LinkedIn uncovers the most promising jobs in Canada for 2017
Make informed choices when it comes to your career – LinkedIn has pulled data on the most promising jobs of 2017 for those looking to start something new.
There's no better time to reflect on your career than the New Year, but deciding on your next move and how to get there can be daunting. It's no wonder that 73 per cent of all Canadians who make New Year's resolutions eventually break them. If you want your professional goal to be the resolution that sticks this year, it's important to arm yourself with the insights you need to succeed.
To point you in the right direction, we've released our inaugural list of 'The Most Promising Jobs of 2017', which draws on our data from more than 12 million Canadian member profiles to identify the top jobs in Canada for the coming year based on potential for career advancement, job growth and salary. We've also highlighted the top skills associated with each job.
Whether you're seeking greater fulfillment, professional development, a bigger salary or are just ready for a change, here are the top jobs of 2017 to help you start something new this year.
| Job | Median Base Salary | Job Openings | Career Advancement Score (out of 10) | Top Skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Registered Nurse | $80,200 | 1,500+ | 4.0 | Basic Life Support, Patient Safety, Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Critical Care, Healthcare |
| 2. Business Development Manager | $77,000 | 250+ | 8.0 | Sales Management, Account Management, Business Strategy, Negotiation, Marketing |
| 3. Project Manager | $84,000 | 2,000+ | 6.0 | Project Planning, Project Estimation, Contract Management, Value Engineering, Construction Management |
| 4. Marketing Manager | $73,500 | 500+ | 8.0 | Social Media Marketing, Market Research, Advertising, Email Marketing, Brand Management |
| 5. Sales Manager | $77,800 | 1,000+ | 6.0 | Negotiation, Account Management, Sales, B2B, Sales Operations, Business Development |
| 6. Financial Analyst | $64,000 | 300+ | 9.0 | Accounting, Microsoft Excel, Financial Modeling, Variance Analysis, Forecasting |
| 7. Tax Manager | $91,000 | 100+ | 8.0 | Corporate Tax, Tax Research, Tax Accounting, International Tax, Tax Advisory |
| 8. Business Analyst | $70,000 | 500+ | 8.0 | Requirements Analysis, Business Requirements, Software Development Life Cycle, User Acceptance Testing, Visio |
| 9. Pharmacist | $100,000 | 300+ | 4.0 | Medication Therapy Management, Community Pharmacy, Patient Counselling, Pharmacy Automation, Clinical Pharmacy |
| 10. Inside Sales Representative | $49,100 | 300+ | 10.0 | Account Management, Sales, Salesforce.com, Customer Services, Sales Management |
| 11. Product Manager | $82,000 | 150+ | 8.0 | Product Management, Product Marketing, Product Development, Product Launch, Competitive Analysis |
| 12. Frontend Developer | $60,000 | 300+ | 8.0 | CSS, jQuery, HMTL5, JavaScript, SASS |
| 13. Solutions Architect | $100,000 | 150+ | 6.0 | Solutions Architecture, Enterprise Architecture, Service-oriented Architecture (SoA), Integration, Cloud Computing |
| 14. Software Engineer | $73,000 | 500+ | 5.0 | JavaScript, C++, SQL, HTML, Linux |
| 15. Financial Manager | $84,000 | 100+ | 8.0 | Financial Reporting, Financial Analysis, Accounting, Managerial Finance, Internal controls |
| 16. Quality Assurance Analyst | $59,300 | 200+ | 8.0 | Requirement Analysis, Requirement Gathering, Visio, Software Development Life Cycle, Software Documentation |
| 17. System Engineer | $86,500 | 100+ | 6.0 | Windows Server, VMware, Active Directory, Virtualization, Linux |
| 18. Human Resources Business Partner | $80,000 | 50+ | 10.0 | Performance Management, Employee Relations, Employee Engagement, Recruiting, HR Policies |
| 19. Business System Analyst | $75,000 | 100+ | 8.0 | Business Requirements, Requirement Gathering, Business Requirements, Visio, User Acceptance Testing |
| 20. Financial Services Manager | $52,000 | 100+ | 10.0 | Financial Analysis, Financial Services, Banking, Finance, Financial Reporting, Risk Management |
While this list is mostly made up of jobs in finance, technology, marketing and healthcare, it's just a snapshot of the possibilities which await you – There are millions of open jobs across a variety of industries to explore on LinkedIn.
If you're thinking about starting a new career in 2017, take these four steps to prepare yourself:
- Update your LinkedIn profile. Nine out of 10 company recruiters use LinkedIn. So should you. The more complete your LinkedIn profile is, the more you'll be noticed by recruiters who are looking for talent. Make sure you have an updated profile picture, job experience, education and industry information and you'll be one step closer to a promising new position.
- Consider a new industry or role. Often, a shift in the role or industry you're working in results in a higher salary or more promising path to promotion. You can also explore how a promotion or industry change can affect your salary by using LinkedIn Salary.
- Learn a new skill. Take some time to explore new career paths you may be interested in and the skills associated with them. It may even be time to learn something new with LinkedIn Learning.
- Start your search. Start browsing for jobs on LinkedIn. Explore company pages and open job listings to find the perfect job for you.
This could be the start of a promising new career.
#StartSomething
Methodology
Job rankings were based on a weighted score across 5 areas: salary, career advancement, number of job openings in Canada, year-over-year growth in job openings, and widespread regional availability. We looked at data from member profiles, job openings and salaries to rank the best jobs for career opportunity. If the scores were tied, we ranked the title with the most open job listings higher.
About the measures and weights for each area:
- Salary (30%) - The median base annual salary for all job titles that have at least 40 entries collected in LinkedIn Salary in Canada.
- Promotion Potential (25%) - Titles most likely to advance within an organization, based on the percentage of members employed at the end of 2015 who then started a new position at the same company during 2016.
- Job openings (20%) - The raw number of current job openings for each job title.
- Job growth (15%) - The year-over-year growth in job postings for each job title from 2015 to 2016, based on the percentage change in average daily openings. We only considered roles that had growth YoY.
- Regional availability (10%) - The number of regions currently hiring for each job title.
- Top Skills (not weighted) - Skills which are most probable to be listed on a profile with that job title as compared to other titles.