Seed Recruit

  You have passed the first selection. You have been asked for a job interview.  Now you need to show your best side to your future employers.

  Here are a couple of pointers to help you nail it:

  It is all about preparation

Do your homework and show the employer you care. Research the company on the net, and get the facts right. How long have they been on the market? Who are their competitors? Core values? Financial results and objectives?

  You get the picture, the more you know about them, the easier it will be during the interview.

  Match your experience and skills with the position

You have the job description and all the duties you will be expected to undertake. It’s not a bad idea to review your CV and see how your experiences, skills and qualifications match the requirements. It will be easier to explain why you are the best candidate for the position if you have already identified how your experience is relevant.

  The day before

Plan in advance the transport you’ll take for your commute and make sure you get a good night’s sleep. It’s always easier to focus and express yourself clearly when rested.

  Take the chance to talk about your achievements.

Keep in mind that your employer only sees what is written on your CV. They can’t read between the lines. Make sure you mention your successes when talking about past experiences.

  Listen carefully and answer as precisely as you can when asked to

A common reason for a candidate to be eliminated from the selection process is poor listening skills. It leaves an entirely negative impression for employers to deal with a candidate who answers questions vaguely and talks over them.

  Prepare questions

This is a two-way process. Don’t come across as passive and careless. Come up with a couple of questions that are actually relevant to the position.

  Thank your interviewers and be positive

Source: http://www.wikihow.com/Sample/Job-Interview-Questions-and-Responses

Q: How will you advance this company?

  This question should be answered with some tangible examples. Provide facts to support the talent you will claim to bring. Make sure you offer skills that will actually be useful to them.

  A: My expertise in accounting has saved thousands and, in some cases, millions of dollars for the different companies I’ve worked with. With the welfare of the very infrastructure at stake, every penny counts, and I make it my priority to account for each of those pennies. As noted on my resume, I was responsible for sourcing a funds leak disguised as a supplies expense account at Innitech Corp. I can bring that same relentless scrutiny to the books here.

  Q: Where do you see yourself in ten years?

  This is a good opportunity to be honest and incorporate your goals and priorities into the conversation.

  A. I don’t really plan my life by year or by month. My goal is to continue developing useful software and applications for the open source community and keep learning. So, if I had to say, I’d like to still be learning in ten years. I’d like to have contributed enough useful programs to provide a whole new generation of coders with the tools they need to make life easier. I don’t really believe in retirement either, so I plan on doing this as long as I’m up and running.

  Q: Why did you choose this company?

  Potential employers don’t just want someone talented. They want to see if you’ll mesh with the company.

  A: This has been my dream company all along. I’ve been building up my experience and developing my talent so that I could qualify for a position here. The people are genuine and among the most talented in the world, you value progress and cultivating a community of learning, and the focus is on quality work rather than arbitrary rules of conduct and performance quotas. Everyone is here because they want to be here, and they’re the best at what they do. The sense of responsibility and high standards fits in perfectly with my values.

  Q: Why are you the best person for this position?

  Don’t be afraid to stroke your own ego here. Don’t say anything self deprecating. Focus on this position in this company. Why shouldn’t they hire someone else?

  A: I’m the best for this position here because I’ve been following this company’s progress for years. Any time there was a new release or you were mentioned in the news, I was all over it. I already know the infrastructure and history of this place like the back of my hand. Not only was my latest project focused specifically on the new language developed here, but I’ve been implementing it in my own personal work since its release six months ago. I can see being here for a very long time if the company continues in the direction it’s going.

  Q: What is your biggest flaw?

  Don’t panic! They’re not trying to trick you here. Everyone has flaws. What they want to know is if it will interfere with your work and whether or not you’re doing anything about it. 

By BOE magazine

London’s Tech Hub has been growing and garnering global attention as one of the world’s key tech scenes. Silicon Roundabout, where many of the large tech companies are based, is becoming the home to an increasing number of Tech start-ups. With over 3,000 tech firms and over 50,000 employees based there now, we take a look at five tech start-ups which are garnering some attention and with good reason:

Headspace With Team GB Olympian Etienne Stott putting the gold medal down to Headspace, this is an app you need to know about and if you haven’t downloaded it yet, we recommend you do. Bringing together authentic content, modern technology and a fresh approach to creative design, Headspace produce practical mindfulness tools for modern day living. Their mission is to improve the health and happiness of the world by helping people to stress less, focus more and sleep better through the practical application of the Headspace meditation techniques. With no chanting, no sitting cross-legged, no incense and definitely no gurus – this is meditation for modern day living. The app has been designed for both iOS and android platforms. They have had a great deal of press attention recently with founder Andy Puddicombe having over 1.5 million views on TED and with the app being featured on BBC and other TV channels in the UK and the US.

Move Bubble  Movebubble, a peer-to-peer community marketplace for long term residential property lettings, is a start-up disrupting the UK property market. It enables the collaboration of Renters, Owners, Contractors and Third Party Providers centred on the tenancy agreement. And it also enables users to move, manage and maintain homes on the move from anywhere in the world and on any device; whether it’s London to San Francisco or just down the street.

What makes Movebubble unique is that the direction and development is directed by its users and is specifically built around its global communities. It is a network of local and global communities, enabling people to inspect local areas and properties before moving. All users are rated by one another, so Movebubble naturally engenders a feeling of self regulation, bringing transparency and openness to a currently opaque market. Ultimately, bad owners, renters or contractors won’t last long on Movebubble, so it will eliminate people and properties being taken advantage of. The fact that they develop mobile technology that places the user at its heart, removes the need for letting agents, saving everyone a lot of time and money at what can be a very stressful time.

Seed Recruit Seed Recruit is a data-driven cloud-based recruitment platform disrupting the recruitment market. They enable small businesses and start-ups to find and recruit the best talent for any role with the click of a button. Seed Recruit uses algorithm-based technologies to help hire the right people for the job in question and aims to shorten the gap between top talent and top companies, while making recruitment affordable to Start-ups and SMEs. Their flexible and forward-thinking approach makes them unique compared to other recruitment companies in the market.

TaskRabbit TaskRabbit provides people and businesses with an easy, trusted and safe way to get both everyday and skilled tasks done. A two-way marketplace, TaskRabbit connects people who need an extra hand with a network of pre-approved and background-checked individuals, who have the time and skills needed to complete the job. TaskRabbit aims to be a “win- win- win” for the economy, its citizens’ overall quality of life, and the city’s neighbourhoods. Furthermore, TaskRabbit offers its “Taskers” with a flexible means of employment and an opportunity to leverage their skills and interests to earn an income while helping their neighbours. Launched in San Francisco and now in London, TaskRabbit has already been fundraised by some notable investors including First Round Capital and Baseline Ventures.

Crowdcube

When you are looking for a job, you tend to spend your day in front of your computer, looking desperately for the perfect job, going through hundreds and hundreds of job postings and trying hard to write the best resume ever... You naturally think that the harder you work at home on your job search, the faster you’ll get a job. Well we think you should also take a break and get out!

London is full of events. Go out and enjoy nightlife. Free drinks. Cool places. People.

Yes, networking is the key to success and here is why.

     1. You learn a lot from these events

Events are very valuable since you get to know people from many different backgrounds and experiences. You also get to learn about companies you hadn’t heard of before, which is a good way to get to know better the job market and to increase your chances to find the best working environment and job.

Plus, if you have one particular sector you want to work in, this is a great way to get to know it better

      2. It’s a perfect training for interviews

When you go to networking events, you have to be prepared to explain who you are, what you did before and what you are looking for . It allows you to practice your speech before your interview in a more informal environment! It’s a good way to see how people react to what you say and answer plenty of questions. Go get some free training!

       3. You expand your network  

Attendees to these events are all here for the same reason: NETWORKING!

Professional life is about knowledge, competencies, personality but it’s also about people. It has always been about people but it is even more in today’s connected world. Meet as many people as possible, exchange, contact and follow up. If the traditional business cards are still exchanged at networking events, you should also connect with the person on Linkedin, Twitter, by email afterwards, thus keeping your network live.

        4. You can meet your next employer

Networking events are a great way to approach hiring managers and meet them face-to-face. An informal chat could actually bring you more than you think!

         5. Last but not least…you get free drinks !

And when you are short on budget until your next hire…well, that’s really cool!

Where to find great networking events?

Meetup http://www.meetup.com/find/

Meetup is the perfect online platform to find networking events matching your needs. You can find events for all categories of jobs you are looking for: developers, designers, etc…

Some are more general and you can meet entrepreneurs and people from many different sectors:

http://www.meetup.com/4BNetworking/

http://www.meetup.com/Apero-Entrepreneurs-London/

http://www.meetup.com/ladiesindigital/

http://www.meetup.com/HacksHackersLondon/

3 beards http://3-beards.com/

Tech City Events http://techcitynews.com/events/

Google campus Events http://www.campuslondon.com/events/

Tobie Warburton - Developer at Seed Recruit (probably the youngest Startup Superhero in the UK, he's only 17!)

Who are you and what are you working on?

I’m Tobie, a developer for Seed recruit, and I’m working on the Back End Development and the intelligence behind it.

Do you think entrepreneurs are like super heroes?

I don’t think entrepreneurs are super heroes but they are superheroes in what they do, and the best at that for sure.

If you had a super power, what would it be? 

I would like to not have to sleep. It would be great not to have to worry about waking up, and be awake 24 hours a day.

If you could be a superhero, who would you be: Batman, Superman or Spiderman?

I would like to be Spiderman. It would be so cool to go on rooftops, to move the way he does. I would save so much time travelling to work.

Heroes are usually inspired before inspiring others. Who inspires you?

I admire people who build something from nothing. Developers are a great example of people who take an idea, and turn it into something awesome.

Super heroes are never afraid of anything. What about you? What is your worse fear?

My worse fear would be to be homeless. I’d hate to be in a situation you have no choice but to be on the street.

As a Startup Superhero, who do you aim to help or rescue?

Help entrepreneurs make their dreams come true, and help them build their product.

Regarding fashion, are you more a sober all in black Batman guy or an eccentric shiny blue and red Superman guy? 

Kevin Plattret - Web developer at 3beards @kplattret

 Who are you and what are you working on?

I am Kevin Plattret and I am a Web Developer at 3beards. We are a content, promotion and events company that aims to grow the startup community in London and beyond – we are actually going global! (More info here: http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/13/3beards/ )

 Do you think entrepreneurs are like super heroes?

I definitely think they are! I see them as superheroes as I believe they can really make a change. I can think of countless number of startups that are working on improving our day-to-day life in so many small ways, for individuals but also for businesses. Entrepreneurs contribute to changing the world, hence, they are superheroes!

 If you had a super power, what would it be? 

I would like to travel very fast. Since I am French and living abroad I would love to be able to visit my friends and family whenever I want. Reading people’s minds would be cool too but I think that’s insane…

If you could be a superhero, who would you be: Batman, Superman or Spiderman?

Definitely Spiderman! I would love to be as fast as he is and it must be so cool to move that way without any vehicle of any sort!

Heroes are usually inspired before inspiring others. Who inspires you?

I have so many sources of inspiration. I would say that innovative people generally inspire me, because they are full of ideas and not afraid of stretching the limits or even… fail. I find the whole startup community in general very inspiring, people I meet at events or online… but also my colleagues – they are very good at having badass ideas!

 Super heroes are never afraid of anything. What about you? What is your worse fear?

That’s a difficult one… I guess that would be to miss something super cool happening, a moment that only happens once.

As a super startup superhero, who do you aim to help or rescue?

At 3beards we aim to help startups to get together and share about their experiences and ideas. I’m very much into that.

Regarding fashion, are you more a sober all in black Batman guy or an eccentric shiny blue and red Superman guy? 

I can’t choose, I might be a mix of both… One day I am the classic French guy and the other day, I have a slightly more eccentric English style!

http://startups.co.uk/what-can-start-ups-learn-from-india/

What can start-ups learn from India?

Three lessons from Indian movement Jugaad that will help your business overcome constraints

With a rather humble beginning, growing up in a middle class family in New Delhi, I would have never in my wildest dreams imagined that India would become what it is today.

Everyone has their own perception of India, but from what I can see, the country is one big entrepreneurship powerhouse.

With the population reaching 1.3 billion, being good is not enough. One needs to innovate – every step of the way, and to be able to innovate often – you need to innovate fast, very fast! And this is where Jugaad comes in. Every Indian entrepreneur has gone through his or her share of Jugaad.

I’ve been away from India for a little over 12 years now, but the concept of Jugaad just seems to get bigger every year.

So what is Jugaad?

Jugaad is a Hindi slang word that over time became a Wikipedia recognised term, and eventually turned into a movement!

The word Jugaad picked up so much traction that even publications like Harward Business Review (HBR) wrote about it at length.

HBR defines Jugaad as “the gutsy art of overcoming harsh constraints by improvising an effective solution using limited resources.”

In my view Jugaad is simply finding the quickest way to innovate within given constraints, a skill that’s essential for any start-up or small business owner.

In India, more often than not, success isn’t achieved without overcoming adversity – so constraints become challenges rather than insurmountable problems.

In the UK, we could do with using the Jugaad mentality a bit more, to help us from catastrophising issues.

In particular, here are a few takeaways from Jugaad we could all learn from:

1. Innovate with iterations

Keep your constraint in mind, but rather than let it intimidate you, focus on breaking it down into smaller, and therefore more manageable, problems.

Rather than spend an inefficient amount of time trying to discover a magic solution, mould and bend the constraint until you can find multiple solutions to your problem that you can iterate until it’s no longer a constraint.

2. Use resources at hand, but think outside the box

Innovation doesn’t necessarily mean coming up with a brand new idea. At times, the best innovation may lie in taking existing innovations and piggy-backing to increase your reach.

Fact: An Indian social network called GupShup started with a journey to disrupt the social networking space in India. They soon realised that the answer to this innovation was not in making another Facebook for India, but simply leveraging the power of a basic communication channel – mobile SMS!

3. Collaborate with smart people

Two brains are better than one. Three brains are better than two. Throw the problem at your peers and ask for their suggestions. Don’t be shy to push them to solve the problem. Sometimes, you can ponder a problem for months with no solution and a fresh pair of eyes can come up with a suggestion in minutes.

In Hindi, the saying goes “Yaar, Jugaad laga de!”, the literal English translation being “My friend, do a Jugaad for this.”

Jugaad is not a scientific process, and it certainly isn’t a replacement for a proper research method and execution, but start-ups are often cash-strapped and time poor and the Jugaad concept is all about finding a simple, and cost-effective work-around.

Florent Ducos – co-founder of Sharewizme Twitter: @fducos

Who are you and what are you working on?

I am the co-founder of Sharewizme, a French startup that I have been launching here in London over the past year. We provide collective intelligence tools to engage very large groups of people in all kinds of organizations. www.sharewizme.com

 Do you think entrepreneurs are like super heroes?

No, I don’t see entrepreneurs as super heroes, even though I think they always are inspirational people. I am convinced that anybody with a good logic and a people-oriented mind can become an entrepreneur.

If you had a super power, what would it be?

Oh that’s a good question… I guess I would love to be able to get into other people’s minds. I would then have the ability to know what they want and be able to convince anyone… That would be so easy to do business this way!

If you could be a superhero, who would you be: Batman, Superman or Spiderman?

I would love to be Spiderman. Being super agile both physically and in business! What I also like is that he has a double life: being a normal life and being a superhero! Which is great since I would not want to abandon my real life to “only” be a super hero!

Heroes are usually inspired before inspiring others. Who inspires you?

Innovative managers, people who break the rules are those who really inspire me. Take Vineet Nayar for example: Vineet is an Indian businessman who revolutionized his company’s management through a bottom up management approach, engaging his employees and freeing them up. He wrote a very inspiring book that I recommend to every entrepreneur! Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down

Super heroes are never afraid of anything. What about you? What is your worse fear?

My worse fear would be failing to scale my business; spending all my energy and time for something that will never be successful…

 As a super entrepreneur, who do you aim to help or rescue?

I am trying to rescue all bored employees in their companies facing old-fashioned management style. That means… many people!

Regarding fashion, are you more a sober all in black Batman guy or an eccentric shiny blue and red Superman guy? 

Even though today I am wearing a flashy purple pullover, usually I am definitely more a sober Batman. Ask my girlfriend; she tries hard to make me wear more extravagant clothes!