Hi, my name is Andres Vargas and I’m a web developer from Yucatan, Mexico. On my road to move abroad, I found the pain of trying to get hired by a Canadian Company. Like Josh mentions in this video, Canadian companies are very conservative when it comes to hiring people from outside the country. That’s painful and it is True. For 2 years I tried to get a job offer to have extra points for my CRS score (as I had less than 400 points) because getting a valid job offer is one way to increase your score and ultimately get permanent residency in Canada.
There was a lot of confusion, especially when trying to find companies that are willing to offer jobs to foreigners.
So I answered that question with Canadian open public data. Inside there is a list of data of all LMIA’s that were approved (an LMIA is a document that a company must get in order to hire a foreign worker – so if I could find companies who had approved LMIA’s, I might have an easier chance in landing a job).
Here my technical skills came in handy, as I extracted, sorted and loaded the public data onto a website so I could analyze it and help in my job search. Here is the report and I go into a summary of my findings below:
Insights on the Most In-demand Occupations in Canada
To find the most in-demand jobs in Canada, I sorted by the most positive (approved) LMIA’s because clearly a lot of Canadian companies were hiring employees in that occupation. Below you will see:
(number of approved LMIA’s) (Occupation name) (NOC Code)
Note: You can learn more about what an NOC code is and how to find yours here.
Most in-demand jobs in Canada in 2020
20,855 General farmworkers (8431)
4,412 Nursery and greenhouse workers (8432)
2,347 Transport truck drivers (7511)
2,002 Fish and seafood plant workers (9463)
1,657 Cooks (6322)
1,411 Labourers in food, beverage, and associated products processing (9617)
1,320 Food service supervisors (6311)
We can see the most in-demand jobs in 2020 are manual workers, so you don’t have to be a professional to get an LMIA!
Most In-Demand jobs by Province in 2020 (minimum 100)
I also wanted to see how different the in-demand jobs were by province, so I sorted the list by province below. Note that I only included jobs that had at least 100 approved LMIA’s.
Alberta
591 Transport truck drivers (7511)
445 General farmworkers (8431)
425 Food service supervisors (6311)
360 Cooks (6322)
217 Nursery and greenhouse workers (8432)
British Columbia
4,746 General farmworkers (8431)
829 Nursery and greenhouse workers (8432)
798 Transport truck drivers (7511)
681 Cooks (6322)
421 Food service supervisors (6311)
Manitoba
358 General farmworkers (8431)
148 Transport truck drivers (7511)
New Brunswick
1,111 Fish and seafood plant workers (9463)
155 General farmworkers (8431)
Nova Scotia
683 General farmworkers (8431)
236 Fish and seafood plant workers (9463)
Ontario
5,600 General farmworkers (8431)
2,408 Nursery and greenhouse workers (8432)
412 Labourers in food, beverage, and associated products processing (9617)
398 Transport truck drivers (7511)
324 Cooks (6322)
Prince Edward Island
525 Fish and seafood plant workers (9463)
208 General farmworkers (8431)
Quebec
8,415 General farmworkers (8431)
887 Nursery and greenhouse workers (8432)
857 Labourers in food, beverage and associated products processing (9617)
612 Landscaping and grounds maintenance laborers (8612)
402 Welders and related machine operators (7237)
Saskatchewan
231 General farmworkers (8431)
If you’re a Tech Worker
If you are a software developer or work in tech, Canadian companies use the Global Talent Stream to sponsor foreign workers – there is a list of all companies who hired tech workers here.
If Your NOC Code isn’t on the list
If you checked the lists above and you didn’t see your NOC code, you can still find out how many companies had approved LMIA’s for your NOC code. Follow these steps:
Step 1: Go to https://lmia.python3.ninja/all/Search_Companies_with_lmias
Step 2: Add your NOC code into the Query parameters section – and the website will return a list of companies and the number of approved LMIA’s for your NOC code!.
Note: to find your NOC code, you can check out our guide here.
Now you have a tool to increase your probability to get hired because you can send your resume to companies that have previously hired foreign workers with your NOC code! I hope you find this information helpful and good luck in your job search.
And if you want more help on finding jobs in Canada and learning about the different immigration programs, sign up for free to the Visto Portal here!
