Which AI skills do recruiters want in Canadian job candidates?

Canadian employers increasingly expect job applicants to arrive with AI skills, according to a survey released by Express Employment Professionals, while separate research from CDW Canada finds daily use of workplace-approved AI tools has nearly doubled over the past year.

The Express survey found that 80 per cent of Canadian hiring managers look for at least basic AI skills in candidates, and 34 per cent consider AI proficiency very important or absolutely essential when evaluating applicants.

More than half (53 per cent) said they expect candidates to have at least an intermediate level of AI skills, and 22 per cent said they are looking for advanced or expert skills.

Job seekers, for their part, say they are prepared: 88 per cent said they have the AI skills employers want, though only 23 per cent believe companies expect advanced or expert capabilities, found the survey from May 19 to June 8, 2026, among 508 Canadian adults who were employed but looking for a new job, or not employed and looking for work.

What employers mean by AI-ready

Hiring managers surveyed identified specific AI-related capabilities they look for in applicants, found the survey from May 15 to June 1, 2026, among 508 Canadian hiring decision-makers. The most frequently cited was:

• awareness of data privacy and security concerns (31 per cent)
• the ability to evaluate AI outputs for quality and reliability (30 per cent)
• understanding bias in AI (29 per cent)
• the ability to communicate AI findings or concepts clearly (28 per cent)
• the ability to create usable prompts (27 per cent).

Job seekers, however, believe employers continue to place the greatest weight on traditional workplace qualities. Asked which attributes companies consider absolutely essential, respondents ranked AI skills last at 12 per cent, behind:

• the ability to work in a team (42 per cent)
• work ethic (42 per cent)
• accountability (41 per cent)
• dependability (41 per cent)
• willingness to learn (40 per cent).

"AI proficiency is moving from a nice-to-have to a foundational skill for many jobs," said Bob Funk Jr., CEO, president and chairman of Express Employment International. "Knowing how AI works is only part of the equation. Employees also need to know how to question its output, communicate what it produces and apply it effectively on the job."

Daily use rising, agents gaining ground

Research from CDW Canada, released in its report Canada's AI Workplace Evolution from Adoption to Accountability, found that 31 per cent of Canadian office workers now use workplace-approved AI tools daily, up from 18 per cent a year earlier.

The survey also found that one-third of employees report using AI agents capable of completing multistep workflows and making recommendations. Nearly one-third of those agentic AI users said their organization is already building AI agents in-house.

"AI adoption is no longer the story," said KJ Burke, field CTO, hybrid infrastructure, CDW Canada. "Most organizations have moved beyond asking whether employees will use AI. The question now is whether those investments are creating meaningful business value."

Training was linked to confidence. Among workers who received hands-on AI training, 46 per cent said they were very confident using AI, compared with 23 per cent of those who received no formal support.

Trust and accuracy concerns persist

Curiosity was the most common sentiment toward AI among workers surveyed, at 42 per cent, and outweighed the share who said they were worried about the technology. Accuracy and reliability, however, ranked among the top concerns across user groups: 31 per cent of daily users, 24 per cent of less frequent users and 43 per cent of those not yet using approved tools cited them.

According to the report, more advanced users tended to focus on privacy and security, while those who had not adopted AI were more likely to question its reliability and its relevance to their role.

"The challenge for organizations is no longer generating interest in AI," said Ashley Otto, senior product manager, CDW Canada. "It's helping employees trust the technology enough to use it confidently and effectively. That requires clear governance, practical use cases and ongoing education."

Measuring results of AI

Compared with 2025, employees with access to AI at work more often reported:

• improvements in productivity (58 per cent, up 11 points)
• quality of outputs (54 per cent, up 15 points)
• innovation (48 per cent, up 11 points).

The share of organizations tracking specific key performance indicators to evaluate AI performance rose to 38 per cent from 24 per cent a year earlier. Still, 23 per cent of respondents said their organization lacks a formal framework to assess return on investment, and another 23 per cent were unsure whether such measurement exists.

"Most organizations can tell you how many employees have access to AI," Burke said. "Far fewer can clearly demonstrate what AI has changed for their business."

The CDW Canada survey was conducted online from June 15 to 25, using Leger's LEO panel, among 1,011 Canadian office workers at organizations with at least 20 employees who use a computer in an office setting 11 or more hours a week.