{"id":5175,"date":"2016-11-21T18:27:49","date_gmt":"2016-11-21T18:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/"},"modified":"2025-03-31T17:56:34","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T17:56:34","slug":"tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years","status":"publish","type":"rbc_tl","link":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech Talent in Canada: Where we stand out, where we fall short, and where we need to be in 10 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>No wonder talent was one of the hottest topics at Go North, a brainstorming conference for entrepreneurs put on last month by Google and RBC in Toronto. There was a lot of talk about what Canada&#8217;s doing right\u2014producing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) grads that are the envy of the world, for one\u2014and what companies here need to do better. Here are some of the takeaways.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"#GoNorth: Tech Talent in Canada\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3-ceicnsbjI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div class=\"divider\"><\/div>\n<h4><b>What we&#8217;re doing right<\/b><\/h4>\n<h4>Our universities are producing top tech talent<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Canada has a highly educated talent pool, drawn from universities and institutions that produce some of the best technology graduates in the world.<\/li>\n<li>Our schools go beyond offering some of the strongest math programs around: they&#8217;re also teaching students how to apply it\u2014in computer science, in real-world scenarios, and for the benefit of new technology companies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"divider\"><\/div>\n<h4><b>What we need to (continue to) do to succeed<\/b><\/h4>\n<h4>Empower to retain<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Engineers, by nature, thrive on learning. In order to retain top talent, it&#8217;s critical to empower them. Instead of saying \u201cYou need to build this,&#8221; an employer should be saying \u201cHere&#8217;s the problem. Now solve it.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Employers also need to be mindful of overprescribing. Trust your employees with the challenges you&#8217;re giving them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Leverage Canadians&#8217; sense of loyalty<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Canadians have a sense of loyalty.Employees will stick with a company for years, rather than jumping from business to business, as is more common in Silicon Valley.<\/li>\n<li>What this means for entrepreneurs: employees who joined your firm when it was a startup will often ride the wave with you instead of running for the hills (or Valley).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Hire for potential over experience<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Talent is irreplaceable.You&#8217;ve got to find people who really have it. You can teach skills, and let them build experience with you.<\/li>\n<li>Other things to look for? Fit, personality, aptitude, interest, energy and passion.<\/li>\n<li>Look for people who love to solve problems\u2014it doesn&#8217;t matter what kind. What matters: their enthusiasm for digging into a problem and their talent for finding a new solution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Then, hire for experience<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>When you&#8217;re ready to scale up your business, identify people who have experience in larger organizations.<\/li>\n<li>Find people who know how to take a company from a few dozen employees to a few hundred. Look for leaders who can manage product, finance, marketing and operations teams.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Diversify your employee base<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Don&#8217;t hire only people who are like you. Actively look for diversity of background, gender, experience and age.<\/li>\n<li>A diverse set of employees can foster a range of thought and perspective, lead to unique ideas, innovative solutions, and breakthrough experiences.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"divider\"><\/div>\n<h4><b>Where we need some work<\/b><\/h4>\n<h4>Our talent pipeline needs to stay stocked<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>While our post-secondary institutions are doing a bang-up job of producing exceptional talent, Canada could do more to develop early-stage tech skills.<\/li>\n<li>Other countries have integrated a coding curriculum into elementary programs\u2014if Canada wants to compete, we need to introduce technology into the school system earlier, and more effectively.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Face the talent shortage head-on<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>To build a globally competitive company, it&#8217;s critical to bring talent in from around the world. Canada makes up 2% of the global population.That means we can&#8217;t build companies with just Canadians.<\/li>\n<li>While a firm has to compete on salary, it&#8217;s also important to highlight the other benefits of living in Canada: affordable living, work-life balance, employer-employee loyalty, and an incredibly collaborative community that drives a culture of innovation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Other than getting a smart idea to market, there&#8217;s likely no issue that preoccupies tech leaders more than talent: how to attract it, and how to keep it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":4881,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"disable_focal_point":true,"featured_image_focal_point":{"x":0.5,"y":0.5},"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"rbc_tl_category":[122],"rbc_tl_tag":[114,106,103],"class_list":["post-5175","rbc_tl","type-rbc_tl","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rbc_tl_category-skills","rbc_tl_tag-hiring","rbc_tl_tag-talent","rbc_tl_tag-technology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.7 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tech Talent in Canada: Where we stand out, where we fall short, and where we need to be in 10 years - RBC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tech Talent in Canada: Where we stand out, where we fall short, and where we need to be in 10 years\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Other than getting a smart idea to market, there&#039;s likely no issue that preoccupies tech leaders more than talent: how to attract it, and how to keep it.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"RBC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-31T17:56:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/go-north-talent-thumbnail-wide.jpg?quality=80\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1950\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/\",\"name\":\"Tech Talent in Canada: Where we stand out, where we fall short, and where we need to be in 10 years - RBC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/go-north-talent-thumbnail-wide.jpg?quality=80\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-21T18:27:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-31T17:56:34+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/go-north-talent-thumbnail-wide.jpg?quality=80\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/go-north-talent-thumbnail-wide.jpg?quality=80\",\"width\":1950,\"height\":620},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/\",\"name\":\"RBC\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tech Talent in Canada: Where we stand out, where we fall short, and where we need to be in 10 years - RBC","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tech Talent in Canada: Where we stand out, where we fall short, and where we need to be in 10 years","og_description":"Other than getting a smart idea to market, there's likely no issue that preoccupies tech leaders more than talent: how to attract it, and how to keep it.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/","og_site_name":"RBC","article_modified_time":"2025-03-31T17:56:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1950,"height":620,"url":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/go-north-talent-thumbnail-wide.jpg?quality=80","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/","url":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/","name":"Tech Talent in Canada: Where we stand out, where we fall short, and where we need to be in 10 years - RBC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/go-north-talent-thumbnail-wide.jpg?quality=80","datePublished":"2016-11-21T18:27:49+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-31T17:56:34+00:00","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/go-north-talent-thumbnail-wide.jpg?quality=80","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/go-north-talent-thumbnail-wide.jpg?quality=80","width":1950,"height":620},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/","name":"RBC","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Tech Talent in Canada: Where we stand out, where we fall short, and where we need to be in 10 years","url":"http:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/go-north-talent-thumbnail-wide.jpg?quality=80&w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/go-north-talent-thumbnail-wide.jpg?quality=80"},"articleSection":"Uncategorized","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"John Stackhouse"}],"creator":["John Stackhouse"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"RBC","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2016-11-21T18:27:49Z","datePublished":"2016-11-21T18:27:49Z","dateModified":"2025-03-31T17:56:34Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Tech Talent in Canada: Where we stand out, where we fall short, and where we need to be in 10 years\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.rbc.com\\\/en\\\/thought-leadership\\\/skills\\\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.rbc.com\\\/en\\\/thought-leadership\\\/skills\\\/tech-talent-canada-stand-fall-short-need-10-years\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rbc.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/go-north-talent-thumbnail-wide.jpg?quality=80&w=150&h=150&crop=1\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rbc.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/go-north-talent-thumbnail-wide.jpg?quality=80\"},\"articleSection\":\"Uncategorized\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"John Stackhouse\"}],\"creator\":[\"John Stackhouse\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"RBC\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[],\"dateCreated\":\"2016-11-21T18:27:49Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-21T18:27:49Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-31T17:56:34Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/rbc.com\/p.js"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/go-north-talent-thumbnail-wide.jpg?quality=80&w=1024","coauthors":[],"author_meta":{"author_link":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/author\/johnstackhouse\/","display_name":"John Stackhouse"},"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 9 years ago","modified":"Updated 1 year ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on November 21, 2016","modified":"Updated on March 31, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on November 21, 2016 6:27 pm","modified":"Updated on March 31, 2025 5:56 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","tax_additional":{"rbc_tl_category":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/skills\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Skills<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Skills<\/span>"],"slug":"rbc_tl_category","name":"Categories"},"rbc_tl_tag":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/topics\/hiring\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Hiring<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/topics\/talent\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Talent<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/topics\/technology\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Technology<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Hiring<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Talent<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Technology<\/span>"],"slug":"rbc_tl_tag","name":"Tags"}},"series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rbc_tl\/5175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rbc_tl"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rbc_tl"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/209"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rbc_tl\/5175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10298,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rbc_tl\/5175\/revisions\/10298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"rbc_tl_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rbc_tl_category?post=5175"},{"taxonomy":"rbc_tl_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rbc_tl_tag?post=5175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}