The Tech Talent Canada Job Fair is a quarterly event that connects growing Canadian companies with top talent across the country.
In a unique twist, hiring companies showcase their employer brand and pitch to a crowd of skilled candidates on why they’re the best place to around.
This novel approach allows talent to align their values with the right company in order to forge an epic career path.
Over the past few years, more than 400 companies have used Tech Talent Canadas’s job fairs to hire top talent in-person and virtually, according to the event’s founder, Rob Lewis.
Past participating companies include Helcim, Harvest Builders, Symend, RBC, Rangle, Trulioo, IBM, KPMG, Shaw, Neo Financial, Tangerine Bank, Tasktop, Wipro, Blackline Safety, Attabotics, Canvass, and many more.
“Supplemented by Tech Talent’s year-round Job Board, our organization continues to proudly support Canada’s robust technology ecosystem, which remains vibrant even during the current market headwinds we’re all feeling,” stated Lewis recently.
Celebrating several years of continued success connecting tech talent to growing companies, Tech Talent Canada decided to recap a handful of the many innovative firms who have chosen to hire through our seasonal events.
Absorb Software
Last year, Communitech unveiled the first ever Team True North. The Kitchener-Waterloo hub for entrepreneurship created the list to spotlight “the best of Canadian tech”—which by their measure is defined as high-performing tech firms tracking to $1 billion in annual revenue with growth rates that match the top 1% of companies in the world.
Communitech recently added 26 Canadian tech firms to Team True North, which “represents the top one per cent of global private tech companies in Canada.”
Team True North 2022 featured three startups based in Calgary: fintech startup Neo Financial, tele-health firm PurposeMed, and Absorb Software, a learning technology company known for its flagship product, Absorb LMS, a learning management system for businesses, higher education, and government agencies around the world.
Absorb believes learning and development tools can be a competitive advantage.
“Businesses often struggle to fuel growth while supporting the learning needs of employees, partners and resellers who lack the engagement—and time—needed to close training gaps,” the company affirms.
Today, Absorb LMS is trusted by 1,700 customers across several businesses, governments, healthcare providers, educators and non-profit organizations three dozen countries—winning “over 100 awards for innovative technology,” according to the Alberta company.
Founded in 2002, Absorb has found firm footing in recent years. From 2015 to 2017, the company tripled a formerly humble headcount. The Alberta organization then went on to raise major funding from Silversmith Capital Partners and others, which helped fuel the company’s continued growth through 2021, when it was acquired by New York-based private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe.
The ever-expanding company has attended several Tech Talent Canada Job Fairs.
Linus Media Group
YouTube was a different sort of platform, operating on a different kind of internet, back when Linus Sebastian launched his first channel in 2007.
The content creator’s success through Linus Tech Tips has transcended shifts in social media and other technologies. The friendly and helpful persona of Linus himself—and more recently, a growing team of co-creators—is what 15 million viewers now subscribe to.
Like all good tech startups, Linus Media Group started in a garage. The firm’s modest beginnings were journaled by Linus himself during the early days.
Today, the steadily growing operation runs several different brands and projects.
“Linus Media Group is a full service production agency with decades of collective experience in web video and social media and influencer marketing,” the Surrey-based company explains. “We’ve worked with brands as small as cottage-industry one-person operations all the way to large multinationals like Intel, IBM, and Cisco.”
LMG-owned YouTube channels include Techquickie (4 million subs), TechLinked (1.8 million), and ShortCircuit (2 million). There’s also an annual Linus Tech Expo held at the Vancouver Convention Centre, as well as an online merchandise store.
“Our passion for video creation, storytelling, and technology makes us a perfect partner,” LMG believes. “We not only have a deep understanding of technology, but also of the people who use it.”
APOLLO
One thing technology can do well is turn our dirty, complicated tasks into clean, efficient processes.
For example, companies like APOLLO modernize the insurance process thoroughly, leaving nary a hint of the ways of old.
“Our digital-forward approach eliminates traditional paper-based processes by leveraging extensive data and intelligent algorithms to quote, collect payment, and issue policies—all without human intervention,” explains Chloe Lyons, Director of Recruitment for APOLLO.
The Vancouver-based insur-tech firm runs policy purchases through its APOLLO Exchange, the company’s embedded proprietary platform.
“APOLLO is making the insurance buying process effortless, in line with modern consumers’ expectations,” Jeff McCann, CEO and cofounder, stated following a Series B round of financing for his company.
Lyons told Tech Talent Canada that this digital-forward approach is “fast, easy, and redefining insurance distribution.”
It’s a transformation that is sweeping Canada’s entire financial technology sector.
Connected
Connected is a Canadian company built on the belief that a new category of professional services firm was needed in the modern era to help ambitious companies build impactful software-powered products.
Founded in 2014, Connected is not a dev shop or a design agency or a strategic consultancy. Rather the company operates as a “uniquely integrated product development firm.”
“We work cross-functionally within our teams of agile engineers, human-centered designers, and product strategists through our unified Product-Thinking approach from early product discovery all the way through to the tireless sprints of product delivery,” Connected informed Tech Talent Canada.
Connected aims to solves for feasibility, usability, desirability, and viability together, the company explains—a firm that “helps its clients build right, and build the right thing. ”
The firm also looks to build the right careers for employees. They’re “all about sharing our knowledge, honing our skills, and embracing curiosity.”
The firm is both industry- and technology-agnostic, and “we are privileged to work on a wide range of products with a number of globally recognized brands.”
Moneris
Moneris, founded in 2000, processes more than one in three transactions in Canada.
“Every day we deliver innovative technology, secure and reliable payment solutions, and an outstanding experience to our customer and partners,” Simrah Ozel, Director of Talent Acquisition at Moneris, told Tech Talent Canada.
Moneris boasts offices in several cities across Canada, including Toronto, Montreal, Burnaby, and Sackville. With a pandemic-adapted hybrid work policy now in place, Moneris’ 2000 Canadian employees enjoy more workplace flexibility than ever.
“We’re a team dedicated to making an impact, creating growth opportunities, and making connections with our customers and each other,” explains Ozel, pointing out the importance of non-tangible metrics such as team member engagement, well-being, and overall health. She believes this contributes to Forbes listing Moneris as one of Canada’s best employers four years in a row now.
Ozel describes several perks to working for Moneris, including the opportunity to perform meaningful work on exciting projects. A benefits package and myriad training and education opportunities—such as a mentorship program and free access to LinkedIn Learning content—assist employees in maintaining ample forward momentum.
The payments industry Moneris leads is “exciting and constantly evolving,” according to Ozel, allowing for consistent growth of the market and company.
