian companies among the top searchers of tech talent, three are financial institutions that have existed in the country for a long time, it would be great to see newer companies and true tech organizations crack the list.

On the other hand, having several U.S. and international companies crack the list means that these companies see Canada as a real source of tech talent and are expanding accordingly. Another report from Indeed that came out in October 2017 found that technology workers in the U.S. are more likely than a typical job seeker to look for work in Canada, which means more workers—and their companies—see Canada as a place for growth and innovation.

The 2018 MaRS Talent Fuels Tech report found that half of those currently working in the tech sector are actively looking for another job, which again is a tale of two stats. On one hand, talent switching roles means a deeper pool for potential hires for both homegrown and international companies; on the other hand, it means many workers are unhappy with their current role, which is often one with a SME rather than a behemoth like Amazon and IBM.

Finally, if three studies weren’t enough to paint the picture, a PwC report from earlier this month found that Canadian CEOs ranked among the top when it came to confidence in homegrown tech talent. Confidence and execution are two different things, but when executives truly believe their employees can rise above an international pool, it could result in larger Canadian companies coming out of the woodwork and topping this Indeed list down the line.