From Longford to LA

TikTok’s Thomas Dalton is hiring for the “It” social media company of the moment

2009 BSc Head of Recruitment North America - Content, Ops & Corporate Functions

It takes a special talent to find employees who will fit into a corporate culture with a mission “to inspire creativity and bring joy.” And yet, social media “It” company TikTok has found just the man in MU Computer Science and Finance grad Thomas Dalton (BSc 2008). As Head of Recruitment for North America, Los-Angelesbased Dalton holds responsibility for the daily management and recruiting operations across Content, Ops and Corporate Functions in the region.

No small challenge for the County Longford native, but he’s clearly got a knack for it. TikTok (in case you somehow haven’t heard) is currently the most downloaded app in the world and one of the world’s fastest growing social media platforms. TikTok allows users to create short videos with music, filters, and other features. It’s available in 155 markets, in 75 languages and has 600 million monthly active users. Its parent company ByteDance is the world’s most highly-valued privately-held startup, comprised of several social platforms allowing users to share videos and post content with millions of users around the world. “You work alongside so many talented and creative professionals, it keeps the job very interesting. We are solving problems for the first time in the company’s history - and on a world stage,” Dalton said. “We push ourselves to raise the standards each year and the company gets increasingly better with every new hire.”

After graduating from Maynooth in 2008 with a degree in Computer Science and Finance, Dalton, like many, jumped around a bit between jobs in Ireland: a year at Microsoft, three years managing the Red Cow Moran Hotel, a year working events at Punchestown Racecourse. Then, it was off to new shores, where he found his niche. Dalton landed a position recruiting for tech roles at Robert Half in Philadelphia. “I fell into recruiting really by accident,” Dalton said. “Having had a portion of my degree focused on Computer Science gave me a competitive edge. I was able to understand requirements quickly and form strong bonds with clients and candidates. The work was very challenging at first but got easier over time.”

Three years later he was off to another recruitment position at Amazon Web Services in Seattle. And in July 2020, Dalton was named to the Forbes Human Resources Council, an invitation only community for senior-level human resource leaders across all industries.