The Canadian tech sector may play an influential role in Canada’s economic recovery once the coronavirus pandemic is over.
Many sectors largely depend on the tech sector for a variety of services including data privacy, cybersecurity, e-commerce, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing.
This was mentioned in a new white paper report published by the Innovation Economy Council.
The report found that while many businesses are struggling during the coronavirus pandemic, tech companies are actually growing, similar to how some businesses thrived during the 2008 recession. This may be because tech companies were able to quickly adapt to the changes, and many employees are able to work remotely.
Due to this, six Canadian tech companies now have positions open for high-skilled talent. Here are some of the companies that are now hiring:
Shopify
A popular e-commerce company with headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario, Shopify’s career page had 73 open jobs in various specialties as of May 11.
In the first quarter of 2020, Shopify saw an increase of 47 per cent, compared to the first quarter of 2019.
Mind Beacon
A company based in Toronto, Ontario, that offers digital mental-health services, Mind Beacon is currently hiring for 14 positions in health-related specialties such as social workers, psychologists and guidance counselors.
According to a media release, Mind Beacon has seen 15 times their regular traffic to its services since physical distancing measures were first put in place.
It is also worth mentioning that the company offers a free service due to the coronavirus for all Canadians, called Stronger Minds.
Dialogue Technologies
This company based in Montreal, Quebec, offers virtual healthcare. This service can be paid for by health insurance. They are currently hiring in various fields such as finance, sales, HR and medical.
Cyclica
Cyclica is a biotechnology company based in Toronto, Ontario, which currently has three open jobs on its careers webpage.
The company helps speed up the development of new drugs using artificial intelligence and computational biophysics.
They recently partnered with another Toronto company, Mannin Research, to help develop treatments for the novel coronavirus.
Tealbook
This company, based in Toronto, offers a database of suppliers so that businesses are able to find the goods and services they need to operate.
Many businesses’ supply chains were affected due to the pandemic, and needed to find new suppliers. Tealbook swiftly decided to offer free reports for the month of April.
They are currently hiring senior developers and a product manager in Toronto, on their careers webpage.
Opentext
Opentext is a company based in Waterloo, Ontario, that develops and sells enterprise information management software.
The company has been helping businesses adapt to the way work has changed since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
They are hiring for a number of different positions, available on their careers page.
How tech workers can apply for immigration?
Even before the coronavirus crisis, Canada’s tech sector has regularly looked abroad to bring in the high-skilled talent they need.
There are a few Canadian immigration streams that exist to address the labour shortages issue in the tech sector as well as other sectors.
- The Global Talent Stream helps Canadian companies find skilled foreign workers, with short work permit processing times, usually 2 weeks.
- The Ontario Tech Pilot targets immigration candidates who have work experience in specific tech-related occupations. Candidates must have an Express Entry profile.
- British Columbia’s Tech Pilot targets immigration candidates who have a job offer in one of 29 tech occupations. The province invites candidates for a provincial nomination for permanent residence almost every week.