The brand new yr comes with many challenges for jobseekers amid the commerce battle and tariffs, however networking is without doubt one of the finest methods to enhance the chances of getting employed in 2026, in line with consultants.
The unemployment fee in Canada presently sits at greater than six per cent of the working inhabitants, which consultants say signifies there’ll doubtless be an uphill climb for many who are lately unemployed, graduated or in search of that subsequent profession transfer.
“Throughout quite a lot of circumstances, jobseekers are going through challenges. We undoubtedly took this hit from the beginning of the commerce battle in 2025, and hopefully we don’t see an identical shock this yr,” says Brendan Bernard, senior economist with Certainly.
“I feel the outlooks are usually a bit extra constructive [in 2026], however not roaring.”
The commerce battle and tariffs impacted Canada’s financial system in 2025 by growing prices and slowing demand for some items and providers. Though there was no recession measured final yr, the financial system grew by lower than it may have with out these impacts.
In Budget 2025, the federal authorities mentioned it expects the Canadian financial system to point out “weaker productiveness and mushy funding” heading into 2026.
Most lately, October 2025 confirmed a shrinking financial system, with GDP down by 0.3 per cent.
That’s leaving many employers cautious — and that sentiment is extending to hiring as nicely.
“We’ve received a bounce within the share of youth who by no means had a job, an increase within the share of individuals of their core working years, together with the 25- to 54-year-olds who’ve been out of labor over six months regardless of wanting a job, and the speed that individuals are altering jobs is way lower than it was in 2022 and pre-pandemic years,” Bernard says.
“The very best practices for jobseekers begins with gathering the knowledge, each what’s obtainable publicly after which what’s doubtlessly obtainable privately.”
What’s networking? It is about who you recognize
Among the finest methods for these on the job hunt is to start out constructing a community of people that can’t solely assist discover a job, but in addition open doorways and assist with referrals.
At the very least one recruitment knowledgeable says this technique can assist make an applicant much more aggressive within the difficult panorama.
Get each day Nationwide information
Get the day’s high information, political, financial, and present affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox as soon as a day.
“We’re listening to from people that they’re involved concerning the competitors on the market. So that you might need to work somewhat bit tougher to search out that chance, and it would take somewhat longer,” says Trina Casey-Myatt, regional director for Alberta at Robert Half Canada, a recruitment and staffing agency.
“The primary factor I all the time suggest for people as they’re beginning their job search is take the time to take a seat down and write out a listing of who’re all of the folks that you recognize? What’s your community?”
Networking on this context primarily means attending to know individuals in and round your profession focus, and in some circumstances even past that focus.
This might appear to be calling up family and friends who’ve expertise in a selected discipline, and even when they don’t have that direct expertise, they might know somebody who does.
“Your community shouldn’t be solely enterprise colleagues, it’s additionally mates, household. Most people are working and so they work someplace,” Casey-Myatt says.
“You by no means know what may flip up. Hiring could be very expensive and time-consuming for firms and due to this fact if they will get somebody from a referral, that’s one of the best ways to get employed.”
Networking in a digital world
With the normalization of distant work setups, particularly because the pandemic, networking appears to be like somewhat totally different now than it did just a few years in the past, too.
Casey-Myatt explains that if somebody is used to working and connecting with individuals remotely, there are each advantages and downsides on the subject of attempting to find a job.
“In a method, distant environments have opened new doorways for networking by eradicating geographic and timing limitations. Nevertheless, with out natural moments and face time, constructing rapport could be tougher, standing out is harder in an even bigger crowd, and all of it requires extra deliberate effort,” she says.
“Whether or not on-line or in particular person, profitable networking must concentrate on intention and authenticity.”
Casey-Myatt provides that there are advantages to attending digital occasions, on-line communities, digital networking platforms and social media, as enterprise leaders who don’t normally attend in-person occasions might have a desire for collaborating in these contexts.
However relying solely on digital alternatives may additionally have drawbacks.
If employees began their careers in a remote-only construction, like some college students who graduated through the pandemic years, Casey-Myatt says these people might discover it onerous to develop extra genuine relations with leaders and mentors.
Beginning off a profession from a distant context means some individuals additionally might not have as a lot of a basis of contacts and dealing relationships constructed from in-person alternatives, which Casey-Myatt says might imply lacking out on extra “genuine” connections with individuals.
In-person networking remains to be essential at any time when attainable, and could also be simpler than digital alternate options on the subject of making an expert reference to somebody.
In line with Robert Half Canada survey knowledge from December 2025, greater than half of Gen Z employees collaborating (53 per cent) say discovering new connections is their greatest networking barrier, in contrast with millennials at 44 per cent and Gen X at 42 per cent.
On the similar time, Gen Z survey individuals had been the least prone to say that private referrals helped them advance their careers.
Casey-Myatt says this “underscores how tough it may be to construct a community in a distant‑first setting.”
In the case of distant and in-person networking choices, Casey Myatt says, “leveraging each in strategic methods goes to assist make the method extra profitable.”
