Recruiting systems for employers in Quebec

The hiring market

Quebec's largest labour pools are in Montréal, Québec City, Laval, Gatineau and Longueuil, with Sherbrooke, Lévis and Saguenay as important regional centres. Montréal employers compete for bilingual candidates with national and international firms, which makes a specific employer value proposition essential. In Québec City and the regions, a French-first employer brand and local reputation matter even more.

Gatineau deserves a separate note. Employers there often compete with Ottawa employers for the same people, and candidates compare offers across the provincial border. Employers hiring on both sides of the river need two sets of rules in one system.

Language: plan in French, not after

Under the Charter of the French Language, French must be clearly predominant in commercial advertising, and websites aimed at Quebec customers must be available in French. The OQLF's business pages are the place to read how the Charter applies to companies, including francization. How those rules apply to your specific job ads and careers pages is a question for the OQLF or counsel, as of October 2026.

What we do in practice:

• write the Quebec employer value proposition in French first, then adapt to English where needed
• build French careers pages, not machine-translated copies
• keep job titles consistent with the French terms candidates actually search for
• check every Quebec template for language before it goes live

Seasonality and timing

Winter is long and snowy across the province, and longer still once you leave the St. Lawrence valley. Employers with outdoor or seasonal roles hire heavily before spring, while office employers can often run searches through the quieter winter months. We build those windows into the hiring calendar.

Regulators to read

Link and read; we don't interpret these rules.

• Labour standards, pay equity, health and safety: the CNESST
• Human rights: the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse
• Privacy: the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec, which oversees Quebec's private-sector privacy law; see also the federal summary of privacy laws
• Language: the OQLF

What this means for your recruiting system

French-first templates. Every ad, decline message and interview guide exists in French as a first version.

Separate privacy settings. Quebec's own privacy regime means applicant tracking retention, consent wording and access should be set with your privacy lead for Quebec candidates specifically. See recruiting metrics.

Bilingual role definitions. For roles that require English as well as French, the intake defines exactly what level and use of each language is needed, so the requirement can be explained honestly.

An illustration: the cost of translating last

Picture a Toronto-headquartered company opening an office in Laval. It writes its ads and careers page in English, sends them for translation the week before launch, and publishes French copy that reads like a translation, with job titles nobody searches for. Applications are thin and mostly from English-dominant candidates. Rewriting the material in French first, using the terms Quebec candidates actually use, and adapting it to English afterwards, produces ads that read naturally to the people the office needs most.

How we'd approach a Quebec engagement

1. Baseline Quebec hiring separately from the rest of Canada.
2. Build the French employer value proposition with Quebec staff.
3. Create French careers pages and ad templates.
4. Align stages and scorecards with your national hiring process, translated and adapted.
5. Review language and privacy settings with your advisors.

For neighbouring regions, see Ontario and New Brunswick, or return to the areas hub.