2025 Canada Marketing and Creative Job Market Outlook

2.2%* May 2025 unemployment rate

Marketing and creative teams are juggling evolving priorities, including expanding the use of AI and automation to deliver high-quality and compelling work faster and to meet rising expectations for personalized customer experiences. However, even in an era of powerful tools, human insight and creativity remain essential. Professionals with a solid mix of creativity, digital expertise and AI fluency are making the biggest impact and continue to be in demand.

Hiring managers report that project-based needs are the top driver of team expansion, and it’s taking them more time to evaluate applications. Meanwhile, critical campaigns and initiatives can’t wait. That is driving more marketing and creative teams to engage contract talent so they can access specialized skills and meet deadlines.

Marketing and creative leaders report it takes roughly 5 weeks to hire candidates for permanent roles.

said evaluating applications and determining which candidates to interview is their greatest challenge. said evaluating applications and determining which candidates to interview is their greatest challenge.

Hiring for strategic priorities: permanent and contract staff

Marketing and creative leaders shared their top priorities through the end of the year for hiring permanent employees and contract talent.

Customer experience

Content marketing

Marketing automation

AI and machine learning

Content marketing

Website and mobile applications

Marketing and creative leaders have reported skills gaps within their department, and more than a third said the impact of those gaps has increased in the past year.

Marketing
automation UX research
and product
design UX and
visual design Marketing
analytics Marketing
automation UX research
and product
design UX and
visual design Marketing
analytics

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Almost all marketing and creative leaders need to add new staff or at least maintain current headcount to deliver on top business priorities. Yet 84% of those hiring said it’s challenging to find the talent they need in the current market.

of marketing and creative employers are hiring for new permanent positions. of marketing and creative employers are hiring for new permanent positions.

are hiring only for vacated permanent positions. are hiring only for vacated permanent positions.

Hiring plans for the second half of 2025: contract professionals

76% of marketing and creative leaders said they’re increasing their use of contract talent in the second half of the year. They also shared what they view as the greatest value in engaging these professionals.

Access to specialized skills or expertise

Flexibility in scaling workforce

Cost savings compared with permanent hiring

Faster staffing for critical roles

Marketing and creative professionals in highest demand

The following positions are in the top 15% of marketing and creative roles in demand, according to an analysis of thousands of job postings and Robert Half placements.

Account manager/executive

Digital marketing manager

Graphic designer

Marketing manager

Product designer

Public relations manager

Social media manager

UX designer

Learn more about the top roles in demand

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*Statistics Canada, seasonally adjusted, June 2025.

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 and hiring managers 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 420,000 new positions from more than 5,400 unique independent job boards and company websites provided by TextKernel are represented in our analysis of in-demand roles, including 6,300-plus placements from Robert Half. This dataset includes roles across the finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal, administrative and customer support, and human resources professions.