January 23, 2012
by Lance Haun
3 Comments




The Most Important Person On The Internet: Happy Tim Sackett Day

Normal business attire for Sackett. Click to enlarge.

Ever since Laurie Ruettimann suggested a Tim Sackett day, I’ve been stoked.

Not because I think Tim deserves any sort of recognition, especially on any of those influencer or top blogger lists. Because, really? It’s entertaining as hell when he doesn’t get picked.

I played kickball when I was a kid in school and there was this little kid named Ricky who was kind of an annoying little wise ass. And while he was good at kickball, he always got picked for our teams way too late. He’d be picked in the fourth round and he would just be livid about it because, in reality, he was definitely first or second round material.

So one day, the kids who picked teams decided that neither one of them was going to pick him, just to see what would happen. And so his face got more and more red as each successive round passed. He finally got picked: dead last.

Everybody figured he was finally going to lose it. Little Ricky was going to blow a gasket. But instead, he played the most aggressive game of kickball anyone has ever seen. It’s all fun and games until a red playground ball comes flying at your head.

I’m not quite sure why that story is relevant but it made me think of Timmy. I can see him sitting in his office, somewhere between here and the east coast, pounding out a dozen phone calls, making a placement and writing a post that was still better than mine. It only hurts when I think about it for too long.

It is also great talking basketball with him and the other guys in the 8 man rotation. I’m not exactly sure how well Sackett fits in when he goes to the Palace at Auburn Hills but his short whiteness would look good in Portland. Just in case he is thinking about where to retire early.

In all seriousness, Tim is a good guy, getting things done and making things happen. He’s always open with his talents and has been tremendous to the success of TLNT, the place that signs my checks. And when I helped him get his blog up and going, he sent me a Michigan State T-shirt. Then I got to see him jump off a perfectly fine tower in Vegas (and nail the landing).

If you don’t know Tim, you need to check him out at:

Connect with him, know him. He’s a smart guy, even if he’ll never ever make a list.

January 16, 2012
by Lance Haun
0 comments




What Word Limit? The Constraint Is Your Ability To Write A Compelling Tale

On the last post, I had a commenter ask if I thought my 2000 word post was well received. It’s a good question and one question I often get is about the length of blog posts. Some people say 400 words should be your goal. Some people say no more than 600 to 800 words. Supposedly, nobody reads anything over 800 words online.

Generally speaking, I keep my posts on TLNT below 800 words. I’ve dipped into 1,200 word territory on occasion but that’s pretty rare. Now, I would be interested in doing a long form series for TLNT but what has been better for online publications, at least as far as I know, has been a series approach. So let’s say I want to drop somewhere between 5,000-10,000 words on a specific subject. Instead of putting that all into a single online piece, you create a series of it for the week and, in so many words, milk the long form subject the way you put your biggest story in the back half of a magazine.

It keeps the content brief for people who want to jump in and out of the story but good for the folks who love to read longer stories.

For this blog though, there is no formal word limit. I’ve gone over 1,000 words numerous times. Especially when my blog was more popular, longer posts were the norm. When this blog sucked, sometimes the posts wouldn’t go beyond this point (you’re at the 235 word mark by the way).

The big failure in evangelizing blogging as a platform is the reduction of the discussion of blogs as the sum of their technical attributes. How long should it be? How do I SEO optimize it? Should I tag or categorize? What platform should I use? Should I allow comments? How many visitors am I getting? How much money am I making per pageview?

This is where I’m supposed to say this stuff is important but I’m not going to say that.

What people don’t spend enough time on is thinking about their writing. When you focus in on word counts rather than telling a good story, you’re destined to fail. If you focus and write a compelling story but it is too long, you have a lot of options. If you write a crappy story within your pre-destined word count, the only way to fix it is with a rewrite.

There are a lot of technically competent blogs out there. Folks who did their homework and have the technical situation down. But, let’s be real: the content can daft on some of the most fantastically constructed blogs. Because they couldn’t imagine going over 600 words, they never cover issues with any sort of weight or breadth that have a few more words allows you to do. Or that their link baited titles are so SEO optimized to the hilt that it feels formulaic, just like their self-linking in the post content itself.

There’s a legitimate alternative out there. Think a ton about what you’re writing about, read multiple takes on the subject, think about who is interested in it, think about why you’re interested in it, write something interesting, edit (for clarity, simplicity and completeness), and hit publish.

For some folks, that will be 200 words. For me, sometimes it is almost 2,000. Or 200 words. (Okay, it’s never 200 words)

January 12, 2012
by Lance Haun
6 Comments




Finding Your Writing Voice: One Tip From A Non-Expert

Last week, I wrote a blog post that was almost 2,000 words long. That’s not that exceptional. What’s surprising is that I sat down and wrote the entire piece in about 90 minutes.

The fact of the matter is, I spent a ton of time on that post. Reading (and re-reading) material about the subject, thinking about it, thinking about my approach and then thinking about the key points I wanted to cover.

I’m not the quickest thinker in the world. It means I’m not the greatest conversationalist in the world, nor am I prone to amaze you in a casual conversation. And please, I’m not fishing for compliments or having a fit of false modesty. I’m not above being egotistical here but even I know my personal limits.

Luckily this piece isn’t going to be 2,000 words, though. The advice I have today is pretty simple:

Finding your writing voice isn’t some existential journey. For me, it was about writing. A lot. All of the time. For years. Until I was tired enough where the only way I could write was the way I write.

It’s easily panned advice, akin to “act naturally.”

But the process of making that leap was actually fairly important for me because it meant I spent a lot less time trying to translate what I was thinking to what I was writing. If you give me a topic that I know well, or can research well enough, and ask me to write something about it, I can do it in fairly quick time. It’s not automatic but the process is smoother. If I know what I want to write, I sit down and do it in a sitting. Usually less than an hour or two.

That’s not to say that if your natural style is littered with typos and grammar errors, you should be content with that. I’ve tried hard to eliminate spelling and grammar issues, though I have my own personal challenges. That’s also not to say that your writing style can’t improve (albeit, slowly, especially in the beginning). The important part was stripping my writing down to its foundations, finding what’s working for me and what wasn’t and starting to make incremental improvements on my style and mechanics from there.

The problem, at least for me, was that it took me basically taking everything I learned in formal writing for business and killing it word by word. And for people who have spent their entire career writing in a specific way to a specific audience, that becomes the barrier to you finding your own voice.

If there is a shortcut, I wish you would have told me that five years ago. I don’t think there is though. You wrote your way into those habits, you’re going to have to write yourself out of them.

January 5, 2012
by Lance Haun
9 Comments




Picking Your Brain Isn’t Highway Robbery (Or Why Charging For Expertise Has A Short Shelf Life)

I’ve read a lot of articles about brain picking (1, 2, 3, 4 to name a few). You know about brain pickers, right? These suckers who think they can just glom a bunch of free information off of you and run into the wind like they’ve stolen something valuable from you?

Man, who are these people? Eff them! If you want this information in my brain, you need to pay me some cashola! Otherwise, you’re locked out. Sorry, but I don’t care if you’re my dear old Dad or a former boss who has stuck his neck out for me, either.

Except, that attitude is completely and utterly wrong.

The Knowledge/Idea Trap

Here’s the deal: your expertise is valuable but if you have a problem with brain picking, you’re valuing the wrong thing and managing the wrong problem.

I think it is safe to say that most of us think we have unique and interesting ideas about a few things in our area of subject matter expertise. I know I feel that way.

The trap is that we feel invested in our ideas and expertise (because, we likely have invested in it) so we feel that if we are giving some of that away, then we should be compensated for our investment.

There’s a problem with that line of thinking. Unless you plan on patenting an idea you have (good luck and let me know how your bank account looks at the end of that), your idea’s market worth on its own is next to nil. And to keep whatever low value market worth an idea does have, you have to stay ahead of almost everyone else in your field perpetually because nobody pays for ideas that are older than a few years (or months, or weeks, or days, depending on your industry).

Pruning Roses Via The Internet

Doesn’t education count for something? Doesn’t expertise mean anything? Of course it does. And not in some sarcastic way either. Education, both formal and informal, help prepare you and keep you at the forefront of your industry. It helps you develop in a way no other function can. When it comes to deep expertise, there is no better option.

Here’s the interesting part: a certain aspect of education and expertise has become so commoditized that it makes the idea in and of itself have low value.

Last year, I inherited some sad looking rose bushes at my rental house. My mom has cared for roses for a long time so I thought to ask her first but instead, I checked to see if YouTube had anything on there about how to care for roses (I’ve used YouTube before for this purpose). They did. I learned more by sitting through three or four five minute videos and then doing it than I remembered from my mom. I knew exactly where and how to cut, when to do it and what it should look like.

Shouldn’t master gardeners be terrified of this?

Following The Blue Collar Example

I come from a blue collar family so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that a new class and generation of workers is suddenly freaking out about this. I’ve heard hours of expert advice handed out for free with all of these people, too. Oh, the humanity! They are giving away their ideas for free!

Only, their ideas are rarely free. There is always some sort of cost involved in executing an idea. Whether it be the cost of time, actual material or the cost of expertise to help you execute it the way you need, the idea of a free idea is categorically insane. If I ask a web expert what I need to do to improve my website, they could probably list off a couple of things. The cheapest part about that whole process will definitely be identifying the problems with my website. The more expensive part, whether I do it myself or hire someone to do it will be the actual fixing of it.

In short, most blue collar experts don’t care about giving out advice or having people pick their brain. They make money on delivering and executing on them better than, cheaper than and/or faster than you can do yourself. And they’ve figured out they can charge a helluva lot more for that.

So Then, What’s The Problem With The “Pick Your Brain” Question?

If you’re the best plumber, the best recruiter, the best lawyer or the best whatever in your field, you will be judged on delivery, not of ideas, but of work and results. Any plumber can give you an idea as to why your sink might be leaking, a great one will fix the leak right the first time, quickly and easily. Any lawyer can tell you what your problem is, a great one will help you take care of whatever problems you had while minimizing your risk. People and companies routinely pay for the latter of those, gladly.

So if we reduce the value of ideas (which, by themselves, are worth very little to begin with and slope quickly towards nothing), then what’s to stop us from just wasting our time with brain picking questions all day?

I mentioned earlier that the vocal opposition to brain picking was valuing the wrong thing (that is, valuing ideas over doing the real, valuable work, that you don’t have to constantly defend and pitch as being valuable). But instead of managing who you’re giving your ideas out to in order to protect them (by charging for them, like they are valuable), you should instead focus on managing your time better or finding a better way to spread your ideas.

Managing Your Brain Being Picked (Without Being Insulting)

To give you an example, I’ll meet almost anyone for lunch. I have to eat anyway (time lost) and I don’t particularly like eating alone (personal benefit, even if it kinda makes me a loser). And if it is a brain picker who wants to buy me lunch, I make sure it is close to my home and is food I like to eat.

So I take the approach that my conversation over lunch is worth very little. It usually is as I invest zero time in it outside of the time I would have spent eating anyway. If it is someone who has an HR product, we talk about it. I talk about what I’ve seen (that I can remember). If it is someone with a WordPress issue, we can talk about what I’ve done and what they feel comfortable doing on their own. And usually, we talk about more than just shop which is good.

Sometimes they are happy with just that and I never hear from them again but that’s literally the worst thing that can ever happen. I get lunch with someone new, that I didn’t pay for and I didn’t lose anything for it. The ideas I gave them or the instructions I told them to Google are going to cost them way more in time, money and effort than whatever silly charge I could have constructed for our meeting.

Most of the time, I hear from them again. Sometimes it is for something more in-depth, which they are happy to pay for because I started our relationship in good faith and they know what I know (and what I don’t know). Sometimes, I get to refer one of my friends or perhaps even one of my company’s events or publications to the people I talked to which is good. It’s a low risk gamble that I’ll make a connection that helps me out in the long run, with the longer term goal in mind.

Selling Expertise Alone Has A Short Shelf Life

There will always be people and companies that want to abuse boundaries. Like the company that wanted me to draft them a social media policy based on a discussion. Or the person that wants me to re-do their blog for them for a credit link at the bottom (gee, thanks). But that isn’t brain picking, that’s work. And I don’t know about anybody else but it is super easy to say no to gratis work.

If you are in a position to sell your services, you should know that people don’t pay for expertise alone most of the time unless you have an extremely long relationship with them, you have something spellbindingly unique to offer (1% of you) or you’ve found a person or company who will pay you until you’ve run out of ideas (or their ideas catch up with you).

All of the consultants I know work their ass off on deliverables, on creating processes that help them do their job better and on mastering the art of communicating with people effectively. Dozens of painstakingly written documents, Excel spreadsheets that can’t be sent over e-mail because they are too big and reading hundreds of pages of BS and summarizing it so that a company can make a decision point and you can get to work on implementing it with the internal team. Because when Johnny CFO comes knocking on the managing director’s door asking why you just dropped 100g’s on a consulting firm last year, they’re gonna have something to show for it, not a bunch of ideas.

Whatever silly idea you have about selling brain picking sessions, creating a rate card for lunches and coffees, or keeping strangers from wasting your time because you haven’t figured this one out yet, it’s time to reconsider what exactly you’re trying to protect (your time, your sanity) and what you’re not trying to protect (your ideas alone).

If you truly have unique information, you probably shouldn’t be selling it in a one off way, anyway. You should be looking at scaling it beyond coffee shop and lunch conversations if you really think they have that much value. There are some pretty traditional ways to get your idea out there (write a book, get published) and some non-traditional ways (do a paid newsletter, offer paid videos).

Where Do You Stand?

In short, it is about three things:

  1. Realizing what is important when it comes to expertise - The ability to out-execute, or be the best in either cost, speed or quality (or some combination of the three) will always be more sustainable than dolling out piece meal ideas or excessively worrying about brain picking.
  2. You deserve to be paid for adding value - Ideas on their own don’t add significant value but if someone is asking you to work, you deserve to be paid. Knowing (and selling) things that are valuable and acknowledging (and not selling) things that are not will help you get paid.
  3. Real brain picking boundaries are about time management, not idea management - If someone can talk to you on the phone for fifteen minutes and it isn’t a bother, then what’s the problem? If you normally eat lunch but can eat lunch with someone who may be a good connection down the road and it isn’t an inconvenience, share what you know.

Me personally? I’m always happy to have my brain picked, especially by people I’ve made past connections with and as long as it isn’t inconvenient for either one of us. And I’m always happy to tell you exactly when brain picking turns into work (and, it never happens at lunch). As long as you’re cool with that, you can come over and we can go grab lunch when the schedule permits.

Where do you stand on this?

December 20, 2011
by Ben Eubanks
3 Comments




Using career paths as retention tools

retention toolsWhat are your tips for creating and communicating a clear career path as a retention tool?

I saw this question posted recently on an HR site and thought it was worth exploring. And then recently I read this post by Deidre Honner, the HR Maven. It’s a classic example of how not to do the above. Here’s a snippet.

Someone doing it wrong

I was contacted by someone who works outside my organization, asking for some career advice… I asked her about her current employer.  They are a large area employer with several locations. Seems there would be lots of opportunity and availability to move up the ladder.  Or at least try another ladder.

Before looking externally, I suggested that she look internally. And I asked her about opportunities for promotion.  What she said stunned me.  She didn’t know.

I thought my hearing failed me. Not only did she not know what opportunities there were within the company, she wasn’t ALLOWED to know because she wasn’t a manager or a salaried employee.

Wow. I’m just as shocked as Deirdre. If you are a large organization with various types of operations, it is in your best interest to identify the solid performers and do what you can to keep them on board. If it means transferring them to another job that they want to do, then do it. Moving a talented performer around might cause some extra paperwork, but if the alternative is them leaving the organization for another employer, then you really don’t have a choice, right?

Someone doing it right

My best friend works closely with a company called Bechtel. They are known for finding their A players internally and moving them around every 2-3 years. This keeps the people engaged and knowledgeable about multiple areas of the business and it helps the leadership know that they are filling internal positions with quality people. One of their biggest draws for candidates is the opportunity to grow professionally and to have exciting assignments in different areas of the country (or the world, if they choose to go international). They use the idea of a varied career path as a retention tool, and they do it well.

It’s a mindset issue

Instead of looking at employees as resources to be hoarded, look at them as resources to be shared. Find other areas that they are interested in and look for ways to get them there. Look for their areas of strength and give them more opportunities to use them. You don’t own the people, so don’t try to hold them back from doing what they love.

Anyone else work for a company that values career progression internally? What about a company that doesn’t? How do you think their corporate cultures compare?

This is a guest post by Ben Eubanks of upstartHR. Ben spends his days writing, speaking, and working as an HR generalist in Huntsville, AL. He recently published a new guide titled Rock Your Corporate Culture, and it looks at ways leaders can define and leverage their internal culture for business success.

December 15, 2011
by Guest Writer
3 Comments




Three Ways To Keep Active And Find Success While Unemployed

Editor’s Note: This guest post was provided by Erin Palmer on behalf of Villanova University’s online certificate programs, such as PMP certification prep courses and Business Intelligence training. Enjoy -LH

“When I have the time…”  These words are often spoken wistfully by employees attempting to balance a busy work, family and social life. For displaced workers, it can be disorienting to transition from a schedule jam-packed with meetings, appointments and clients to an unplanned existence of job searches and networking events. Finding a job requires work and creativity. We’ve all heard the old adage, “treat finding a job like it is a job,” but few job seekers develop their job search the way they’ve cultivated their professions.

Don’t rely solely on the Internet

Too often our perception of what a well-rounded job search is begins and ends with the Internet. It’s counter-intuitive that a tool that has brought so much efficiency to our lives can also be the proverbial anchor around the neck of the unemployed. However, think of how many people are currently unemployed. Where do you think most people are looking for jobs? If you are one of thousands of people searching the web for job opportunities, how will you stand out from the rest of the crowd?

To truly capitalize and shorten your time between jobs, get away from the computer. Perusing employment sites can be a part of your job search strategy, but it cannot be the entirety of your job search strategy. Remember that only a fraction of positions are ever advertised. While you’re surfing the Internet, pushing your resume out to every position that’s posted, opportunities might be passing you by. You have to get away from the computer to tap into the jobs that never get advertised online.

Keep your skills fresh

Do you know what potential employers are afraid of when they see an application from a candidate who has been out of work for an extended period of time? They are usually afraid that candidate’s skill set has gone stale. People don’t want to hire someone that they feel has too much catching up to do to be a viable member of the team. Avoid letting your skills go out of date by pursuing volunteer opportunities in your career field or in a field you have been considering transitioning into.

Search sites like volunteermatch.org to find non-profits who need professionals with your qualifications.  Instead of offering to serve food at the local soup kitchen, find out if they need help with accounting, fundraising or project management. You will be able to keep your skills fresh, enhance your resume and may even find some great networking opportunities. Volunteer experience is still experience, and it’s better than sitting in your pajamas all day.

Network, network, network

In addition to keeping your skills current, use your time in between jobs to join professional groups and keep your network current. Networking workshops and events can be found in your local newspaper or business journal. You might be surprised at how many groups are available. Contacts are vital for employment opportunities, so work these events with your long-term future in mind.

Seek out any training that would be marketable to employers in the future, keeping in mind that businesses are looking for employees with more diverse skills than ever. Classes and other training programs can help introduce you to new people in your field. Use these people to find out about job openings.

Time between jobs can be daunting, but it can also be productive. Sitting around and complaining about the job market isn’t going to help. Using this time to grow your skills, strengthen your network and clarify your long-term goals can be time well-spent.

December 13, 2011
by Lance Haun
0 comments




Looking For An Applicant Tracking System? An Opportunity For A Free Go At One (And Help For A New Company)

Applicant tracking systems are everywhere. And when you work for the top recruiting industry publication, let’s just say you see a lot of products.

I try to see many of them and keep up with them. Really. It is a crowded market out there, though.

I found one company out there called HiringThing and this company came to me through an interesting connection.

I was a member of an e-mail group in the Portland area and I saw an announcement about a startup ATS that was looking for companies to partner with in their early stages. I reached out to them to ask them about it and see what they were doing.

That was in July of 2010. Almost a year and a half ago.

They weren’t ready to talk then. They didn’t know what they had yet. But slowly and steadily, they built up a few new clients on the platform, talked to them back and forth and kept improving the product.

Recently, they reached back out to me (there’s a lesson in there somewhere, startup folks). They still aren’t ready to tell their whole story yet but they are looking for a full launch next year (when I will write a more complete look at them then).

They asked me if I knew a few companies who could use an applicant tracking system (preferably ones that might have none, or ad hoc solutions) that they could work with pre-launch at no cost to fine tune their product for final launch. I didn’t know any off the top of my head but I thought I could send out a message to see if anyone would know of a company and would be interested.

If you are interested, please get in touch with Joshua Siler at HiringThing (e-mail: [email protected]) and put in the subject line “Beta Access.” During this time, they are helping by doing the setup and transition as well as hoping to get your ear about what you do and don’t like about the system.

December 5, 2011
by Lance Haun
7 Comments




Is HR Technology A Boring Story?

TechCrunch got some serious flak for their reporting of the acquisition of SuccessFactors by enterprise giant SAP with a despondent and bored tone.

The truth of the matter is that the comings and goings of the entire enterprise software industry is boring. I love technology and I love HR but even I know most people probably aren’t fascinated by this acquisition.

Now being interesting and being important can be (and often are) two separate things. Outside of the CIOs, CHROs, HRIS pros, industry consultants and analysts and the employees and clients of these companies, there is only a modicum of interest. Again, lack of interest doesn’t mean it is unimportant. SAP is a giant and this transaction will only broaden their reach.

Of course, the problem many people had with the TechCrunch story was the over-editorializing of a really important story by the author. That she dissed on an important story by saying it was boring. I get it.

Editorializing on a story can be great, though. Especially if you’re not the one breaking the story, adding analysis, quotes from experts or finding a different angle than anyone else can be an important piece that will make your story stand out from a simple, factual brief. Certainly, TechCrunch took that approach to the extreme and it was rewarded with a rash of tweets (over 600 at the time of this writing). Not too shabby for the most boring story EVAR.

You can’t go to the well too often on that though. If everything is boring, or new, or extreme, or the best, or the next ____, all of your stories can start to blend together. Eventually, they lose their punch in any extreme. Not every story can be spun, sometimes news is news is news. And knowing when to go off the deep end really go at a story and when to avoid it makes sure that the stories you do invest in beyond reporting really do count.

This is news that TechCrunch probably couldn’t afford not to report but isn’t in their wheelhouse. TechCrunch isn’t above simply reporting the latest tech news. They often do so with very little editorializing.

That probably would’ve been the best option here. Then again, would anyone in our niche be linking to or responding to the TechCrunch story on this acquisition if they hadn’t?

December 1, 2011
by Lance Haun
0 comments




PR Pitches: You’re (Probably) Doin’ Them Wrong

I get many PR pitches a day. Unfortunately, much of what I see isn’t good.

Before I get into this, I must tell you that there are some great PR folks out there that I’ve worked with, both in-house and at agencies. And although I work with folks who have worked for traditional media, I’ve never been part of those ranks. I’ve always worked on the digital side (both here on my blog for the last 5+ years and at ERE). My perspective is truly based on the hundreds of press releases I’ve received and the many dozens of conversations and discussions that have stemmed from them in a digital-only environment.

I’m going to be talking a week from today (Thursday, December 8th) about how to not suck at doing PR in this new media world with my friends at HRmarketer. And if you’re in PR, especially in the HR space, you should sign up and be there (or sign up to grab the recording at a later date).

I won’t give away all that we’ll be talking about but I wanted to give you a taste of what I wanted to cover too.

There are two types of PR folks in this world:

  1. When I need you, I’ll let you know – I don’t know these guys names. Sometimes they’ll pop-up every couple of weeks and then not be heard from for months. It’s transactional. They have a story, I’m on a list in their database and they are going to blast it out and hope it works.
  2. I want to build something together – I’ve had several PR people reach out to me before they had a story, figured out what I liked and what I didn’t like and just send me stuff that would be interesting. I’d much rather have a 15 minute phone call and let them know what I’m interested in than getting dripped on for nine months with the same lame stories.

The part that nobody will tell you is that the first example can work. I can tell you I’ve definitely run a story based on information from a guy or gal I didn’t know from Adam (or Eve?) the day before. The fact is, interesting angles and stories usually win out, even if the method is flawed.

So what’s the point then? Why not just build a distribution list and just blast it?

Because, I expect a person behind the switch. When I take time out of my day, respond to a release with a “No thanks” and give a brief explanation why, I hope that you won’t send me a similar blast a week later asking me if I had time to look over the press release you sent me (or sending me dozens of similar pitches).

Knowing the person behind the message is a way to guarantee the message gets read. If I know there’s a good PR person behind the message, I will open it, read through and give them the benefit of the doubt, even if they send me the occasional irrelevant piece. And if I know the person behind the message, I am more willing to forward on to a colleague that may be looking for something.

I am looking forward to sharing more media relations (from my side of the fence) next week (so do sign up). It’s a fun topic that I enjoy getting a little fired up about.

November 29, 2011
by Lance Haun
20 Comments




Something New, Something Different

Two years ago, I changed my domain name. Today, it happened again.

Other than me being a glutton for punishment, this has been something I’ve wanted to do for a while. After my work started at TLNT, it became glaringly obvious that I couldn’t write about the same things I wrote about there. That’s bad for everyone.

And I wanted to continue to write, on my own, and more frequently. This wasn’t happening with Rehaul.

Then, I Googled my name and found out that this domain still ranked second for my name. It was defunct and needed work.

I also had kicked around this idea about how I could really continue to write about things that are more interesting but not applicable to TLNT. Maybe a bit more inside baseball, or just things I observe from talking to people in HR and recruiting with a insider/outsider perspective. And I could talk a bit more about what I’m doing without rather superficial restraint. So I think the bracket analogy works alright to describe the new direction. And at the very least, it can justify my love for sports stories too.

So that’s it. I moved. No big deal. And really, what I hope is that I push for more content here going forward.

Kudos to Laurie who just told me to go for it. Everyone knows I don’t have time for focus groups and research. And for those of you worried about subscriptions, backlinks and such, I got it. Even if you have old Your HR Guy links, it should still resolve properly. But if you have a blogroll, you can update it (either with an edit… or a delete, heh).