At High Road Communications, we are known for having an incredibly talented team, and this week our very own Ian Buck was featured in the Globe and Mail talking about how we harness the power of social media to recruit the very best in the business.

The article, written by Lynn Greiner, rightly explores how recruiting quality staff is “no longer a matter of placing an ad in the newspaper and then wading through a mountain of (horror of horrors) paper resumés. Today’s tech-savvy candidates expect to find jobs the same way they do much of their social interacting – online.”

For us, using social media to recruit is a no-brainer, says Buck.

“Everything we do in our work life – for our clients and for our own company – goes through the social media filter and recruitment is a natural fit,” he says.

“We’ve found that social media actually gets a much higher quality of applicant versus job boards and career websites,” says Buck, adding that we also use social media and search engines to scan for extra information about candidates and check for existing connections to our team. “By starting with our own network and that of our employees, it’s a quick way of attracting candidates with the right skills, experience and background. Even a three- or four-times removed connection on a social network is already a better qualified lead in general.”

High Road’s stealthy Office Ninja even received a bit of attention in the article, for his creative face-to-face recruiting methods.

“High Road also puts its own playful spin on good old fashioned person-to-person networking,” writes Greiner. “At the 2010 Mesh Marketing conference, the company sent in a recruiting ninja, who somersaulted around the halls stealthily setting his sights on Digital Ninja recruits and handing them High Road branded Ninja Stars. It worked, according to Mr. Buck, resulting in what he calls ‘an amazing hire we never would have achieved via career websites.’”

Please visit the Globe and Mail to read the full piece: “How to use social media as a recruiting tool”.

Ian Buck’s top tips for job-seekers

Looking for a new job and want to make sure you put your best foot forward?

Here is a bit of advice from Ian:

1. Check your online footprint: Search your own name to see what comes up, and do your best to fix it if there’s something that’s not appropriate! It’s pretty much guaranteed that employers will be doing the same search.
2. Build your personal brand online: Do more than just clean up your social networking profiles before you start applying for jobs, engage in the field that you’re interested in joining. Share your expertise. Connect with key players in the business.
3. Market yourself: Don’t be afraid to feature links to your social profiles on your CV, it gives potential employers a lot more insight into you than what goes into a one- or two-page application.
4. Be proactive: Shooting, uploading and sharing a video CV or “about me” to YouTube shows initiative and creativity; following the company on Twitter and LinkedIn shows you’re interested in the job.

You can find High Road online on our LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. See you there!