Textio makes job post data public so companies can find out how they stack up to competition

Monica Nicklesburg | Geekwire | 30 November 2016

“When Textio arrived on the scene a couple years ago, it addressed two big pain points for the tech industry. “How can we recruit the best talent” and “how can we create a more diverse workforce?”

The Seattle startup aims to answer those questions using artificial intelligence to determine how the language in job postings will perform with certain demographics. The word “oversee,” for example, tends to attract more male applicants while “collaborate” is more appealing to women. Formal words like “the candidate” instead of “you” are a turn-off to both.

More than 7,000 companies are using Textio’s tools to improve the performance of job listings and attract underrepresented groups. That adds up to a lot of data — data Textio is now making public.”

Read more here.

 

Could you get a job at Google? Try answering 10 of the tech giant’s toughest interview questions

Keyan Milanian |Mirror.co UK | 29 November 2016

“Getting a job at Google is infamously difficult.

In fact, so difficult are the company’s interview questions, even executive chairman Eric Schmidt of parent company Alphabet admitted that one in particular had left him stumped.

He said he’d had issues with a brain teaser about a pirate ship and a chest of gold.

The question reads: ‘You’re the captain of a pirate ship and you find a chest of gold.

‘Your crew gets to vote on how the gold is divided up.

‘If fewer than half of the pirates agree with you, you die.”

Read more here.

 

How to chase your dreams (so you’re not pursued by regrets)

Harvey Mackay | Puget Sound Business Journal | 28 November 2016

“Dec. 6 is a historic day for dreamers. On this day in 1877, Thomas Edison recited “Mary had a little lamb” into his phonograph invention and made the world’s first recording of human voice.

Edison, as we know, made many of his dreams come true. And we all have benefitted from his persistence.

Dreams start out as little ideas that start to take shape even before we know it. There’s a mountain of research about “lucid dreaming,” a fascinating concept dealing with sleepers who are aware that they are dreaming and can even control their dreams. I can’t say I’ve mastered this technique, but think of the possibilities!”

Read more here.

 

3 new truths about millennials and their careers

Daniel DiPiazza | Puget Sound Business Journal | 28 November 2016

“To my fellow millennials: Do you consider yourself entitled?

The common line of thought coming from the media is that our generation wants more than we deserve, that we’re not willing to work for it. Our elders compare us to generations of the past. We don’t have any grit or follow-through, they say.

Find a problem and figure out how to solve that problem as quickly as possible. People will pay you.

I want to challenge that idea. I want to challenge the idea that we’re entitled. I want to challenge the idea that we think too highly of ourselves.

I don’t think we think of ourselves highly enough.”

Read more here.