What happened
Canadian employers are moving AI proficiency from a nice-to-have to a core hiring requirement, as reported by Talent Canada. A survey by Express Employment Professionals and The Harris Poll found that 80 per cent of hiring managers expect applicants to have at least basic AI skills. More than one-third of hiring decision-makers call AI proficiency very important or absolutely essential.
The survey also shows a gap between what employers expect and what candidates think they expect. Some 53 per cent of hiring managers want intermediate AI capability and 22 per cent want advanced expertise. Only 23 per cent of job seekers believe employers expect advanced or expert skills.
Employers are not asking for clever prompts. The skills they rank highest are awareness of data privacy and security (31 per cent), judging AI output for quality and reliability (30 per cent), understanding algorithmic bias (29 per cent) and explaining AI concepts to others (28 per cent). Candidates, meanwhile, still rank teamwork and work ethic (42 per cent each) well above AI skills (12 per cent) as what matters to getting hired.
Why it matters if you are hiring
If you write job postings the old way, you will attract people who believe a line about "familiarity with AI tools" is enough. Your own managers may expect much more. That mismatch wastes interview time and produces weak shortlists.
The skills named in the survey are about judgment, not tooling. That applies well beyond technical roles. An accounts payable clerk using AI to code invoices, a sales coordinator drafting client emails with it, an operations analyst summarizing reports: each needs to check the output and know what data should never go into a tool.
So decide what level you need for each role. Basic, intermediate and advanced are different hires at different pay. Then say so in the posting and test it in the interview. Ask candidates to review a flawed AI-generated draft and tell you what is wrong with it. The answer shows more than any résumé line.
The survey also confirms that soft skills still count. Accountability, dependability and willingness to learn matter to candidates, and they matter to you. The strongest hire combines them with sound AI judgment.
One thing to do this week
Pick your three most open or most likely roles and write one sentence for each stating the AI skill level required (basic, intermediate or advanced) and one task the person will do with it. Add a short work-sample question to the interview that asks the candidate to find the errors in an AI-written piece of work.
Traverse helps employers across Canada find operations, finance, sales and technical people who bring both sound judgment and the practical AI habits modern teams now expect.