University recruitment: Frequently asked questions

Department of Finance Canada hires university recruits through three streams:

• Economist and Policy Analyst – These recruits are involved in all aspects of the Department's work. They conduct policy analysis and forecasts, perform research, and provide recommendations on a wide variety of public policy issues. Recruits can choose to specialize in a particular area of the Department of Finance Canada for several years, or can gain experience in a number of different areas of the Department.
• Tax Legislation – These recruits have training in law, taxation or accounting and wish to pursue a career as a specialist in income or sales tax. Recruits will work in the Tax Legislation Division and Sales Tax Division of the Tax Policy Branch, and will directly participate in analyzing complex income tax or sales tax and other tax and regulatory issues (e.g. GST/HST, excise levies, and carbon pricing), propose policy changes to senior departmental officials and the Minister of Finance, and draft provisions of the Income Tax Act, Excise Tax Act and related legislation for presentation by the Minister of Finance to Parliament.
• Doctoral Research – Recruits hired under the Doctoral Researcher stream join a team of researchers conducting theoretical and empirical work on policy-relevant questions. Issues tackled cover a wide variety of microeconomic and macroeconomic areas.

Job posters for each of these streams can be found in the links above.

This is a competency-based career development and progression program designed for the Economics and Social Science Services (EC) community in Department of Finance Canada’s eight policy branches, in all three work streams: economist and policy analyst stream, doctoral stream and legislative stream.

The development program aims to develop high-calibre individuals, starting at junior levels across the three EC work streams, to the target level of their respective work streams.

The development takes place through challenging work assignments, job coaching and a combination of formal and informal training, which sharpens the knowledge, skills and competencies of individuals in order for them to move to higher working level positions and be capable of conducting the full spectrum of work-related activities required within the department’s policy branches.

Progression through successive EC levels up to the target level is based on a combination of performance evaluation, competency development and merit assessment within established program guidelines.

• Economist and Policy Analyst stream employees enter the program at the EC-3 level and the target level of progression is EC-6.
• Doctoral stream employees enter the program normally at the EC-5 level and the target level of progression is EC-6.
• Legislative stream employees normally enter the program at the EC-5 level and the target level of progression is EC-7.

The department occasionally hires students as policy analysts or economists through the Federal Student Workplace Experience Program (FSWEP) or official Coop programs.

The Department of Finance Canada is located at 90 Elgin Street, Ottawa, ON. We have adopted a hybrid work model which aims, in a flexible way, to have a 50/50 split between on-site and telework. Our approach is consistent with the Common hybrid work model for the Federal Public Service which requires Departments to establish a minimum attendance requirement of at least 2–3 days each week or 40–60% each month onsite.

If you were educated outside of Canada, you must have your certificates and/or diplomas assessed against Canadian education standards. This will enable you to provide proof that your foreign credentials are comparable to Canadian Standards when applying for a job in the public service.

The public service recognizes Foreign Educational Credentials as long as they are deemed comparable to Canadian standards, through a recognized credential assessment service.

The Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials can assist you in obtaining an assessment of your educational, professional, and occupational credentials through referral to an appropriate organization. Please refer to the Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials for more information.

This process to secure the foreign educational credentials may take a few weeks to obtain. However, an assessment is not required for you to apply. You will be required to provide your completed assessment of your Foreign Credentials prior to any letter of employment.

Please refer to our University recruitment: Job descriptions and advertisements for each stream:

• Economist and Policy Analyst
• Tax Legislation
• Doctoral Research

Consult the Economist and Policy Analyst job advertisement for the application closing date which is typically in October. The written exam is normally administered in November with interviews usually conducted in January. Job offers would follow in February-March.

Essential qualifications are the minimum requirements needed to be considered for a position. They are listed in the Essential Qualifications section on each job poster.

It is important that you meet the educational requirements for the position. You are also required to meet the essential qualifications for the position for your application to be considered.

However, we are willing to consider applicants from programs that are similar to our target areas. For example, we may consider your application if you are graduating with a degree in international economics or economic policy, as the title of degrees can vary from one university to another. We reserve the right to make this decision.

The Department of Finance Canada requires applicants to have the equivalent of three full-year economics courses (e.g., six half-year courses or three full-year courses or a combination of half-year and fully-year courses (equates to 18 credits). Applicants who are pursuing a graduate degree in finance will require three or more half-year courses in economics to be considered. We will accept economics courses at either the graduate or undergraduate university level. We do not accept courses at the college or CEGEP levels.

However, we will accept courses that are offered outside of a school's economics department, as long as they are grounded solidly in economics. We reserve the right to make this decision. Your transcripts will be used to validate the number of courses completed.

The written assignment is intended to evaluate your ability to communicate effectively in writing, analyze and synthesize information, understand issues, and identify their economic, social and/or financial implications.

The written assignment will be administered to the candidates who meet the initial screening criteria of education, specialization in economics and academic excellence.

What is the academic excellence criteria?

Candidates must be able to demonstrate they have obtained a grade point average (GPA) equivalent to 75 per cent or higher on their last completed Bachelor’s degree. We reserve the right to make this decision. Your transcripts will be used to validate your GPA.

Candidates must be able to demonstrate they have obtained a grade point average (GPA) equivalent to 75 per cent or higher on their last completed Bachelor’s degree. We reserve the right to make this decision. Your transcripts will be used to validate your GPA.

Economists hired through the Doctoral Researcher stream usually work in a Division with a broad mandate to conduct in-depth policy-relevant economic research to provide strategic advice to the Minister on issues that are of medium- and long-term significance.

The Division conducts policy research on several economic issues, including economic growth, sources of productivity growth, population aging, public finance, trade, natural resource economics, pension systems and human capital.

The research document submitted should be whichever best demonstrates your abilities as a research economist who might work at the Department of Finance Canada. This does not necessarily have to be part of your dissertation. However, the document will be used to assess your written communication, as well as your ability to conduct high quality research in a relevant field of economics.

Only one paper will be read per candidate, it is incumbent on the candidate to select what they feel is the best example of their research.

Candidates are encouraged to highlight any other research documents by attaching abstracts to their CV. The research document you submit will be a central topic of discussion during the initial interview.

The salary ranges for all EC levels can be found within the Appendix A of the Economics and Social Science Services (EC) - Canada.ca collective agreement.

The purpose of the interview process is to evaluate whether a candidate possesses the competencies necessary to work at The Department of Finance Canada as laid out in the Statement of Merit Criteria. You will be advised of which merit criteria will be assessed at the interview. For the Economist/Policy Analyst stream the interview is structured with candidates responding to a set question list.

The Department of Finance will usually get upwards 750 applications each year. In 2021-2022, the Department of Finance Canada has hired 26 economists and policy analysts and in 2022-2023 has hired 29 to date.

Managers may begin to make offers of employment soon after the completion of the interviewing process, which for the Economist/Policy Analyst stream is usually the beginning of March each year. These offers are conditional on obtaining a secret security clearance.

Start dates are determined based on the availability of the recruit and his or her new manager's operational requirements. The recruitment process allows current students who will attain their degree by the end of December of that specific year being advertised, therefore, a start date can be dependent on the completion of the Master’s degree.