Samara Parker

Reg Hamilton is a specialist in Interactive Media. He has over 18 years of tech experience, is an accomplished artist and designer, represents Phoenix Group on the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada’s Mobile and Social Media Council, and his LinkedIn profile was one of the most viewed in 2012.

So as you can imagine, he’s a pretty busy guy. That’s why we feel very lucky that Reg has agreed to share some of his knowledge with the Jobcast blog.

Jobcast: Hi Reg, would you mind explaining to our readers what Phoenix Group is all about?

Reg: Phoenix Group is a full-service advertising agency with nearly 40 staff. We offer branding, creative, interactive and media services. Phoenix Group is a place where ideas grow. We create outstanding creative campaigns and build long-term value for our client’s brands. We’re about growth and results. We’re about thinking. Good thinking. That means great creative that grows business ideas and solutions. Our leadership team does a great job providing a supportive atmosphere that encourages success.

Jobcast: Phoenix Group has been very successful with Facebook to grow their clients brands. The results of your “Riders Oath” campaign for the Saskatchewan Roughriders were outstanding. Why did you decide to make Facebook a priority for brand promotion?

Reg: Rider Nation is a powerful force of nature. Phoenix Group and the Riders decided to focus on growing the number of Facebook fans. Due to the large number of existing fans—around 76,000—there was a significant opportunity to mine this group of people to reach likeminded brand loyalists. A target was set to increase the number of fans to 100,000: if reached, this number of Friends would lay the foundation for a powerful customer database. In addition, the team wanted to continue to lead the league in merchandise sales, fan avidity, and visitors’ game attendance figures. Because the Riders are such an important part of their fans’ lives, social media is a great way to reach them and to join the conversation

The integrated campaign produced outstanding results, with the number of Facebook fans increasing by more than 24,500 (for a total of 103,679 by the end of the year). We feel Facebook influenced results, with ticket sales virtually sold out for the year and over 67% of all CFL merchandise sales were Riders products.

Jobcast: Are there any key pointers you could give our readers about improving their branding with Facebook?

Reg: Content is king and context is God. The narrative rules and social stories attract fans. Give the fans 10x more than you ask for. Facebook is a great channel for content. Our Community Managers encourage fan engagement with conversation starters and questions posed to the community to encourage conversation and participation amongst users.

Tone is one of the most important aspects of any social media strategy. Users expect to engage with content they relate to on social media—they don’t want to be told; they want to have a conversation. Be honest; be real; give them something they are interested in.

The use of social media is an opportunity for the brand to develop a ‘human’ tone without representing an individual person or employee. It is important each post and interaction has the appropriate message for each social channel and uses a conversational, creative voice.

It is also important to note that there will be feedback, both positive and negative. Both should be dealt with on a timely basis. Having an effective and dedicated community manager, along with an appropriate strategy will ensure the conversation thrives and moves forward—don’t get lazy.

Jobcast: In your current campaign “Think Saskatchewan Jobs” you’re tasked with branding an entire Province! Can you talk a bit about the project and the types of social media strategies you’re employing?

Reg: Saskatchewan is booming. We have what the world wants and needs. Saskatchewan has one of the strongest and most stable economies in the world. With plentiful resources in demand around the globe, the Canadian province offers strong long-term career prospects. In fact, Saskatchewan has the lowest unemployment rate in Canada. Saskatchewan offers a high quality of life, with excellent education and health systems, affordable cultural and recreational activities and short commute times. It has everything you need to raise a family and advance your career. That’s the Saskatchewan story. Our Government recognizes the importance of social media and the benefits of using Facebook as an innovative channel for getting this message out.

Some brands tend to use Facebook fan acquisition strategies that are one dimensional—Like us to win a pizza or hot tub, share your personal family photos and your story to be entered to win an iPad. We are all used to seeing that approach. It’s like an extension of old school newspaper enter to win into social. Well, we wanted to do social differently.

Our objective is to grow a vibrant Facebook community to showcase Saskatchewan as a place of opportunity. This is accomplished by promoting job opportunities in the province on Facebook through the use of the Jobcast API recruitment app, by offering tips and tools on re-locating to the province and by creating conversation around quality of life and jobs. Having actual people who live here—or better yet, who moved here—talking about Saskatchewan is far more credible than the Government praising the virtues of our province.

Jobcast: We love what you’ve done with the Think Saskatchewan Jobs Facebook Career Page. How effective have you found recruiting with Facebook to be?

Reg: The rate of fan grow of this community is outstanding, with 2,400+ Likes in the first couple of weeks of the campaign. What’s really amazing is the total weekly reach is averaging out around 1.7 Million people hearing about Saskatchewan jobs. The very nature of social media enables the creation and maintenance of relationships. As a result, job marketing fits in perfectly. We are really happy with CTR on job applications at 10%

Jobcast: The level of interaction that you maintain with your followers on the Think Saskatchewan Jobs Facebook Page is impressive. In what ways do you feel maintaining a dialogue with fans benefits social recruiting?

Reg: The most effective strategy is to focus on building a strong, focused community on Facebook to attract job seekers to the province. The most effective approach was to use a combination of relevant content and Facebook apps.

The right mix of content is very important when it comes to social media. It is important to keep campaign goals in mind, but to also offer the community content relevant to their needs. Social job seekers want to engage with you and they also want interesting and helpful information that’s not just from you. The best practice rule content ratio for social recruiting is:

• 25% – Job postings

• 25% – How to get hired here

• 25% – Saskatchewan culture

• 25% – Fun/Lifestyle

Jobcast: What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced in implementing social recruiting strategy for Think Saskatchewan Jobs?

Reg: This campaign represents the most recent social media marketing effort for the Government of Saskatchewan. Much research and effort went into developing the right strategy to ensure its success. There are many elements involved in this campaign, so excellent teamwork is critical to achieve success. Our creative team together with our client do an awesome job of positioning this positive message in carefully crafted stories.

Jobcast: Many employers are intimidated by the idea of of using Facebook for talent acquisition. Do you have any advice for getting started with Facebook recruiting?

Reg: Fish where the fish are. Companies looking to make new hires are seeking the most cost-effective, efficient ways to find new talent. Job boards launched a revolution in recruiting more than 15 years ago. And now, social networks are doing the same—but in a much more targeted way. Through social recruiting, companies are learning they can find the best talent efficiently and very quickly.

Jobcast: Why did The Phoenix Group choose the Jobcast app for the Think Saskatchewan Jobs campaign?

Reg: Canada, we love Canadian technology solutions. The Jobcast app fit the requirements we needed to a tee. The user flow to search the jobs and apply is excellent. The Jobcast technical staff worked out a perfect solution to synchronize 10,000+ jobs in a tight 5-day turn around. Jobcast is great to work with and are providing wonderful results. The Jobcast app is really flexible so our creative team was able to ensure all elements were on brand.

Jobcast: Thank you, we’re glad to be a part of such a cool campaign!

You’re obviously a pro when it comes to social media. What do you think have been the key factors to your success?

Reg: That’s a nice compliment, but I think it comes down to hard work. I’ve always been an early adopter of new technology. Social media isn’t a silver bullet or an instant win for everyone, it takes more than just starting a Facebook page to be successful. It takes a good strategy that defines who the target audience is and what the goals and objectives are, then diligence and attention to keep things moving in the right direction. There’s no finish line, either. When you achieve your objectives, it’s time to set new ones. Social media doesn’t stop; the conversation doesn’t end when you achieve your goal it keeps going.

You can find out more about Phoenix Group on their website and look up Reg on LinkedIn and Twitter. To plan your move to Saskatchewan or see an example of an effective Facebook Career Page check out Think Saskatchewan Jobs on Facebook.

We’d like to extend a huge thank you to Reg for sharing his advice and experiences, we really appreciate it!

International Woman’s Day is on Friday (March 8th, 2013 for those of you in the future).

How will you celebrate?

Please don’t say by wearing a lot of pink. Unless, of course, pink really brings out your eyes. Myself, I’m going to celebrate by reading tons of blog posts about women in social media, because thinking about work as ‘celebrating’ is good for productivity!

Working with the guys I do, it’s easy to forget how differently women can be treated in the workplace. I never feel like gender is an issue at Jobcast. It’s awesome.

Even more awesome, when I started gathering the links for today’s woman-centric post, I realized that in our last article, the one with examples of people using social recruiting effectively, two out of three examples we used were women. I know this doesn’t mean the glass ceiling has gone the way of the Berlin Wall, but I feel pretty good about how amazing women are succeeding in social media and recruiting.

Happy International Woman’s Day to me! And to all of you, from all of us at Jobcast.

Links!

Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook wrote a book encouraging women to Lean Into Risk in the workplace. Here’s a great write-up on the book and its somewhat controversial premise by author Margie Warrell.

And, speaking of female COOs, this article asks the question: why do so many young women aim for COO not CEO? Sure, it’s written by a man, but one with a perspective on women in the workplace shaped by a very successful wife and interactions with his many “bright, talented and capable” female business students.

Rayanne Thorn explains how she got over the fact that she is not Wonder Woman and is much happier for it. Although I’m not giving up the title Sam “The Dark Knight” Parker any time soon, I applaud her honesty.

International Woman’s day is held in March, which makes sense, because March is Women’s History Month. Here’s Laurie Ruettimann (aka The Cynical Girl) on the subject of Women’s History Month and awareness in general.

Now, here’s the article I wish I’d written (I’m getting tired of saying that 🙂 ) The Top 25 women in social media, which makes for an inspiring list. All of these women deserve the mention and many of them have super informative blogs you can follow. Get following!

One of these Top 25 (with an awesome blog) is Leslie Bradshaw. This article about women and success is a great example of why her blog is a must read!

I’m going to sign off with a quote from one of my all-time favorite weightlifting coaches, Mark Rippetoe, on training strong women:

“Women are not a special population. They are half the population!”

Also this is his mom:

In last week’s blog we talked about taking the plunge into social media — not waiting for permission — just doing it. I asked our CEO and fearless leader, Ryan St Germaine, what he thought about the subject and in true Ryan-style, instead of bragging about himself, he expounded on our clients and best practices of social recruiters:

“From speaking with clients I’ve noticed that people get overwhelmed by social media and see it as this big, daunting task that requires a masters degree to understand. It’s not. All of the best social recruiters got started by putting one foot in front of the other and just going for it. They didn’t ask for permission or write a 40 page report. They created a social media account and started having conversations with their target audience. They engaged their audience by being of service and providing value. You can start right now if you want to with just one comment, message or post. The only thing stopping you from building your talent community… is you.”

I thought I would follow his lead and bring you some cool examples of people and companies who have done an awesome job of getting social with their recruiting, despite not having a masters in social (as if that even exists!?!)

I’ll start with someone who Ryan references often: Bill Boorman. Bill is a great example, in part because he has been doing social recruiting since before social recruiting was a thing, but mostly because he’s one of the most respected authorities on the subject. An early adopter of Twitter recruiting, he was the first person in the UK to register a business with an @ symbol in its name, and his trailblazing attitude towards recruiting didn’t stop there.

Bill started out as a traditional recruiter, but when faced with a lack of clients due to a recession, he decided to differentiate himself by going social with his recruiting. When he made this decision, the field of social recruiting was still in its infancy. He had no flashy social strategy infographics to follow, nor any of the impressive statistics showing the importance of social for recruiting that we now have, but he took the plunge anyway. This daring decision jump-started an illustrious career as a social recruiter, advisor, and public speaker.

Bill’s story is an awesome one, but wait, the awesome continues. An example I’ve used before, and will probably use again, is Stacy Donovan Zapar.

This is one connected woman — the most connected woman on LinkedIn to be exact. Stacy started her social journey with a focus on LinkedIn. She used the platform to become an early adopter of social recruiting, and then leveraged what she had learned to transform her own career. There was so much demand for her advice on social recruiting, that she began a blog which quickly became successful. This snowballed into a career as a public speaker at recruiting events, and now she has even launched her own social recruiting training business, Tenfold Social Training. Cool!

Our final example of social recruiting ingenuity is Jessica Lee and her work with Hotel Marriott.

Jessica Lee has taken Facebook recruiting to the next level with Hotel Marriott, but even before this campaign, both she and the Marriott brand were early adopters of social. Bill Marriott has been blogging since 2007, and the brand has been very active on Twitter and Facebook for almost as long, but they didn’t stop at conventional social recruiting. Hotel Marriott’s clever use of gamification for Facebook recruiting, with their My Marriott Hotel, has won them multiple awards and tons of press.

Jessica Lee has been using Facebook, Twitter and blogging to further her career in social recruiting since 2008 and is now considered one of HRExaminers top 100 influencers. In 2012, Lee signed on as Marriott’s Director of Digital Talent Strategy and has taken the company to new heights with innovative social recruiting projects like their recent Best Foot Forward campaign. Hotel Marriott and Jessica Lee have shown just how beneficial taking a chance on social can be.

All three of these examples took a risk on social recruiting back when it was still new and unproven. Today, Facebook is at over a billion users, LinkedIn is one of the first places recruiters go to find talent, and Tweeting for jobs is common practice. In the current social media focused landscape, as Ryan so elegantly put it, “The only thing stopping you from building your talent community… is you.”

Now, just so we don’t leave things on a cheesy note, I’m going to give you a teaser for next week’s article.

We’ll be sharing some firsthand advice from Reg Hamilton, a specialist in Interactive Media with over 18 years of tech experience. Reg represents Phoenix Group on the Board of Saskatchewan Interactive Media Association, serves on the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada’s Mobile and Social Media Council, and has one of the most viewed LinkedIn profiles of 2012.

In our interview, Reg shares some amazing tips for better social recruiting and explains how Phoenix Group has run extremely successful social media campaigns.

Stay tuned!

Okay, fun fact, both of my parents worked in HR. My dad has conducted and consulted on more interviews than I can come up with a clever analogy for (shocking, I know!). My mother specialized in classifications, so she's also very comfortable with the interview process. When I write these articles I always try to keep them in mind. What aspects of social recruiting would they be interested in learning more about, how can I make Facebook recruiting less intimidating for them, and how can I make posts about things like #hashtags less boring for them to read? Super hero analogies work great for my dad, and I sincerely hope that the rest of you follow in my mother's footsteps and accompany your blog reading with a glass of wine! Lately, like my parents, I've been conducting some interviews. These interviews are for our blog and have been amazing! I've learned so much about how small businesses are using social recruiting through talking with people like Dave Wiltjer from Gordon Food Service. It got me thinking about how social media is changing the interview process and the ways in which employers and recruiters are using new media to benefit their interviewing. So, our Link Love this week is all about the art of the interview, with a bias towards the social media side of things. Enjoy! "The Holy Grail of Interview Questions." Okay, so I took that quote completely out of context, as you will learn if you go on to read this very clever article that lays out some effective interview questions that are rarely asked. Social Media Headhunter answers the question:

So what exactly do you ask a social media consultant in an interview?

Video interviews are probably the biggest game changer that social has brought to the interview process. Here's an infographic that explains the awesome cost and time saving benefits of video interviews. Google+ is back in vogue for social recruiting — big time — and part of that is because using Google hangouts is a great way to pre-screen candidates for interviews. Leave it to the Dutch to come up with the wackiest job interview technique ever! It's no wonder I fit in so well in Holland. Bonus infographic: From the invention of the telephone to video interviewing via mobile, the evolution of the job application. P.S. Happy birthday dad!

The past few weeks we've been focusing a lot on taking the plunge into social recruiting. We've shared tips on how to get started, done a link love devoted to the subject, and now we're bringing you an interview with a client of ours who has done an amazing job of using social recruiting: Gordon Food Service.

Dave Wiltjer was kind enough to answer some of our questions about how and why Gordon Food Service uses social to recruit.

Jobcast: Gordon Food Service is obviously quite savvy when it comes to social media. What does the term social recruiting mean to you?

Dave: When we discuss social recruiting, we are talking about using social tools that will help with us in attracting and sourcing passive candidates. We also view social recruiting as a way to stay current with the various generations we are hiring from in today’s job market.

Jobcast: Why did Gordon Food Service decide to use social media for recruiting?

Dave: We decided to utilize social media for various reasons:

1. To reach a demographic that relies on and uses social media in everyday activities.

2. To reach a broader segment of the population, meaning those elusive passive candidates.

3. To extend our employment branding efforts and have a medium for connecting with potential candidates more quickly and directly.

Jobcast: How has Facebook in particular helped grow the Gordon Food Service employer brand?

Dave: Our strategy for social media recruiting was very defined before we launched the sites. We created the Facebook GFS Careers Site as a means for people to see what our culture and our people are like. We update the site with posts about events that take place in various locations, community service projects, and other fun activities that the company has sponsored throughout the year. Our goal is to give potential candidates an idea of what it’s like to work at Gordon Food Service.

Jobcast: Gordon Food Service has done a really great job with Facebook branding. How important is branding to your social media strategy?

Dave: The use of social media to support our branding efforts at Gordon Food Service is very important to us. Social media is a growing marketing channel and we want to make sure we are communicating our messages where our customers, potential customers, employees, and potential employees are. We are continuously learning about what works and what doesn’t work and refining as we go. Jobcast: Which social recruiting sites does Gordon Food Service use for recruiting? Dave: Gordon Food Service utilizes Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. Jobcast: Are job boards still a part of your recruiting strategy? Dave: Not as much as they were in the past. We still use them in some locations, but less each year. Jobcast: What advice would you have for other companies looking to grow their employer brand? Dave: Have a well defined strategy before launching the sites. Know how you are going to interact with people on the sites, how you are going to respond to inquiries, negative and positive. Be as transparent as possible. People want to see what it’s really like at your company. Try to respond as people, not as a corporate entity. Candidates want to interact with someone not something. Jobcast: Are there any changes or advancements you would like to see in social recruiting? Dave: I am a huge LinkedIn user, however, being that it is only for professionals, I would like to see some other sites that are geared more towards entry level operations positions. We hire a lot of warehouse and transportation individuals and it would be nice to have a site that captures their information and gives us recruiters a way to connect with them about opportunities. Jobcast: What should potential employees know about Gordon Food Service company culture? Dave: Gordon Food Service has a family culture as we are a family-owned company. We have been around for over 115 years and have grown by being the best in our industry. Gordon Food Service treats their employees like family, by providing exceptional benefits, facilities and work / life balance. Jobcast: Why did Gordon Food Service choose Jobcast for Facebook recruiting? Dave: When deciding on various options for integrating our jobs on Facebook, we ultimately decided to go with Jobcast. Some of the keys factors in making the decision were, price, size and location of Jobcast. Since we are a North American company, having the option to partner with a Canadian based company was a key component. Also, the size of Jobcast was appealing, since they are not the biggest out there, I figured they might be more willing to work with us if any changes needed to be made, which I can tell you, they have and it’s been great. Every time I needed an update or something changed, they responded right away and have come up with solutions for us. The last key component was price, as we are always looking at our bottom line, the price point from Jobcast coupled with the service they provide made it an easy decision when it came to signing the contract. Jobcast: Thank you so much, we really appreciate having you as clients! P.S.

Jobcast: Is there any topic you would like to see covered on the Jobcast blog? We aim to please :) Dave: I visit the blog regularly to get helpful hints from others. Keep doing what you are doing. Jobcast: And now we're blushing! We'd like to give a big thanks to Dave and Gordon Food Service for taking the time to answer these questions and being such a great example of effective social recruiting! For more inspiration you can find Dave on Twitter and GFS on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and LinkedIn. Next week we'll be bringing you a post all about recruiters who transformed their careers by getting social, stay tuned!

On Monday we talked about taking the leap into social recruiting. We shared a few links to back up the argument for using social to find talent, and also some apps to help implement social recruiting strategies. But there is so much more to add to that list!

Social recruiting is getting bigger and bigger. The definition itself is expanding along with the social networks that make it possible.

From employee referrals to job boards to Vine Videos, the evolution of social is fast and furious. And much like the fantastic film Fast and Furious 5 3D IMAX, it can be pretty overwhelming. But, thankfully, like the plot of every movie in the Fast and Furious series, the basic premise remains exactly the same! Create a strategy, implement that strategy, measure your success, and adjust your strategy accordingly.

You could do all of this with pen and paper, but Vin Diesel would sooo not approve, and neither would social media gurus. Personally, I think pen and paper is a great way to go, but it’s even better when supplemented with technology! I thought I would share some of my favorite tips and tools to help you make your recruiting social. Feel free to copy them down into your notepad, or save paper and Pocket them 🙂

Here’s a PDF put out by Oracle (weird, I know!) that breaks down how to develop a social recruiting strategy. It’s simple and very informative.

The best practices to keep in mind when developing a social media strategy.

Now for something more fun : an infographic-style compass to guide your social recruiting!

How to craft a perfect social media post.

It’s important to time your posts to maximize their visibility, and with buffer you can do just that from your PC, tablet or smart phone.

Until next week!

It's no secret that I love athletics. Most of the quotes I use in my writing can be attributed to coaches I admire, athletes or super heroes (Yes, I said super heroes. Forget radioactive spider bites and Kryptonian genetics, Batman fights crime with conditioning and wits alone!) It's also no secret that I am a sucker for awesome branding and design (obviously... I mean have you seen how well designed the Jobcast app is?!?!). So it should come as no surprise that I am a wee bit obsessed with Nike. They're athletic, uber-functional, slick and wonderfully bossy -- just like yours truly! Nike is best know for their famous "Just Do It!" campaign. And I buy into it hook-line-and-sinker. The philosophy behind their campaign: If you think something is worthwhile, stop waiting for permission and just do it! That's what was running through my head when I walked into my first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class and realized I was the only girl there, when I signed-up to do the Vancouver Tough Mudder despite having to sign a death waiver, and most recently, when I shot a wonderfully embarrassing Vine recruiting video for. I am happy I did all three! This philosophy can also be applied to recruiting. Lots of HR peeps and recruiters want to use social media in their efforts, but find themselves facing roadblocks along the way. Whether it's a nervous employer, negative colleague, or fear of making a mistake, sometimes the only way to get things done is to stop waiting for permission and take the plunge. Innovation is always risky, but it's the only way to progress and move forward. Now, don't get me wrong. I am in no way endorsing jumping into social recruiting head-first without some solid research and a good plan. I watched instructional video after instructional video before my first BJJ class, trained four months for Tough Mudder, and before shooting that Vine Video, I re-read Ryan's awesome article about recruiting videos. I also researched Vine, watched a ton of other people's Vine videos, and worked out how much (actually how little) it would cost. But I never asked permission. Alright, that's only half true. After I'd shot the video and put it up on the newly created Jobcast Vine account, I double-checked with Ryan before I posted to Facebook. He loved it, thank goodness... as it was already up on Twitter! It's one of our most Tweeted blog posts to date, shooting the video was a blast, and my bosses think I'm cool (hey guys, I think you're cool too!) I'm hoping this post inspires you to take the leap into social recruiting. Like any good coach, along with the pep talk, I'll leave you with some solid advice and strategic tips. Like any smart coach, most of it is borrowed from others, most who are much smarter than myself! Here are some awesome resources for those looking to make their recruiting social:

• Here are two very informative Infographics about the benefits of social recruiting

  and why employers love social media recruiting.

• This article lays out some convincing evidence for the benefit of using social media for recruiters.

• Why Facebook recruiting is the future! Hint, it's because of graph search.

• Once you've decided to take the plunge you'll need a plan of attack! Here are some

  great resources to help you plan your social recruiting strategy.

• And here's a great review of social recruiting apps by The Undercover Recruiter. Next week we'll have some great examples of recruiters who've taken the plunge into social with impressive results!

Valentine’s Day is almost upon us. I know this because of all the infographics and slideshows on Mashable, Forbes and Pinterest instructing me on “how to woo a nerd”, “how NOT to celebrate Valentine’s Day in the office”, and “How to make healthy raw-vegan substitutions for V-Day treats!”.

Personally I want none of this. I wooed my nerd a long time ago, and I work from home, cafes, occasionally bars (it’s a European thing [don’t tell my boss!]), and personally I think the term V-Day should be reserved for remembering veterans and that raw-vegan treats should be reserved only for mortal enemies.

Not that I’m not into Valentines Day — any excuse for chocolate is a good one! It’s just that I don’t think it has much to do with social recruiting, work, or finding cool talent. The only exception I could think of is how weirdly similar dating is to recruitment. Recruiters play Millionaire Matchmaker to their employer clients, while trying to convince eager young candidates to brush their hair and put on a collared shirt. So, what better time to drop some links with helpful tips about finding the right candidate?!

We often have a list of qualities we are looking for in a date, but so often those lists just get in the way of finding love. Refusing to give someone a shot, just because they don’t like cake, have a cool bike, or look like Bruce Willis circa The Fifth Element, is a great way to stay single. Lou Adler argues that over-reliance on job descriptions can do exactly the same thing. As unconventional as this may seem, he advocates banning traditional skill and experience-based job descriptions in order to find the right candidate.

Now, just because you should avoid ruling out potential hires based on their lack of Bruce Willisesque biceps doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep some desired characteristics in mind. Here are 5 key traits to look for in potential candidates.

Of course, we have to include this : It’s both an Infographic and a reference to speed-dating — two birds, one stone. This Infographic gives the lowdown on finding awesome candidates quickly.

Bosses are from Mars, employees are from Venus… at least when communication is concerned. Now that you’ve found an awesome employee, you’ll need to actual talk to them. Scary, I know! Thankfully Blogging4Jobs has some great advice on how to better communicate with employees.

That’s all for this, aptly-titled, Link Love!

I need to figure out which running shoes to wear on tomorrow’s hot Valentine’s Day date (ie. drinking tea and watching The Ultimate Fighter)  — marriage for the win!

Timing matters. This is true in all aspects of life. From planning a surprise snowball attack, to knowing when to apologize for said snowball attack, it's all in the timing. If you want to be effective with your social recruiting campaign, or social media in general, you'll need to master a few scheduling basics. Luckily, with social media, unlike snowball attacks, it's very easy to orchestrate proper timing — there are even apps for that! And don't worry, I'm working on one for more effective snowball attack campaigns as well. Winter SnowBlitz 2014 is going to be awesome! But back to recruiting... Here's a pretty easy 4-step plan to timing for your social recruiting attack campaign. (This plan would work just as well for social media marketing, branding and straight-up world-domination). Step number 1:

Know your target

Like a kid hidden behind a tree, snowball in hand, you must know what kind of talent you are looking to target with your job posts. I know, I know, this is really basic, but it matters so much that it stands repeating. The audience you are trying to reach will dictate not only the content of what you post, but also the timing of those posts.

Different generations are online at different times. Also, different careers can dictate at what time potential employees will be checking the net. Nurses do a lot of shift work, so their schedules will differ from a 9-5 accountant's. Your audience will also determine which social network you choose to post with. I always recommend using Facebook to post jobs on your Branded Career Page, but you need to consider Twitter, LinkedIn, Job Boards, Google+, Tumblr and Pinterest as well. Effective timing will be different depending on the network. Number 2:

Pick a time (NOT) any time!

Never throw a snowball at your sister when your mom is watching! Also, don't post jobs for office work between 10 pm and 6 am. Never! There are a ton of statistics about timing effectiveness for different social networks. These stats are super useful when you're beginning your social recruiting endeavor, but as you start to gain momentum with your posting, you'll need to start customizing things a little bit. These stats are mostly based on averages, not necessarily on your ideal candidates. Nor are they based on your followers. Take some time to assess when your posts are reaching people. Jobcast offers easy-to-track metrics for monitoring how effective your job posts are. Play around with different timing and see what works for you... Who knows, maybe your ideal time to post a job on Facebook is Sunday afternoon. If so, then who cares what the stats say. ATTACK! Number 3:

Find your frequency

Blitz attacks do not work for social media recruiting! Especially when it comes to Twitter and Instagram. If you post ten Tweets in half an hour, you are spamming. Even worse, if you post ten Tweets in half an hour, and then disappear for a couple days, you are an inconsistent spammer. Even if the first five posts are mind-blowingly awesome, by the sixth you will have lost followers (unless you're posting between 10pm and 6am, when no one is paying attention!) Please, please, please don't spam. It's the worst. Please do post consistently. For most employers, it's ideal to post once every 1 - 2 hours for recruiting, marketing, and branding. You can post more, or less frequently, depending on what works for you. Remember, it's vital to track the metrics of your job posts. This is the best way to determine how often you can post to the social networks you use. Bonus Tip:

Vary your content

You can get away with posting more often if you keep your content varied. Post cool links, tips, and pics. Also respond to other Tweeters (do NOT refer to them as twits, as much as you may want to) and re-Tweet. Grand Finale Step 4:

There's an app for that

I love apps. Mobile, desktop, Android, Apple... I love them. Apps make life better. Anyone who disagrees with me is wrong and should fear a snowball attack when they least expect it (I told you that my app is in the works!). Jobcast is, in my not so humble opinion, the best Facebook recruiting app — hands down. But unfortunately, you can't do everything with our app. Our developers are wizards, not gods! Thankfully there are awesome apps like Buffer to help you time your content. There are other apps out there, like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck, but Buffer is by far my favorite. It's easy to use, well-designed and syncs up with other great apps like Feedly, Google Currents and Pocket (please, please, please check out Pocket. You will thank me, promise!) and they have killer customer service. What more could you ask for? These apps are amazing for scheduling things like job posts, blog articles and links. Just make sure you also maintain a live presence to answer questions and stay engaged with your audience. Oh, and warning: Turn off your scheduled posts in the event of a horrible world-changing tragedy. You could end up with major egg on your face, or simply appear callous by posting about your favorite new Starbucks treat in the wake of a tsunami! There you go, four steps, plus one hot tip, to get you well on your way to perfectly-timed social sharing! I'm going to go check my Twitter and try very hard to resist my urge to spam pictures of dogs catching snowballs.

What’s the buzz, tell me what’s happening, what’s the buzz, tell me what’s happening…

Just in case you’re not a theatre nerd, those are lyrics from Jesus Christ Superstar. And yes, I was a lady-apostle in a live performance of JCSS, and no, it was not back in highschool… It was just last year!

So I’m basically a rockstar, which is awesome, just don’t ever call an employee that. According to Forbes, the term “Rockstar employee” is one of the most annoying bits of office place jargon to come out of 2012.

Although I’m of the opinion that all jargon is terribly annoying, I find I still use it  in my blog posts or “Articles”. Mostly because it’s recognizable. Using terms like “personal branding”, though rather silly, is still more succinct than explaining the idea it represents over and over again. It’s also great for SEO, and I’d be a very naughty blogger if I neglected SEO!

Forbes is running a poll to determine the most annoying corporate buzzwords of 2013. It’s pretty hilarious, and I highly recommend you give it a look-see! Try not to snort coffee out of your nose and all over your tablet (not that that happened to me or anything).

So, in honor of Jargon Madness 2013, here’s some buzzword-related links to inform your vote:

Buzzword numba one : Engagement!

It used to mean when two humans decide to make their relationship legally binding. Now it means, well, about a hundred million different things depending on context, who you ask, and whether you ask on Facebook or Twitter. On this blog though, context is everything, so we’re going with engagement as it relates to HR, here’s 5 tips for engaging employees.

Next up : Pivot!

Number two is the best kind of buzzword, and one I had never ever heard before. Except maybe whilst watching golf with my dad. It basically means to switch directions and it is being applied a lot to strategy. It is kind of a positive spin on flip-flop, but less hilarious sounding. This article from Inc. explains how to plan for a successful pivot, and let’s face it, sometimes you’ve just got to switch up your strategy to stay on top.

Content Marketing is number three.

I think it is the least sexy (remember when that was a buzzword?!) of the buzzwords on our list, but perhaps the most useful to those of us involved with social media. Copyblogger explains that content marketing is basically “sales-minded storytelling” and gives us the lowdown on how to use it effectively. Now that’s money!

And as an added bonus, this article about the valuable content market strategies of George Carlin and Sheldon Cooper is a must read!

Topicjacking!

Related to content marketing is “topicjacking”. This one wins hands-down as the most hilarious buzzword. This short little article explains what topicjacking is and how to do it. Warning : topicjacking is a little bit evil!

Now, how could we talk buzzwords without including the king buzzword : Big Data? Very easily. Moving on.

.. to a topic that’s not actually about any particular buzzword at all. It’s about the job titles created by employers and recruiters to make jobs seem more awesome than they actually are. Same concept. This article gives some solid advice on how to choose a job title that actually fits the position you are hiring for. It also wins this week’s award for silliest blog image.

Okay, okay… you’re right, we do have to include Big Data (at very least to justify using that image of Data playing the violin!) Here’s a fantastic article explaining how HR and Big Data are a natural fit!

That’s all for links.

In other news, I have finally chosen my Ultimate Fighting nickname: BIG DATA.

Fear me.