<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11894337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="russia" source="Orion">Russia</keyword>'s war on <keyword id="11985141" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ukraine" source="Orion">Ukraine</keyword> has caused a mounting humanitarian and refugee crisis.</li><li>The United Nations has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/24/ukraine-russia-flee-country-invasion">said that</a> 100,000 have already fled their homes and millions could be at risk.</li></ul>During a tragic and whirlwind week of Russian military assault on Ukraine, many in the country have already fled cities that are under Russian attack, mostly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-show-mass-exodus-of-ukrainian-refugees-arriving-in-poland-2022-2#fleeing-ukrainians-described-the-hours-long-wait-to-cross-the-border-1">heading to the border with Poland.</a>The European Union, and specifically countries like Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and the Czech Republic, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraines-neighbors-prepare-for-millions-of-possible-refugees-2022-2">made commitments</a> to resettle millions of Ukrainians earlier in the week as Russian troops moved closer to Kyiv, as well as in eastern and southern parts of Ukraine.On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-embassy-trolls-russia-meme-after-putin-ukraine-history-rant-2022-2">ordered troops</a> into Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.Around 5 a.m. Kyiv time on Thursday, as members of the United Nations Security Council called on Putin to de-escalate in an emergency session, he simultaneously <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-tries-justifying-ukraine-war-denazification-zelensky-jewish-president-2022-2">launched a "special military operation," effectively declaring war </a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-tries-justifying-ukraine-war-denazification-zelensky-jewish-president-2022-2">on Ukraine</a> in a televised address. On Thursday and Friday, fighting and Russian aerial campaigns have persisted in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, and across the country.The United Nations <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/24/ukraine-russia-flee-country-invasion">estimated</a> that 100,000 Ukrainians have been displaced, and US officials <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/02/16/1081185004/russia-ukraine-invasion-us-impact?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_term=nprnews&amp;utm_campaign=politics%5C">have said</a> that in a worst-case scenario, 1 to 5 million people could be uprooted.Professor Serena Parekh, a leading expert in the displacement of refugees at Northeastern University, talked to Insider about how the humanitarian crisis might further affect Ukrainians facing violence.What are you seeing the first few days in the context of the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine?There's just a lot of confusion. People who have had to flee their homes, but who haven't necessarily crossed the border that would allow them to be considered refugees. This is very common. This is usually what people do in the aftermath of a conflict, is they'll get in their car, they'll get on a train, they'll try to go somewhere else within the country that they maybe have a friend, or a cousin, or someone they can stay. They think they will be able to return home in a few days, or in a couple of weeks. That's what we're seeing now, since yesterday, since things began. We're likely to see that, of course, increase as time goes on, and then for people to feel like there's nowhere in Ukraine that's safe and that they have to cross the border into Poland or Hungary.The other interesting thing that I actually haven't seen much reporting on is that part of the state of emergency, the martial law that's been imposed on Ukraine means that men between the ages of 18 and 60 aren't allowed to leave the country. They're supposed to stay and fight. I'm not sure how that's impacting people's choices to move, or their decisions to leave and where to go. Of course, we are seeing a lot of people staying and fighting, but that maybe is constraining, where some people feel that they can do, or they should do.Do you see any trends of people going towards one country as people are evacuating? If they're not internally displaced within the country, like you said.I think Poland is the likely source. I think Poland itself is preparing for that. They have a number of reception centers along the border to help facilitate people who are able to get to the border, to cross over, and to receive aid. I believe they're also US soldiers at these reception centers to help facilitate an orderly influx of people into Poland in a way that can be managed more without feeling like their people are just getting overwhelmed, or too many people are coming in, or there's not enough places to stay.A couple of interesting things about this. Well, the first, the first thing is that they're anticipating arrivals, but it's hard to know at this point if they're really prepared for what's likely to be very large numbers of people coming over.Poland has said they could welcome as many as a million refugees, but it's not clear that they have the capacity at all to do that. They took in 5,000 refugees in all of 2021. I think they would still need a lot of logistical support, financial support, to build that kind of capacity. It's also really striking that they would say something like that, given that Poland and Hungary were among the two most resistant countries to accepting refugees in other contexts, such as Syrian refugees, 2015, 2016, as well as the Syrians who were coming through Poland-Belarus last year.Yeah, I was actually about to ask you about that, how do you interpret that?Yeah. It's really, really interesting, isn't it? I can see two important dimensions of the difference. One has to do with the fact that Ukrainians are fleeing a common enemy. Russia, they are our enemy. They're Poland's enemy. The US's enemy, now that they've launched this war of aggression. Historically, refugees who are coming from countries that we consider enemies have been more sympathetically received, as opposed to countries that are either considered friendly, or neutral. People don't really see any connection or we don't have a great stake or interest in. That definitely speaks to the fact that people are like, "Yes, we will take you in. We'll stand in solidarity with you. It affirms, yet again, how bad the actions of Russia are.That's on the one hand. On the other hand, I think part of the war ... One of the effects because might have hoped for this invasion is the chaos that refugee crises often bring, perhaps the hopes that Europe wouldn't be prepared for it. This would undermine Europe in some important way, thereby furthering his claims about the limits of liberal democracy, but it's hard to ignore what I think is the obvious difference, which is that Europeans are likely to see Ukrainians as similar to them in morally relevant ways. This gives rise to this feeling of sympathy, connection, and perhaps responsibility.Ukrainians are white for the most part, they're mostly Christian and they're perceived to be Europeans. That is I think a really important difference. You can interpret that in two ways, I think. One is the sense that racism, xenophobia, that has really come to the forefront in the last 10 years or so around refugees, is really playing a role in how people perceive these crises, the difference in these crises. In another sense, there's a very human impulse to be sympathetic to people that you perceive as being like you, or as connected to you as say, fellow Christians, fellow Europeans, and so forth. It's a strong impulse, and it is definitely noticeable in the responses, in the aftermath of these crises.What do you see as the US's role in the developing humanitarian crisis, in terms of working with the partner European countries, setting reception centers, and helping process people? Do you think the US will also resettle Ukrainians?I think it'll have to be both, especially if the crisis ends up lasting — being a long-enduring crisis — if Russia does end up succeeding and taking over Ukraine and occupying it. It's very likely that people who leave won't be able to go back, or will believe that they can't go back safely, and probably with very good reason. We can think of the role the US will play as having two temporal dimensions. I think in the short term, it will be absolutely showing up for the countries in Eastern Europe that will be the countries of first reception, financial aid, logistical aid, and even there are soldiers there who are helping out right now. I think that will have to continue. Helping European countries where Ukrainians are likely to go, and to settle in the short term, as well.In the US, they could implement some kind of TPS status for Ukrainians who are currently in the US. They could put parole into the US, Ukrainians who are already in the process, who have already applied for a visa, such as through family reunification. They could just fast-track that, as it were, and let those Ukrainians into the US. But in the long term, Amnesty <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international" source="Orion">International</keyword> has said that we can anticipate, depending on how this goes, between one and 5 million Ukrainians as being refugees, and permanently in need of a home.If that's the case, I think there are two roles the US can play. One is absolutely to resettle Ukrainian refugees, as part of the resettlement programs. I think the number of refugees from each region is capped, I think it's capped at 10,000 from Europe right now. Biden could raise that, or he could parole refugees directly in the way he did Afghan refugees.Just a footnote about that. Refugee organizations are still trying to resettle the Afghans who came in August, in September. Because the refugee settlement program had been so dismantled under the Trump administration, because of COVID and other factors, it's been really hard for them to find places for refugees to live and start their lives again.But the other thing, I think, the other role, I think the US could play really effectively is a leadership role in working out a global process for resettlement of refugees. After the Hungarian revolution and the Russian invasion that followed us, the US coordinated the resettlement of refugees from Hungary so that after a few months, several hundred thousand refugees had found new homes. I think when we talk about resettling refugees in the US, what we focus on is how many can we resettle? Should we resettle? Very important questions, but I think it ignores this other question, which is what's the larger role we could play as leaders in the global community, in facilitating homes for refugees?That's what I'd like to see the US doing, is just saying, "Okay, look, we have this many refugees. We can absolutely resettle them in an orderly way if we can just get other countries on board to do that."And are there specific factors within Ukraine that could complicate the crisis?I'm not sure about the factors within Ukraine, but we know that the Putin regime doesn't have any problem with harming civilians. That will make it difficult, both for people to move around within the country, civilians to move around within the country, and for humanitarian groups to function safely within Ukraine, who are currently there.Humanitarian agencies, they're very worried about the capacity to function. Without these independent organizations, internally displaced people will have very, very little aid. I know the Ukrainian government opened shelters for people who thought that their homes were unsafe, but just anecdotally, hearing people interviewed, they don't feel safe in them. They think they're too crowded. They're unsanitary. They don't have proper toilets for the number of people who need to use them. It's hard to blame the government. They have other things they're thinking about besides how to help civilians.But nonetheless, it's going to create the sense that people have to leave, and people are on their own and without aid, and of course, the most vulnerable people in those societies, in that group, will end up being the most impacted as they are everywhere. There are just, just as a side note, there are non-Ukrainians, non-ethnic Ukrainians in Ukraine, who will be affected by this. There are Indians and Africans in Ukraine. Their ability to leave the country will also be ... It will be interesting to see how that plays out in terms of the reception that they get in Europe. That's a good point too. Are there trends that you think that people should be really aware of that are not really getting enough coverage within what's going on in Ukraine right now?Well, what I'm following is how the positive sentiment for refugees will be sustained in the near future, and then in the medium to long term future. I feel like right now, everyone's glued to the news about what's happening in Ukraine. Poland, and Hungary, and the US are ready for refugees. The head of the EU has spoken very positively about refugees. I'm curious to see how that will play out as time goes by. In a week or two, when the crisis is continuing, people will probably be coming over in even larger numbers than they are now. Once that happens, it will be interesting to see whether or not the sense of solidarity and compassion is able to be maintained.This question of solidarity, I find really, really interesting. We want to be in solidarity with Ukraine and how will this translate into policies, especially for Ukrainians?I worry also, if the invasion is successful and Putin takes over, will borders close? Will it be a situation where people can be shot for trying to leave the country, which is going to be terrifying on its own.

Poland will likely absorb most Ukrainian refugees if the crisis builds. But whether the sympathy will remain is a different question.

MeetupEvent platform Meetup's team having a virtual happy hour.<ul class="summary-list"><li>In-person networking events have long been a major avenue for entrepreneurs and professionals looking to connect with peers and prospects. </li><li>With coronavirus shutting down physical interactions, many of those events are being held virtually only or have modified programming. </li><li>Entrepreneurs across industries and locations are devising virtual alternatives to serve clients and nurture their networks - from an IGTV series and a digital-only membership community to personalized audio messages for clients.</li><li>These entrepreneurs and virtual engagement experts said that social distancing does not mean social isolation - now is the time to pivot, show clients you care, and build a foundation that will define your "post-pandemic come-up." </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime">Click here for more BI Prime stories.</a></li></ul>Jeff Lindor, founder and CEO of <a href="https://gentlemensfactory.com/">The Gentlemen's Factory</a>, was at an influencer dinner with other CEOs, venture capitalists, and founders in Brooklyn when the news broke that the NBA had suspended its season. Each guest looked at their phone, then at each other.Jeff LindorJeff Lindor."That's when we said, 'Wow, this is serious. It's time to start planning for our businesses," said Lindor, whose networking organization caters to men of color. "I went home and drafted a survey asking members what they'd like to see in a digital platform."Two weeks later, <a href="https://gentlemensfactory.com/">GF Digital</a> went live, offering a host of timely virtual workshops to its existing client base and a digital-only membership tier to attract new members."What coronavirus shows is that businesses need to move very quickly," Lindor said. "Before, we were bound to physical locations. But with digital membership comes an opportunity to scale. Now, this is an opportunity for us to connect with the world."In-person networking opportunities - including conferences, workshops, coworking and learning spaces, and even cocktail hours - have long been a major avenue for entrepreneurs to meet clients and contacts. Now that they can't meet physically, many entrepreneurs are finding, testing, or amplifying virtual alternatives to network. And, like Lindor, they are doing it swiftly.Chloe StewartChloe Stewart.<a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/">Eventbrite</a> told Business Insider it saw 250% growth in online events between March 1 and March 26. In the entrepreneurs, small business, and professional category, the increase was 3% from February to March. And since March 10, searches for online events on the platform increased tenfold."The surge in search for online events shows there's this massive hunger to connect," said Chloe Stewart, Eventbrite's vice president of sales. "Human beings are inherently social creatures. Now, it's so crucial to stay connected."Virtual engagement experts say the key to connecting well is to meet your connections where they are - both in the media channels they use and emotionally. Sree SreenivasanSree Sreenivasan."It's physical distancing we want, not social distancing," said Sree Sreenivasan, Marshall Loeb Visiting Professor of Digital Innovation at Stony Brook University, whose recent <a href="https://smwknd.com/">Social Media Weekend #SMWKND</a> day-long summit was online. "Customers want to be connected to, but they want you to do it in deep, serious, meaningful ways, and in ways that will be compelling."Melissa LlarenaMelissa Llarena.Added Melissa Llarena, founder and CEO of career coaching company <a href="https://www.melissallarena.com/">Career Outcomes Matter</a>, "Right now we are all going through this transition to online together, so it's expected that you'll network online. Use this truth wisely by bringing 20% more value to calls [and] still bringing your personality, with a dose of compassion, given the moment in history."Here are several tips and tools for making the most of virtual opportunities to network.<h2>1. Use the tools and resources you already know well</h2>Whether it's Zoom, Google Hangouts, Skype, WebEx, or Facebook Live, the best tool for virtual meetings is the one you or your customers already know, the experts said.On Eventbrite, Stewart said Zoom is the most commonly used, due partly to the software being integrated into the platform. On event platform <a href="https://www.meetup.com/">Meetup</a>, according to Emma Schwartz, vice president of product, more than half of organizers use Zoom, followed by YouTube and Google. MeetupEmma Schwartz."For organizers, the best platform to use is the one they're able to get up to speed on quickly," said Schwartz. "That answer may be different for different people, and may change as they grow in their experience of hosting online."Programming also drives the choice of tool. If a speaker is showing slides or plans to have participants ask questions, GoToWebinar, Vimeo Live, and Zoom's premium option work, Schwartz said. For live-streaming, she recommends YouTube Live.Sreenivasan and his team understood these nuances when they moved their summit online. When New York announced broad closures, the team had only 10 days to shift it online and they considered numerous tools, event executive producer Neil Parekh said. Neil ParekhNeil Parekh.In the end, the team went with <a href="https://streamyard.com/">Streamyard</a>, the livestream tool they had been using for Sreenivasan's weekly "Sunday #NYTReadalong" and daily "#SreeCOVID19Call" broadcasts on social media. The tool allowed presenters to stream from their homes, displayed slides, and featured select attendee comments in a ticker scroll. The team even managed a fireside chat featuring Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, authors of "<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/588999/tightrope-by-nicholas-d-kristof-and-sheryl-wudunn/">Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope</a>." "If you have to turn something around quickly and you have someone who has experience with a particular platform, you should lean into that," Parekh said.<h2>2. Go back to event planning and management basics</h2>Moving an event online requires the same core event planning steps to ensure a smooth experience, Parekh said. You still have to prep your speakers, show them how to use the tools, and confirm the content they will share, he said. Having a designated colleague to work through technical issues is also vital, except online that person may be monitoring chat rooms and solving logistical issues such as internet connectivity.Corey HesterMelissa Llarena and Corey Hester connecting online.As with live events, engagement online is key to a satisfying participant experience. Attendee polls, curated questions, and asking for questions ahead of time are all standard engagement practices."It might be a little bit tricky to build a relationship with someone when you're not physically around them," Stewart said. "But using something like Zoom, where you can break out into individual or small groups and strategize, and then come back together, that allows you to really get to know the other [attendees]."Also, be sure to test and have a backup plan in case the technology fails, Stewart said. Practice runs, testing audio and video, and having a wired connection if wireless fails are all examples of basics to cover for virtual events.<h2>3. Give people good, compelling content</h2>For Lindor, what mattered most was giving his 200 members what they would need during this crisis. Their survey responses helped him prioritize content for the digital platform. At launch, workshops such as products and services the government needs urgently, recession-proofing a business, and parenting advice were among the offerings."Entrepreneurship is all about solving a problem," Lindor said. "[With this offering], our members can continue being the best versions of themselves."Daniel TomeiDavid Fisher.David J.P. Fisher, an <a href="https://davidjpfisher.com/about/">author</a> of several books on sales and networking books, including the "Networking in the 21st Century" series, offered one other way to get ideas for meaningful content: review your LinkedIn feed and customer emails."You can go back to emails that you've gotten recently from customers or prospects with questions," Fisher said. "Take those topics and put together a webinar or something similar that maps out strategies and tactics for your customers."<h2>4. Get creative with distribution</h2>Coronavirus-titled emails are flooding mailboxes everywhere, turning well-intentioned messages into noise. To break through the clutter and, more importantly, foster community requires new ways of delivering and messaging.Luigi EstuyeVictoria Jenn Rodriguez."This time has caused everybody to be innovative and disrupt the space," said entrepreneur Victoria Jenn Rodriguez. "The main objective is cultivation of your community. How can you provide tools and resources to people so they can level up and be prepared for their post-pandemic come-up?"Coming off the signature event for her nonprofit <a href="https://www.thefemalecollaborative.com/">The Female Collaborative</a> in early March, Rodriguez had planned several in-person touchpoints with participants. To sustain these connections now, she is launching an <a href="https://about.instagram.com">Instagram TV</a> series. In each 15- to 20-minute IGTV episode, a guest will share insights, lessons, or advice live directly from their home. Each story will then be saved for viewers to watch anytime."People are looking for [us] to be more relaxed, more genuine, and authentic in our storytelling," Rodriguez said. "It's forcing us to lead in a different way."Nikki NashNikki Nash.Nikki Nash, a <a href="http://nikkinash.co">media company</a> CEO and Hay House author and business coach, has continued to connect through her podcast, webinars, private Facebook group, social following, and email list. Recently, she has increased her use of personalized video messages, through tools like <a href="https://www.bonjoro.com/">Bonjoro</a> and <a href="https://bombbomb.com/">Bomb Bomb</a>, to make up for the lack of in-person time."If you start doing these things now that you're home, try not to stop them when your business goes back to normal," Nash added. "Do it at a consistency where you can keep them going."<h2>5. Present the best version of you</h2>In his recently-released "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UAzHOiOaN8">Virtual Presentation Crash Course</a>," Rob Biesenbach, a communication expert and author, said his number one rule is: "Everything at an 11." That means doing everything with more energy, volume, excitement, engagement, interaction, and visuals to keep your audience engaged.Rob BiesenbachRob Biesenbach."I mean your '11' - not someone else's or your impression of what others might do," Biesenbach told Business Insider. "I mean the very best version of yourself. So it's authentic and it feels comfortable."Getting there may take "working the extremes," added Biesenbach. In networking scenarios, for example, if you're shy, behave like a quintessential used car salesman, he said. If you're a big data person, practice your pitch without using numbers. "Working the extremes will help you find the sweet spot somewhere between that extreme and your usual comfort zone," Biesenbach said.To get that real you across, Llarena suggested that you "pretend they are truly sitting next to you," she said. "It's a mind trick, but important to really believe to get more comfortable using online networking methods."Before turning on your video, be sure you and your environment look and sound good."Test your audio and your voice," Llarena said. "You may sound tired if you just woke up and your audio could be set to the wrong settings."Biesenbach suggested following a few digital housekeeping rules. Among them, tidying your desktop and physical space, using a good quality mic for audio or webcam, elevating your screen to frame your face, and sitting with the light source in front of you.Ranstad RiseSmartKimberly Schneiderman.Lastly, look professional even while at home, said Kimberly Schneiderman, senior practice development manager with <a href="https://www.randstadrisesmart.com/">Randstad RiseSmart</a> career transition firm. This ranges from simple acts like combing your hair to freshening up your lip gloss to sitting up instead of reclining to wearing appropriate clothing. Tool features like Zoom's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zoom-video-conferencing-filter-touch-up-work-from-home-coronavirus-2020-3">"touch up my appearance"</a> can also help. Schneiderman added that while everyone understands there are distractions out of your control, try to eliminate those you can. She said, "It's a business call, so treat it as such."<h2>6. Be very active on social media</h2>Do your research before attending a virtual networking event."If you can get access to the attendees list in advance, scan it and identify a handful of people you think would be valuable to connect with," Biesenbach said. "Check out their online profiles, website and anything else you can find to identify areas of mutual interest." Not having buffet lines to strike up conversations in person should not deter you from connecting. Instead, use various forums to find people."Serendipity is proactive online," Llarena said. "You see an article, a social media post, a comment on someone else's social media post, and then you serendipitously reach out to introduce yourself on LinkedIn. [Send] a tailored note and schedule a call based on you adding value in some way."Finally, if you haven't already, connect with offline connections on LinkedIn immediately, numerous coaches said."If the relationship began offline, then you should immediately or now connect via LinkedIn by sending a tailored invite connection that specifically mentions how you met," Llarena said. "Perhaps [include] something you appreciated from the conversation or about them. Be crisp and specific."Fisher suggested posting on LinkedIn three to five times each week. He also recommended sending an email to prospects, customers, and connections outlining what's going on in your business and how they can continue to engage with you.For Sophia Z. Chow, a senior brand manager, being very active on LinkedIn helped her land her current role. Updating her profile and commenting regularly got her on people's radar, including her future boss'. Sophia Z. ChowSophia Z. Chow."He approached me and asked me for coffee," Chow said. No stranger to connecting virtually, Chow had been using social platforms for years to stay in touch with friends, family, and colleagues across the globe. As a job seeker, she let those connections know she was looking and sent notes to companies that interested her. <h2>7. Ask thoughtful questions and actively participate in discussions</h2>Schneiderman suggested going into virtual meetups with questions about the virus' impact on specific industries, locations, or businesses, and to ask attendees how they're coping. Then, shift to opportunities that might exist by asking for ideas to meet those challenges."Networking is about building relationships," Schneiderman said. "We build relationships by getting to know people, by being curious about others, their personal lives to an extent, as well as their professional lives."Biesenbach said in group conversation, choose a few key moments to contribute. "Stay on message, deliver it with passion, and position yourself in a way that will appeal to those people you're looking to meet and connect with," he said.<h2>8. Follow up every interaction with a personalized message</h2>Last but not least, follow up with connections made online just as you would with people you meet offline."As [a] follow-up, find some way you can help that person based on issues you two discussed - a link, a resource, or an offer to connect them with someone you think they should meet," Biesenbach said. Llarena added that what could be even more helpful is sending the person a recording of the conversation or event for reference as a "virtual leave behind" that keeps the door open for future interaction.Schneiderman offers the following template.Hi [first name],It was a pleasure to meet you virtually during [online event name]. It was great learning about your passion for [add detail] and your successful career path. Thank you for taking the time to share your insight and experiences.As I mentioned, I am trying to break into the industry and would like to ask you 2-3 questions about your experience working at [company]. Would you be free to chat over coffee this week? I know you're busy, so I will make myself available whenever you have 15-20 minutes.If you prefer, I would be happy to send my questions via email. Otherwise feel free to call me on my cell at [number].In our conversation, you mentioned your interest in [additional detail]. Attached is a great [article or resource related to that detail] that speaks to the future of this field. I thought you would find it interesting.I really appreciate your willingness to help.Sincerely,[Your name]Do you have a personal experience with the coronavirus you'd like to share? Or a tip on how your town or community is handling the pandemic? Please email <a href="mailto:covidtips@businessinsider.com">covidtips@businessinsider.com</a> and tell us your story.And get the latest <a href="/coronavirus-business-impact">coronavirus analysis and research</a> from Business Insider Intelligence on how COVID-19 is impacting businesses. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-flight-attendants-are-trained-for-emergency-situations-2020-3">How flight attendants are trained</a></h3>

How to create your own networking opportunities online and connect with key players, according to entrepreneurs, coaches, and executives who've done it

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">EatFirstEatFirst CEO and founder Rahul Parekh.</div></div></div>In 2014, Rahul Parekh left his job as a derivatives trader at Goldman Sachs in order to launch his own food company.That company, EatFirst, is now shipping ready made meals to people's homes and offices across London and is considering expanding to other <keyword id="6354868" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="UK">UK</keyword> cities from next spring.The startup, which has delivered over 100,000 meals since launching in September 2015, has an app that allows people to order healthy meals in advance. You can order up to two weeks in advance or effectively on demand.Parekh, who spent eight years at Goldman, now relies on an army of approximately 10 chefs to conjure up fresh dishes on a daily basis. The food is cooked in a kitchen in Wapping before it's delivered to people across the capital by a fleet of between 50 and 100 delivery drivers."I started the business really as a focus on curing everything that was wrong with takeaway food," the 30-year-old told Business Insider. "My background was in banking. I spent eight years at Goldman and I ordered a lot of takeaways and I just didn't feel like it was a great experience and thought there was a big potential gap in the market for a business that was just really focused on creating great delivery food."Unlike Deliveroo, UberEats, and Amazon Restaurants, EatFirst cooks all of the food it delivers itself instead of simply shipping food that's been made by other restaurants."We cook everything fresh on the day and then we chill it down and we send it to you," said Parekh, who holds an economics degree from Cambridge University."Our meals come accompanied with meal cards. Those meal cards contain very short, simple heating instructions. You know, five minutes in an oven or microwave or hob. If you compare it to say a supermarket ready meal, the difference is supermarket ready meals are typically packed full of preservatives because they need to last a long period of time. That's why they can taste good but they're unhealthy and don't feel healthy."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">EatFirst</div></div></div>EatFirst's menu has approximately 10 main dishes on it each day, as well as snacks, wine, and desserts. The rotating menu is dictated by head chef Ben Hodges, who used to work in the kitchens at The Ivy and The Century Club, before joining Japanese food chain Itsu to work on R&amp;D. "He's been the main driving force behind the menu," said Parekh.The company, which employs roughly 50 people (excluding drivers), uses a range of suppliers in London, including <a href="http://www.flockandherd.com/flock-and-herd---main.html" target="_blank">Flock and Herd</a> and <a href="http://www.cannonandcannon.com" target="_blank">Cannon &amp; Cannon</a>.Parekh says that the most popular EatFirst dish "by far" is the £9.95 salmon teriyaki. "The dish is made in an EatFirst way with a healthy focus so the rice is mixed with quinoa and there are fresh vegetables," he explains. Other dishes available on EatFirst include Thai beef Panang curry and grilled baby chicken, both priced at £8.95.In terms of who is using the service, Parekh says there are a large number of business customers who order food for time-poor employees that they can eat during team lunches or team meetings. "They generally tend to be tech companies ordering for meetings. 50-200 people companies," he said. "That's quite common. We also have relationships with some corporates, typically financial."<h2>Fuelled with capital from Berlin's Rocket Internet</h2>In order to get EatFirst off the ground, Parekh turned to German company builder Rocket Internet which gave it an undisclosed amount of seed funding for an undisclosed stake in the company."I met <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/rocket-internet-oliver-samwer-2015-8" target="_blank">Oliver Samwer</a>, who runs Rocket Internet. It was an introduced meeting through an ex-colleague at Goldman. I told him about the business idea. For me it was kind of a way of pitching to get seed investment. He thought it was a great idea and gave us the seed funding."I can't say how much but it wasn't a large amount. Basically enough for us to get an initial MVP [minimum viable product] operation going. Build a small team, have a kitchen, and start doing some trials around food production."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image">ReutersRocket Internet CEO and cofounder Oliver Samwer.</div></div></div>Rocket <a href="http://startups.co.uk/online-restaurant-eatfirst-secures-8m-backing-to-build-on-rapid-growth/" target="_blank">invested in EatFirst again</a> last year alongside the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) when the company raised an $8 million (£6 million) funding round. "The way it worked with Rocket, was we went through effectively a 100-day incubation programme with them," said Parekh. "We did it a little bit different to some of their other ventures which are more home grown within Rocket. They helped us with resources for example. They gave us access to their IT talent, marketing talent, finance talent. We were able to draw upon those resources to get started and then slowly we started building our own team before we came off that incubator."Samwer, one of a handful of tech billionaires in Germany, has <a href="http://thehustle.co/rocket-internet-oliver-samwer" target="_blank">been called out as a ruthless CEO</a> who can be difficult to work for. His company employs aggressive growth tactics in order to take businesses from idea to billions of dollars in revenue in under three years. But Parekh only had kind words to say about Samwer, who <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-10-01/rocket-internet-said-to-price-frankfurt-ipo-at-eu42-50-a-share" target="_blank">IPO'd Rocket Internet on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2014</a>."Oliver is very, very hands on in terms of [EatFirst] strategy discussions. So I get phone calls from Oliver at least every week or every two weeks. At least. He'll give me a call and say: 'How are things going?' We'll talk about the strategy."What's great about Oliver is because he travels all over the world and sees so many different companies, he knows what's going on in terms of food tech innovation in Asia and Africa, much more than I do. I follow Europe quite closely. I follow the US quite closely. But he's seeing everything."Samwer has also been very good at making introductions to other food startups in the Rocket portfolio, including FoodPanda, Delivery Hero, and HelloFresh, according to Parekh. HelloFresh's former head chef ended up helping Parekh to find suppliers in London and he's even had some input on the company's recipes. But Samwer doesn't overstep the mark."The business strategy is dictated by management of EatFirst," said Parekh. "And then we have a quarterly board meeting which involves all our investors. Rocket, Holtzbrinck Ventures. We discuss any major changes in those meetings. None of our investors have been particularly hands on in terms of the organisational operation."<h2>It's expensive to play in the food delivery market</h2>But $8 million (£6 million) isn't all that much to play with in the increasingly competitive food delivery market. Uber and Amazon, although in a slightly different space, have billions of dollars to throw at this as they look to replicate their plug and play operation in cities across the world.Parekh said that if EatFirst decides to expand outside London then it will likely look to raise more funding."London is the focus for the next three to six months," said Parekh. "Then our plan is to start thinking about outside of London by end of Q1 next year or beginning of Q2. At that point we'll start thinking about raising another round."Our thinking is this is a UK business, it's working really well in London and I'm personally very keen to expand it to other cities in the UK. Birmingham, Manchester, Brighton. I'm from Manchester. I think it could work really well there.He added: "There's obviously big cities in Europe and outside of Europe that we're quite keen to have an EatFirst presence in at some point in the future. We're thinking about cities in Germany like Berlin, Frankfurt. Outside Germany: Paris and Amsterdam.In terms of whether Rocket will continue to get behind the company, Parekh said: "Well Rocket is a big believer in the business and typically when they do believe in businesses they do invest almost every round the business raises so I would hope so." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/a-hacker-reveals-a-simple-way-to-come-up-with-a-strong-password-thats-easy-to-remember-2016-10">A hacker reveals a simple way to come up with a strong password that's easy to remember</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="BwN2NwMzE6EWIgb89XK0BH7jw-ZsLEQ9" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

An ex-Goldman Sachs trader is now delivering posh ready meals across London

Welcome to Insider <keyword id="6357014" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="energy">Energy</keyword>, a weekly energy newsletter brought to you by Business Insider. Here's what you need to know:<ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Want to get Insider Energy in your inbox every Friday? <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/insider-energy">Sign up here</a>. </li><li>You can reach me at <a href="mailto:bjones@businessinsider.com">bjones@businessinsider.com</a>. I welcome feedback and story tips. </li><li>Join us: On March 8 we're hosting a virtual roundtable on building a <keyword id="154273" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="clean-energy">clean energy</keyword> economy. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/live-event-future-clean-energy-economy-2021-2">You can register here</a>. </li></ul>It's Friday before a long weekend. What joy. Last month I had the pleasure of interviewing Bill Gates about his climate and energy work, and the role of tech in slowing global warming. Stay tuned for our coverage over the weekend. In the meantime, let's get into what happened this week - some Big Oil updates, lots of startup news, and so many electric-vehicle SPACs.<div type="image" title="exxon org chart 4x3" height="1125" width="1501" msid="80885700" hostid="261"></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/exxon-mishandled-layoffs-morale-oil-price-collapse-2021-2">A fumbled layoff has caused morale at Exxon to sink, which could hinder the oil giant's recovery</a> </h2>We covered layoffs in the oil industry last year, but put less attention on one of their potential impacts: a drop in employee morale. It tends to be worse if job cuts are not handled well. At <keyword id="6383208" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="exxon">Exxon</keyword>: Current and former employees say <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/exxon-mishandled-layoffs-morale-oil-price-collapse-2021-2">the company fumbled job cuts</a> and morale has suffered as a result. You can read the full story <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/exxon-mishandled-layoffs-morale-oil-price-collapse-2021-2">here</a>. So what: Poor morale in the wake of layoffs tends to cause a decline in worker performance and higher safety risks. It can also make it difficult for a company to attract top talent in the future, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/exxon-mishandled-layoffs-morale-oil-price-collapse-2021-2">according to two business professors we talked to</a>. <ul style="text-align: left;"><li>"Concerns about quality and safety fall," said Sandra Sucher, a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School. "If you're in the energy industry in a business that depends on both of those things hugely, that's a very definite risk."</li><li>Exxon faced an incredibly tough 2020, posting a $22 billion loss. Investors are watching to see how well it recovers.</li><li>So far so good: This year Exxon's stock is already up more than 20%. </li></ul>In other news: Exxon's shareholder meeting in May is worth watching, following campaigns launched by activist investors to shake up the company's board and push it to do more to address <keyword id="6361617" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate-change">climate change</keyword>. <ul style="text-align: left;"><li>One thing to watch is whether a proposal submitted by BNP Paribas Asset Management on climate lobbying comes to a vote. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/exxon-fights-investor-pressure-to-disclose-climate-lobbying-2021-1">You can read more about that here</a>. </li></ul>Got a tip? You can reach me at <a href="mailto:bjones@businessinsider.com">bjones@businessinsider.com</a> or through Signal at 646-768-1657. In other Big Oil news … <div type="image" title="FILE PHOTO: Shell branding is seen at a petrol station in west London, January 29, 2015. REUTERS/Toby Melville " height="2258" width="3011" msid="80885701" hostid="261"></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shell-strategy-to-dominate-energy-oil-wanes-investor-day-slides-2021-2">Check out the slides from Shell's investor day that detail how it plans to make money while slowly ditching fossil fuels</a></h2><keyword id="46532" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Shell">Shell</keyword> hosted its big strategy day Thursday, during which its chief executive walked investors through a 75-page presentation about the firm's transition away from fossil fuels. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shell-strategy-to-dominate-energy-oil-wanes-investor-day-slides-2021-2">We picked out 8 slides that lay out its strategy</a>. Shell's approach: The Netherlands-based company will sell a lot more power, hydrogen gas, biofuels, and electricity for charging cars. <ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shell-strategy-to-dominate-energy-oil-wanes-investor-day-slides-2021-2#that-means-gas-stations-of-the-future-will-look-pretty-different-4">One slide I thought was neat</a> shows what Shell gas stations of the future might look like. </li><li>Of note, the company said it reached peak oil production in 2019, and peak emissions the year before. </li></ul>But: Fossil-fuel products will still make up the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shell-strategy-to-dominate-energy-oil-wanes-investor-day-slides-2021-2#shell-announced-new-targets-to-reduce-the-intensity-of-emissions-over-the-next-three-decades-1">majority of its business</a> (and budget) in the near-term. <ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Also, not all investors and climate advocates <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/shell-shares-fall-net-zero-plan-investor-greenpeace-church-reaction-115942448.html">were pleased with Shell's new strategy</a>. Its stock dipped following the event and some analysts pointed out that its budget for renewables was relatively low, <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/shell-shares-fall-net-zero-plan-investor-greenpeace-church-reaction-115942448.html">Yahoo News reported</a>. </li></ul>In other news: European rival Total also made a big announcement this week: The company <a href="https://www.total.com/system/files/documents/2021-02/results_q4_2020_en.pdf">is planning to rebrand</a> as "TotalEnergies" as part of its push to sell cleaner forms of energy. <ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Total said it will transform over the next decade, growing its production of natural gas and renewable energy. </li><li>The two companies have taken different clean-up approaches: While Shell is becoming a major power trader, Total has poured resources into physical renewable-energy assets. </li></ul><div type="image" title="David Energy team" height="3440" width="5628" msid="80885702" hostid="261"></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/david-energy-raises-19-million-transform-power-sector-2021-2">It was a big week for startup raises …</a> </h2>We had the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/david-energy-raises-19-million-transform-power-sector-2021-2">exclusive this week</a> on David Energy, a Brooklyn-based startup that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/david-energy-raises-19-million-transform-power-sector-2021-2">scored $19 million</a> in a push to redefine what a power company looks like. <ul style="text-align: left;"><li>David Energy is small and its business is obscure (not to mention technical) but it offers a ton of insight into what electricity companies of the future might look like. </li><li>The startup sells power to buildings. It also operates software that helps those buildings control their demand for electricity by managing batteries, solar panels, and other energy assets onsite. That allows it to take advantage of fluctuating energy prices. </li><li>True to its name <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/david-energy-raises-19-million-transform-power-sector-2021-2">David Energy is taking on a major industry dominated by just a handful of energy giants</a>. (Yes: It was named after David from David and Goliath) </li></ul>As I said, it was a big week for startup raises: <ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Powin Energy, a battery startup, raised more than $100 million from investors including Energy Impact Partners and Trilantic Capital Management. <a href="https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/powin-energy-raises-100m-to-compete-for-leadership-of-grid-storage-market">Greentech Media has more</a>. </li><li>Highview Power, a startup focused on long-duration storage, raised over <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210209005270/en/Highview-Power-Closes-Growth-Capital-Funding-Round-with-70-Million">$70 million</a>. Investors include Janus Continental Group, TSK, and Sumitomo Heavy Industries.</li><li>C-Zero raised <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210209005040/en/C-Zero-Raises-11.5M-Series-A-to-Produce-Clean-Hydrogen-from-Natural-Gas">$11.5 million</a> in a round led by Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Eni Next, the venture arm of Italian energy giant Eni. C-Zero makes what it calls "clean hydrogen" using natural gas. </li><li>Finally, Enevate, yet another battery startup, raised <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210210005278/en/Fidelity-Leads-81M-Investment-in-Enevate-to-Accelerate-Commercialization-of-Fast-Charging-Electric-Vehicle-Battery-Technology">$81 million</a>, in a round led by Fidelity. </li></ul>In other news: Insider's Lianna Norman did <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-solid-powers-batteries-are-challenging-lithium-ion-2021-2">a dive into the Ford-backed battery startup Solid Power</a>, which is developing solid-state batteries. <ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The technology "replaces the standard lithium-ion battery's liquid electrolyte with a solid one," Norman writes. "The result is an increase in safety and energy retention that could hit the conventional market like a one-two punch."</li><li>You can read her <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-solid-powers-batteries-are-challenging-lithium-ion-2021-2">full story</a> here. </li></ul><div type="image" title="Hyzon Motors Heavy truck rendering" height="320" width="600" msid="80885706" hostid="261"></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">… and for EV companies going public. </h2>Blink and an EV startup will go public via a SPAC, probably. I mean, here's the news from this week alone: <ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Fuel-cell startup Hyzon Motors <a href="https://hyzonmotors.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Hyzon-DCRB-Transaction-Press-Release-02.09.21-Final.pdf">is going public</a> via - surprise! - a SPAC. Hyzon was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-tech-startups-to-watch-in-2021-according-to-vcs-2020-12">one of our 46 climate-tech startups to watch this year</a>. </li><li>Electric-truck company Xos Trucks is in talks to go public, also through a SPAC, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-xos-trucks-m-a-nextgen-acqsn-exclusiv/exclusive-electric-truck-maker-xos-in-deal-talks-to-go-public-sources-idUSKBN2A829G?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosprorata&amp;stream=topp;stream=top">Reuters reports</a>. </li><li>Chinese EV startup Byton is also in talks to go public via SPAC, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-byton-m-a-idINKBN2A80N4?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosprorata&amp;stream=topp;stream=top">per Reuters</a>. </li><li>Amazon-backed Rivian is also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rivian-ipo-tesla-competitor-ev-startup-electric-vehicle-public-debut-2021-2">looking to go public this year</a>, at a valuation of roughly $50 billion, though it will take the traditional IPO route. </li></ul>But: The EV stock boom that these companies want to cash in on faces a number of threats, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-threats-ev-stocks-tesla-nio-2021-2021-2">Insider's Mark Matousek reports</a>. <div type="image" title="ing roundtable 3 2x1 (1)" height="1250" width="2500" msid="80885707" hostid="261"></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/live-event-future-clean-energy-economy-2021-2">Join us: Insider event on building a clean energy economy </a></h2>We've booked an awesome crew of energy folks to chat with us on March 8 for a live roundtable about the clean energy economy. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/live-event-future-clean-energy-economy-2021-2">You can find more info on the event here</a>. When: Monday, March 8, 10:00 to 10:00 am ESTWhere: Register to attend <a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jWjYlqomSHCeqAEejyu9nQ">here</a>. Panelists: Elisabeth Brinton, SVP of Shell's New Energies division; Mateo Jaramillo, CEO and cofounder at Form Energy; Urvi Parekh, head of renewable energy at Facebook; and Francois Austin, partner and global head for energy at Oliver Wyman.We hope to see you there! That's it! Have a great long weekend (if you're off Monday …). - Benji Ps. I tried to stuff Jumi into his doggie backpack this weekend. It turns out he's grown a lot. He ended up jumping out of the backpack on the subway, which of course made me panic. Before that happened I snapped a pic. <div type="image" title="Benji Jumi" height="3088" width="2316" msid="80885708" hostid="261"></div>

A fumbled layoff hurt morale at Exxon, and it could hinder the oil giant's recovery

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="Google" title_caption="Former Google Glass engineer Stephen Lau" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/4f7dc68069bedd5f50000085-960/glass_photos3.jpg"></a><a href="https://plus.google.com/111626127367496192147/posts">Google</a>Former Google Glass engineer Stephen Lau</div></div>Google is reportedly shuffling engineers within its Glass department, <a href="http://9to5google.com/2015/02/20/google-engineers-stephen-lau-glass/">according to blog 9to5Google</a>, which claims to have spoken with sources close to the situation.If true, the move comes just as Google is expected to be working on a new version of Google Glass.There has been so much movement that some are calling the current group working on Google's wearable display the "new" Glass team, according to 9to5Google.Details on specific changes are scarce, but 9to5Google notes that two engineers, Stephen Lau and Salil Pandit, have been moved to the YouTube team. Another engineer, P.Y. Laligand, also transferred to the Android team recently.Lau's move is particularly notable since he's been very vocal about his involvement with Glass over the past few years, as 9to5Google notes. One of Google's press photos for Glass, which was frequently used around the time the first Explorer program was announced, features Lau wearing the headset, as pictured above. Lau also led a secretive Glass developer event in San Francisco in 2013, according to 9to5Google, and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevel">his LinkedIn profile</a> says he's been working on Glass since 2011 when he joined Google.The shakeup, if true, is one of several key changes Google has taken with its management strategy regarding Glass. In January, Google announced it was shuttering sales of Glass for now, while Fortune reported Nest CEO <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nest-tony-fadell-google-glass-2015-1">Tony Fadell would lead the Glass team</a> moving forward.The Wall Street Journal also reported in November <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/google-glass-deal-thrusts-intel-deeper-into-wearable-devices-1417395598">that the next version of Glass</a>, to be powered by one of Intel's chips, will be targeted more toward enterprise use cases rather than consumers. Google's Patrick Pichette recently said during the company's fourth quarter earnings call that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-glass-strategy-2015-1">the company has reset its strategy with Glass</a>. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-headphones-tricks-2015-2">14 things you didn't know your iPhone headphones could do</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="o2OGM3czpWcydnvhjbkDBd6feXPuExiD" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

REPORT: There's an engineer shakeup happening within Google Glass

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C04WN5ICKJPL&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1077&amp;RH=657">Rick Wilking/Reuters</a></div></div></div>Abhay Parekh is the co-founder and CEO of recruiting startup <a href="https://www.lytmus.io/">Lytmus.</a>As every entrepreneur knows, an idea is only as good as the team executing it. However, building the right team is often even harder than finding the right idea. So how does one build a great team quickly?The most common approach is to treat early hiring like a resume prediction game. The founders decide (or are told) that there are certain variables (for example, college attended or last company worked at), that correlate well with future success.The addressable pool of candidates is simply reduced to those who match these criteria. Resumes become the basic tool of the screening process. The winnowed down pool is then vetted through a series of interviews, and the emerging finalist(s) are offered a job.The hope is that the combination of resume screening and time consuming interviews will result in the best future employees: ones who will help make the company a big success.Unfortunately, things don't usually work out so perfectly. Here are four reasons why:<h3>1. Resume-based variables don't actually predict as much as they are supposed to</h3>Numerous studies, most notably <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/20/business/in-head-hunting-big-data-may-not-be-such-a-big-deal.html?_r=1">one from Google</a>, establish that even something as concrete as the college attended, and college G.P.A. are effectively "worthless" predictors for all potential employees except for recent graduates.So what about the parts of the resume that deal with work history? Again, one would assume at least those would be very strong predictors for top hires. Well, the issue and reality here is that there are the doers and there are the posers. Distinguishing between these two kinds of employees is hard without very careful reference checks. You shouldn't focus solely on candidates who have worked at hot companies since you will tend to overlook great people from lesser known companies. You might be better off putting your faith in a person from a lesser known company who is a verifiable doer.<h3>2. Since everyone is going after the same set of people, especially for technical jobs, the candidate pool can often be overfished</h3>Thus the chance that your startup is going to snag a real "star," is extremely small. You may just end up with someone who barely made the cut, and since the cut was based on variables that don't predict success, your winning candidate may ultimately be a mediocre performer.<h3>3. Resume-based thinking leads to poor diversity</h3>The danger here is that highly qualified people often aren't considered at all. There are numerous studies that show there is a high degree of bias introduced by an over-reliance on resumes and a tendency for interviewers to simply look for people much like themselves. Taking ethnicity and background completely out for a moment, in a dramatic demonstration of bias, in <a href="http://gender.stanford.edu/news/2014/why-does-john-get-stem-job-rather-jennifer">one study</a> researchers sent two versions of the same resume to employers. One version had a male name and the other a female. Guess which one got a significantly better response from male interviewers!<h3>4. Interviewing well is hard!</h3>People tend to ask standard questions that can be prepared for beforehand. It is no surprise then, that asking brainteaser-like questions (for an engineer these might be standard coding challenges) is just not effective! The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/20/business/in-head-hunting-big-data-may-not-be-such-a-big-deal.html?_r=1">same Google study</a> established this definitively. Too many interviewers ask "trick" questions that have very little to do with what the candidate would be doing on the job.So where do we go from here? How do we avoid common pitfalls and improve our accuracy in identifying and ultimately hiring the best candidates? Or simply, what predicts future performance better than the contents of a resume?The answer, and the single best predictor is the quality of "work sample". This isn't just an opinion but verified over and over again in <a href="http://mavweb.mnsu.edu/howard/Schmidt%20and%20Hunter%201998%20Validity%20and%20Utility%20Psychological%20Bulletin.pdf">carefully conducted experiments.</a> In fact, on reflection it seems quite obvious. Would you rather fly with a pilot hired based on a multiple choice test or see how they perform in a flight simulator?Regardless of the position, this means putting every candidate in a situation that mirrors something they would be doing on the job. Once the work product is in, interviewers should heavily weight their evaluation on that result/performance.While job requirements vary greatly, even for small teams at early stage startups, there are two simple rules that will help drive you to better hiring across any open positions. First, cast as wide a net as you can. Its simple math: the larger the pool the greater the chance of identifying a top hire. Second, keep the evaluation real. Since the single best predictor of job performance is the evaluation of a work sample, the more that sample represents real, on the job, day-to-day work, the stronger the predictor of success.In the end, resume reliant recruiting is the norm, to be sure. However, it's also the limp that just about every industry has learned to walk with. Ultimately investing a little structure and objective evaluation into your hiring process from the outset can greatly improve the chances that your startup can succeed. After-all, any good VC will tell you, it's not just the idea they invest in, but also in the team that will carry the idea forward. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-7-details-rumors-features-2016-5">Everything we know about the iPhone 7</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="BwYzFmMzE6wehpfzmL5_S9l7sM03OiB9" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

Resumes are overrated for startup hiring

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/moosharella/">Flickr/moosharella</a></div></div>Sometimes humor is the best way to drive a point home. It can communicate ideas that are lighthearted or serious.
In a Quora thread, users answered the question, "<a href="http://www.quora.com/Jokes/What-are-some-of-the-most-profound-jokes-ever">What are some of the most profound jokes ever</a>?" Their responses touch on heavier topics like death, philosophy, and religion. Many of the punchlines are comments on how people live or instructions on how they should live.
Here are some of our favorite ones.
1) A young boy enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, "This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you."
The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, "Which do you want, son?" The boy takes the quarters and leaves.
"What did I tell you?" said the barber. "That kid never learns!"
Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream store.
"Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?"
The boy licked his cone and replied, 
"Because the day I take the dollar, the game is over!" - <a href="http://www.quora.com/Vinaya-Patil-1">Vinaya Patil</a> 
2. A boy and a man sit on a couch together. The boy says to the man, "Yeah, well, I didn't believe in reincarnation when I was your age, either." - <a href="http://www.quora.com/Akshat-Anand-1">Akshat Anand</a> 
3. A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts: "Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?"
The man below says: "Yes, you're in a hot air balloon, hovering 30 feet above this field."
"You must be an engineer" says the balloonist. 
"I am" replies the man. "How did you know."
"Well," says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but it's no use to anyone."
The man below says "you must be in management."
"I am" replies the balloonist, "but how did you know?"
"Well," says the man, "you don't know where you are, or where you're going, but you expect me to be able to help. You're in the same position you were before we met, but now it's my fault." - <a href="http://www.quora.com/Amori-Adesque" target="_blank">Amori Adesque</a>
 
4. A climber fell off a cliff, and as he tumbled down, he caught hold of a small branch
"Help! Is there anybody up there?" he shouted.
A majestic voice boomed through the gorge:
"I will help you, my son, but first you must have faith in me."
"Yes, yes, I trust you!" cried the man.
"Let go of the branch," boomed the voice.
There was a long pause, and the man shouted up again, "Is there anybody ELSE up there?" - <a href="http://www.quora.com/Ahmet-Kasan">Ahmet Kasan</a> 
5. An MIT linguistics professor was lecturing his class the other day. "In English," he said, "a double negative forms a positive. However, in some languages, such as Russian, a double negative remains a negative. But there isn't a single language, not one, in which a double positive can express a negative."
A voice from the back of the room said, "Yeah, right." - <a href="http://www.quora.com/Sai-Kishore-K">Sai Kishore K</a>
 
6. An American businessman was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The fisherman replied that it only took a little while. The American then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish. The fisherman said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs.
The American then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"
The fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, señor."
The American scoffed. "I am a Wharton MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise."
The fisherman asked, "But how long will this all take?"
To which the American replied, "Fifteen or twenty years."
"But what then?"
The American laughed and said, "That's the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."
"Millions? Then what?"
The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your friends." - <a href="http://www.quora.com/Andrew-Udell">Andrew Udell</a>
 
7. A masochist asks a sadist, "Please hurt me."
"No," replies the sadist. - <a href="http://www.quora.com/Arnon-Mishkin">Arnon Mishkin</a> 
 
8. "Make me one with everything," says the Buddhist to the tofu hot dog vendor.
Then, after getting his tofu hot dog, the Buddhist hands the vendor a twenty dollar bill.
The vendor takes the money and begins helping the next customer.
The Buddhist looks puzzled and asks the vendor, "Where is my change?"
The vendor replies, "Change comes from within." - <a href="http://www.quora.com/Liam-Gorman-2">Liam Gorman</a> 
 
9. I'll stop at nothing to avoid using negative numbers. - <a href="http://www.quora.com/Ren-Walker">Ren Walker</a>
 
10. An engineer dies and reports to the pearly gates. St. Peter checks his dossier and says, "Ah, you're an engineer - you're assigned to hell."
So the engineer reports to the gates of hell and is let in. Pretty soon, the engineer gets dissatisfied with the level of accommodations and starts designing and building improvements.
After awhile, they've got air conditioning and flush toilets, escalators, elevators and so on .. and - the engineer is a pretty popular guy.
One day, God calls Satan on the telephone.
"So, how's it going down there in hell?" God says.
"Hey, things are going great. We've got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators. There's no telling what our engineer is going to come up with next!" Satan says.
"What??? You've got an engineer? That's a mistake - he should have never gotten down there; send him back immediately!" God says.
"No way. I like having an engineer on the staff, and I'm keeping him!" Satan says. "Send him back up here or I'll sue!" God says.
Satan laughs uproariously and answers:
"Yeah, right. And just where are YOU going to get a lawyer?" -<a href="http://www.quora.com/Sagar-Shukla">Sagar Shukla</a>
 
11. A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A rabbit asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?" The crow answered, "Sure, why not." So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow and rested.
A fox jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very high up.- <a href="http://www.quora.com/Saurav-Maheshwary">Saurav Maheshwary</a>
 
12. A taxi passenger tapped the driver on the shoulder to ask him a question. 
The driver screamed, lost control of the car, nearly hit a bus, went up on the footpath, and stopped inches from a shop window. 
For a second, everything was quiet in the cab. Then the driver said, "Look mate, don't ever do that again. You scared the living daylights out of me!"
The passenger apologized and said, "I didn't realize that a little tap would scare you so much." 
The driver replied, "Sorry, it's not really your fault. Today is my first day as a cab driver - I've been driving a funeral van for the last 25 years." - <a href="http://www.quora.com/Salil-Gupta-21">Salil Gupta</a>
 
13. A guy said to God, "God, is it true that to you a billion years is like a second?" God said, "Yes." The guy said, "God, is it true that to you a billion dollars is like a penny?" God said, "Yes" The guy said, "God, can I have a penny?" God said, "Sure, just a second." - <a href="http://www.quora.com/Mark-DeBolt">Mark DeBolt</a>
 
14. Two young salmon are swimming along one day. As they do, they are passed by a wiser, older fish coming the other way.
The wiser fish greets the two as he passes, saying, "Morning boys, how's the water?"
The other two continue to swim in silence for a little while, until the first one turns to the other and asks, "What the hell is water?" - <a href="http://www.quora.com/Craig-Weiland">Craig Weiland</a>
 
15. Pessimist: Oh, this can't get any worse! Optimist: Yes, it can! -<a href="http://www.quora.com/Bharat-Jakati">Bharat Jakati</a>
 
16. How many Freudian analysts does it take to change a light bulb? 
Two. One to change it, and the other to hold the penis. LADDER. I MEANT LADDER. - <a href="http://www.quora.com/Jade-Roche">Jade Roche</a>

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