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2025 Canada Job Market: Marketing and Creative Employment Trends

Salary and hiring trends Workplace Research Research and insights Marketing and creative Article

Learn what jobs are in demand

Access Report Explore our Demand for Skilled Talent report to see what specializations employers need most.
The demand for skilled talent remains high in 2025 among marketing and creative leaders in Canada. At the end of December 2024, Statistics Canada reported an unemployment rate of 1.8 per cent for the profession. Low unemployment among skilled marketing and creative professionals isn’t the only obstacle Canadian companies face. Other challenges include budget constraints, the shift toward AI-powered marketing solutions, and skills gaps. These pressures coincide with rising consumer demand for hyper-personalized experiences. Marketing teams must implement AI strategically and consistently with their companies’ brands, balancing innovation with maintaining authentic, human connections that resonate with their audiences. To meet their marketing and creative hiring goals, Canadian companies must continue finding innovative ways to attract and retain both long-term and short-term talent. Employers should prepare to offer above-average compensation and hire quickly when they find skilled talent. Engaging recruiters to help tap into the pool of passive job seekers could prove more important than ever for marketing jobs.

Top marketing and creative employment trends

A big part of attracting and retaining talent is top-notch corporate culture and branding. Marketing and creative teams across Canada need highly skilled design and production talent to make their brands and products stand out for the first half of 2025. The reality for marketing team leaders? There is a lack of candidates with the years of experience required. According to the 2025 Canada Salary Guide From Robert Half, 90 per cent of marketing and creative managers report challenges hiring skilled talent, primarily in art direction, public relations, corporate communications, UX design, and content, demand generation, product, and social media management. A common tactic that hiring managers use to combat skill shortages, has been to hire entry-and middle-level talent with potential to learn the skills of the job. Although still a viable solution, candidates at this level should be aware that companies are not offering the same robust compensation packages they provided in recent years. In addition, attracting skilled talent is increasingly about how well a company can provide a healthy work/life balance, including being willing to adapt to the desired work styles of high-caliber professionals. According to the 2025 Canada Salary Guide From Robert Half, many of these professionals value flexibility and feel underpaid – and in-demand professionals who feel undervalued or underpaid are quick to seek new opportunities. As more employers implement return-to-office (RTO) policies, companies that can offer adaptable work schedules, including hybrid or fully remote options, are particularly poised to distinguish themselves in the talent market. Learn more about marketing and creative job market trends in the latest Robert Half Canada Salary Guide.  

In-demand marketing jobs

The following positions are in the top 15% of marketing and creative roles in demand for Canada, according to an analysis of thousands of job postings and Robert Half placements: Art director  Content manager  Demand generation manager  Digital marketing manager  Product manager  Public relations/communications specialist  Social media manager  UX designer

2025 Marketing job trends: what managers are looking for

What’s on the horizon for Canadian marketing and creative leaders in the first half of 2025? 49 per cent are hiring for new permanent roles 46 per cent are focused on filling vacated permanent positions 90 per cent report facing challenges in finding skilled talent

Strategic priorities for 2025

In 2025, marketing and creative leaders are setting their sights on the following areas that promise to shape the industry’s future in Canada: Marketing automation Website or mobile applications AI and machine learning SEO and paid search marketing Content marketing  Customer experience

The rise of contract talent

Reflecting a key creative and marketing employment trend, nearly three quarters – 73 per cent – of managers will hire more contract professionals in the first half of 2025. This strategic shift is driven by the need for specific expertise in areas essential to staying competitive in today's fast-paced market. It also provides the flexibility to quickly adjust to market trends and project needs. Contract talent is particularly in demand for crucial marketing positions like brand managers and product marketing managers, along with roles in digital marketing, such as social media marketing and SEO specialists. Additionally, there's a growing emphasis on harnessing skills in marketing automation, highlighting the industry's focus on targeted outreach in the digital era.

About the Demand for Skilled Talent report

The Demand for Skilled Talent report by Robert Half is an authoritative source providing essential insights into 2025's employment trends. This report has offered a deep dive into Canada’s hiring landscape for over a decade, spotlighting challenges and strategies to attract and retain talent in today’s job market. It explores what employees seek in their careers, identifies common recruitment errors and suggests solutions. The report spans sectors like finance, technology, marketing, legal and human resources, proving crucial for business leaders and managers. Data methodology The surveys cited were developed by Robert Half and conducted by an independent research firm. Results may not total 100% due to rounding or allowing for multiple responses. Respondents included executives, hiring managers and workers from small (10-99 employees), midsize (100-999 employees) and large (1,000-plus employees) businesses in private, publicly listed and public sector organizations across Canada. Over 200,000 new positions from more than 5,400 unique job boards/company sites independent job boards and company websites are represented in this report, including 6,000-plus placements from Robert Half. Positions are categorized into more than 350 job titles within Robert Half’s Salary Guide using a proprietary mapping methodology that employs state-of-the-art large language models. This dataset includes roles across the finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal, administrative and customer support, and human resources professions.