In honour of the late Ed Han!
If you are like me, you never met Ed in person, yet you knew him. He was ‘hyperactive’ here on LinkedIn as he said, and was also active on Twitter/X where he participated in various Twitter Chats – TalentCulture and HireFriday, to name a few. Those were the long gone days.
More recently, you may have come to know him from his famous EdTalks, and the nuggets that he offered with each post.
One of the many things I will always remember him for was when I invited him to be my guest on a LinkedIn Audio event last year. I wanted my audience to get an understanding of what happens on the other side of recruiting.
One participant asked him this question, “There is a vacancy in my department and I could do the job with my eyes closed, but they have advertised the position. How do I demonstrate my value and show them why it’s better to hire me than someone from outside?”
The question wasn’t about recruiting, per se, but he advised her to reflect on the work she had done, including those “any other duties as assigned”, show them the tangible results, do the math by letting them know how much it would cost to hire and train a new person instead of promoting her in the role.
The short story is that several weeks after the event, the woman left me a message to say she followed his advice, and was selected for the role. “The advice never left my head”, she said.
I am sure there are so many more stories like that, and goes to show type of a person Ed was.
The other piece to Ed was that he allowed his vulnerability to show on this platform and on Facebook giving us play-by-play of his illness, right down to his last day.
The day before we heard of his passing, I wrote the following on his FB timeline, after one of his gut-wrenching posts:
“O Ed, this roller coaster of a post hit me in my stomach. Am in awe of your vulnerability, and what a compliment to your wife. Hope you will be strengthened by all the sentiments being offered here. You are such a trooper! 🤗”
I know he read it because he gave it a 💓!
I will keep this image of our LinkedIn Audio event as a reminder of Ed’s kindness.
Condolences to his family, and may his soul rest in eternal peace! RIEP 🙏🏾
