Expert calls on employers to connect with credential programs providers
Overall, 58% of Canadian employers find it at least somewhat difficult to hire qualified digital marketers.
For those that are hiring, 56% of hiring respondents find it extremely difficult to find and hire digital marketers because they cannot find qualified candidates, finds the Digital Marketing Sector Council.
The problem stems from the fact most of these employers (69%) are basing their hiring preference on whether a candidate has a bachelor’s degree or not, says a spokesperson.
“As a digital marketer, you can't get that really in-depth, technical training in traditional education institutions,” he says, citing the alternative of hands-on training from bootcamp providers like Brain Station, Jelly Academy or Growclass. “Those short micro programs provide more in-depth skills training.”
According to the report titled The Digital Marketing Skills Gap in Canada – based on a survey of 93 respondents, from solopreneurs to large businesses with over 10,000 employees – the top three most important technical skills respondents look for on a resume when hiring for digital marketing roles are:
And the top three most important soft skills respondents look for on a resume when hiring for digital marketing roles are:
The top 3 technical skills found missing on digital marketing candidates’ resumés are:
Meanwhile, the top 3 technical skills most commonly found on digital marketing candidates’ resumés are:
Part of the challenge is that the education students get from the university – particularly in the digital marketing space – loses value as the digital marketing environment evolves, says the spokesperson.
“What's more difficult in digital marketing is maintenance. In university, they don't learn how to optimize the back end of a website for search engine optimization (SEO). They don't learn how to set up retargeting campaigns in Meta ads manager. So these are the practical skills that employers expect, but candidates can't develop those skills in traditional post-secondary education. It's not taught.”
Employers across the world appear to be falling short in upskilling employees, according to a previous ADP report.
The Digital Marketing Sector Council report also notes that employers’ reliance on the traditional education system may be hampering the careers of digital marketing professionals. When asked about what key things respondents look for when promoting someone to the next level, respondents indicate:
When asked what technical skill upgrades they do you look for when considering a digital marketing employee for a promotion, respondents indicate the top three are:
“Unfortunately, only 30% of employers are looking at their digital marketing employee’s cultural competency when considering their promotion,” says Matthew Tsang, co-founder of AndHumanity, in the report.
To address the skills gap, the Digital Marketing Sector Council recommends that employers:
“Do your research on what programs are out there,” says the council spokesperson. “Do your research on what platforms digital marketers use in order to drive success for businesses and find ways in which your current or future hires can access training to best utilize those platforms.”
While there has been a lot of talk about the importance of upskilling, the number of Canadian workers who are actually undergoing training has dropped, though just slightly, according to a previous Statistics Canada (StatCan) report.