Hiring of temporary workers and growth in STEM occupations are among seven hiring trends in Canada for 2014 as foreseen by CareerBuilder. And hiring is expected to continue at a steady pace throughout the New Year.

“As we begin 2014, 62 percent of Canadian companies tell us that they are in a better financial position now than a year ago and 61 per cent of them expect sales to increase in the first half of the year,” Rasmussen said. “As a result, we expect hiring to increase in areas that support sales such as customer service, information technology and research/development.”

Here are the seven trends, according to CareerBuilder:

1. STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) occupations will continue to grow with 38 percent of Canadian firms planning to create jobs in these areas over the next 12 months.
2. Full-time hiring in 2014 — full-time hiring will take place in a variety of businesses. Some of the biggest increases will take place in customer service with 38 percent of firms saying they plan to recruit in this area and information technology with 37 percent of firms planning to recruit in this area.
3. Companies will rely on temporary and contract hiring with 61 percent of Canadian firms planning to hire contract or temporary workers in the next 12 months. And 45 percent plan to transition some temporary workers into permanent, full-time staff.
4. Skills gap — nearly two in five employers said they have positions for which they cannot find qualified candidates.
5. Companies building the perfect employee — some 55 percent of firms plan to train workers who don’t have experience in their industry.
6. Companies cultivating future recruits in high school with 36 percent of hiring managers saying they have promoted careers to high school students.
7. Compensation to rise with 33 percent of employers planning to raise salaries for high-skill roles in 2014.

The survey included 406 Canadian hiring managers.