Hire your first bilingual employee, step by step

Your first bilingual hire might be the person who answers your French-speaking customers or opens your Quebec market. Here's how to find them on Bilingo and set up everything Canada requires.

Post a Job for Free How it works

Sound familiar?

You're not sure how to describe the language level the job needs.

You don't know how to check someone's French or English in an interview.

You've never registered for payroll or workers' compensation before.

How it works on Bilingo

  1. Define the role, languages and pay
    Use our hiring guides for Canadian pay ranges and job descriptions, and write down which tasks need which language.
  2. Post the job on Bilingo
    Post for free with the languages, pay range and how people apply.
  3. Test languages the way the job uses them
    Hold part of the interview in each language and add a short task, such as answering a client email, for every candidate.
  4. Make a written offer
    Use our job offer letter and employment agreement templates, which include a language requirements clause, and have them reviewed.
  5. Set up payroll and registrations
    Before the first pay, open a payroll program account with the Canada Revenue Agency, register with your provincial workers' compensation board if your industry requires it, and collect your employee's SIN and TD1 forms. In Quebec, also register with Revenu Québec and the CNESST.

What helps

Bilingual hiring guides

Pay ranges, job descriptions and how to test language skills for 51 roles.

Contract templates

Offer letters and employment agreements with a language requirements clause.

Applicant inbox

Review bilingual applicants and their résumés in one place.

Help Center

Step-by-step articles on posting jobs and managing applicants.

Useful resources

Hiring guides

Pay ranges, job descriptions and interview questions for 51 roles.

Employment contract templates

Offer letters and employment agreements written for Canadian law.

Questions

How do I check someone's language skills?

Hold part of the interview in each language and give a short task the job really needs. Recognized results like DELF, TEF or the federal Second Language Evaluation can help, but test the skills the job uses.

Should I pay more for bilingual skills?

Many employers pay a bilingual premium or place bilingual roles higher in the pay range. Show it in the posting to attract more applicants.

What do I need before paying my first employee?

A CRA payroll program account, your employee's SIN and TD1 forms, and workers' compensation coverage if your industry requires it. Quebec employers also register with Revenu Québec.

More use cases

Free bilingual job posting

Post a bilingual job for free and reach people across Canada who are looking for jobs in your languages.

Bilingual customer service teams

Hire bilingual agents and representatives at volume to serve customers across Canada in French and English.

Bring your bilingual career-site jobs

Already posting jobs on your career site or ATS? Connect it, and your bilingual jobs appear on Bilingo automatically.

Hiring in Quebec

Hire in Quebec while respecting the Charter of the French language, from job postings to employment contracts.

Ready to hire?

Post your bilingual job on Bilingo and reach bilingual job seekers across Canada.

Post a Job for Free