The way to get startup ideas is not to try to think of startup ideas. It's to look for problems, preferably problems you have yourself.The very best startup ideas tend to have three things in common: they're something the founders themselves want, that they themselves can build and that few others realize are worth doing. Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, Google, and Facebook all began this way.

Don't Think Of An Idea

Why is it so important to work on a problem you have? Among other things, it ensures the problem really exists. It sounds obvious to say you should only work on problems that exist. And yet by far, the most common mistake startups make is to solve problems no one has.Why do so many founders build things no one wants? Because they begin by trying to think of startup ideas. That modus operandi is doubly dangerous: it doesn't merely yield a few good ideas; it yields bad ideas that sound plausible enough to fool you into working on them.

Problems Should Be There For A Startup To Get Birth

When a startup launches, there have to be at least some users who really need what they're making — not just people who could see themselves using it one day, but who want it urgently.You have to compromise on one dimension: you can either build something a large number of people want a small amount or something a small number of people want a large amount. Choose the latter. Not all ideas of that type are good startup ideas, but nearly all good startup ideas are of that type.

At Least One User Who Needs Your Service

When you have an idea for a startup, ask yourself: who wants this right now? Who wants this so much that they'll use it even when it's a crappy version one made by a two-person startup they've never heard of? If you can't answer that, the idea is probably bad.You don't need the narrowness. It's depth you need; you get narrowness as a byproduct of optimizing for depth (and speed). But you almost always do get it. In practice, the link between depth and narrowness is so strong that it's a good sign when you know that an idea will appeal strongly to a specific group or type of user.

Identify The Immediate Need

How do you tell whether there's a path out of an idea? How do you tell whether something is the germ of a giant company or just a niche product? Often you can't.How do you choose between ideas? The truth is disappointing but interesting: if you're the right sort of person, you have the right sort of hunches. If you're at the leading edge of a field that's changing fast, when you have a hunch that something is worth doing, you're more likely to be right.

Big Idea Small Idea

You want to know how to paint a perfect painting? It's easy. Make yourself perfect and then just paint naturally.

The way to have good startup ideas is to become the sort of person who has them.

The verb you want to be using with respect to startup ideas is not "think up" but "notice."We can call ideas that grow naturally out of the founders' own experiences "organic" startup ideas. The most successful startups almost all begin this way.That may not have been what you wanted to hear.

Live in The Future, Then Build What's Missing

You may have expected recipes for coming up with startup ideas, and instead I'm telling you that the key is to have a mind that's prepared in the right way. But disappointing though it may be, this is the truth. And it is a recipe of a sort, just one that in the worst case takes a year rather than a weekend. If you're not at the leading edge of some rapidly changing field, you can get to one.For example, anyone reasonably smart can probably get to an edge of programming (e.g. building mobile apps) in a year.

There Is No Recipe

Once you're living in the future in some respect, the way to notice startup ideas is to look for things that seem to be missing. If you're really at the leading edge of a rapidly changing field, there will be things that are obviously missing.What won't be obvious is that they're startup ideas. So if you want to find startup ideas, don't merely turn on the filter "What's missing?" Also turn off every other filter, particularly "Could this be a big company?" There's plenty of time to apply that test later.

The Visionary

Pay particular attention to things that chafe you. The advantage of taking the status quo for granted is not just that it makes life (locally) more efficient, but also that it makes life more tolerable.If you knew about all the things we'll get in the next 50 years but don't have yet, you'd find present-day life pretty constraining, just as someone from the present would if they were sent back 50 years in a time machine. When something annoys you, it could be because you're living in the future.

Stuff That Annoys You

When you find the right sort of problem, you should probably be able to describe it as obvious, at least to you.This means, strangely enough, that coming up with startup ideas is a question of seeing the obvious. That suggests how weird this process is: you're trying to see things that are obvious, and yet that you hadn't seen. The best plan may be just to keep a background process running, looking for things that seem to be missing. Work on hard problems, driven mainly by curiosity, but have a second self watching over your shoulder, taking note of gaps and anomalies.

Something Obvious That No One Saw

Entrepreneurship" is something you learn best by doing it.The examples of the most successful founders make that clear. What you should be spending your time on in college is ratcheting yourself into the future. College is an incomparable opportunity to do that. What a waste to sacrifice an opportunity to solve the hard part of starting a startup — becoming the sort of person who can have organic startup ideas — by spending time learning about the easy part.

Just Do It

The clash of domains is a particularly fruitful source of ideas. If you know a lot about programming and you start learning about some other field, you'll probably see problems that software could solve. In fact, you're doubly likely to find good problems in another domain:(a) The inhabitants of that domain are not as likely as software people to have already solved their problems with software.(b) Since you come into the new domain totally ignorant, you don't even know what the status quo is to take it for granted.

The Great Mixup

Because a good idea should seem obvious, when you have one you'll tend to feel that you're late. Don't let that deter you. Worrying that you're late is one of the signs of a good idea. Ten minutes of searching the web will usually settle the question.Even if you find someone else working on the same thing, you're probably not too late. It's exceptionally rare for startups to be killed by competitors — so rare that you can almost discount the possibility. So unless you discover a competitor with the sort of lock-in that would prevent users from choosing you, don't discard the idea.

You Are Not Late

A crowded market is actually a good sign because it means both that there's demand and that none of the existing solutions is good enough. A startup can't hope to enter a market that's obviously big and yet in which they have no competitors. So any startup that succeeds is either going to be entering a market with existing competitors, but armed with some secret weapon that will get them all the users (like Google), or entering a market that looks small but which will turn out to be big (like Microsoft).

A Crowded Market

Thousands of programmers were in a position to see this idea of having a smooth and seamless process to make a payment; thousands of programmers knew how painful it was to process payments before Stripe. But when they looked for startup ideas they didn't see this one, because unconsciously they shrank from having to deal with payments.Stripe has had comparatively smooth sailing in other areas that are sometimes painful, like user acquisition. They didn't have to try very hard to make themselves heard by users, because users were desperately waiting for what they were building.

Don't Avoid The Problem, Move Towards It

One of the biggest dangers of not using the organic method is the example of the organic method. Organic ideas feel like inspirations. There are a lot of stories about successful startups that began when the founders had what seemed a crazy idea but "just knew" it was promising. When you feel that about an idea you've had while trying to come up with startup ideas, you're probably mistaken.

Go For Organic Ideas

How to Start a Business: A Startup Guide for Entrepreneurs

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Startups

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Entrepreneurship

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Business

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Leadership & Management

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Money & Investments

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Personal Development

The Startup Masterclass

How to Get Startup Ideas

The next wave of digital tech, or “smart tech,” has the potential and power to help us rehumanize work. Smart tech creates an opportunity to redesign jobs and re-engineer workflows to enable people to focus on the parts of work that humans are particularly well-suited for, such as relationship building, intuitive decision making, empathy, and problem solving. But it will require organizational leaders to make informed, strategic decisions to ensure the technology is used to enhance our humanity and enable people to do the kinds of relational, empathetic, and problem-solving activities.

Human Tech: The Potential

The Great Resignation wasn’t created by the pandemic so much as supersized by it. The unwillingness of workers to rush back into cubicles, behind counters, onto assembly lines, and behind the wheel is a direct result of work cultures that too often default to suspicion, inflexible schedules, and unrealistic workloads. The virtual and flexible work arrangements necessitated by the pandemic were revelatory for many people, but didn’t free them from the 24/7 onslaught of tasks, back-to-back meetings, and <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/03/actually-you-should-check-email-first-thing-in-the-morning#:~:text=Despite%20studies%20showing%20that%20the,re%20emailing%20more%20than%20ever.">emails</a> created by <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/brain-research">always-on cultures and technologies</a>.

The Scenario As Of Today

There will be parts of jobs that are <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pandp.20181019">suitable for automation</a>, but few, if any, that can (or should!) be completely replaced by smart tech. What automation can change for the better is the experience of work. Rather than doing the same work faster and with fewer people, smart tech creates an opportunity to redesign jobs and reengineer workflows to enable people to focus on the parts of work that humans are particularly well-suited for, such as relationship building, intuitive decision making, empathy, and problem solving.

What To Automate, What To Assist

Companies will be making many choices about automation in the next few years. And those decisions will influence how employees, customers, and other stakeholders perceive your company going forward. Should your company choose:<ul><li>Bossware — technology that’s lurking in the background of screens watching employees all day to catch, and presumably punish, anyone taking an unscheduled break?</li><li>Software like CultureX, which can measure and improve workplace culture so that it’s less toxic, increasing employee work-life balance while decreasing the levels of burnout that lead to turnover?</li></ul>

The Choice Of Technology

Organizational leaders are going to face many choices when it comes to smart tech in the near future. Commercial applications using smart tech are available off-the-shelf for every department from communications to accounting to service delivery. It will require informed, careful, strategic thought to ensure the technology is used to enhance our humanity and enable people to do the kinds of relational, empathetic, problem-solving activities we do best.

Leaders Have To Choose

So how do you get started introducing smart tech within your own organization? Here are a few initial steps you can take:Identifying Key Pain Points: These should focus on areas where smart tech can take over rote tasks that can streamline unmanageable workloads and reduce worker stress. Outline exactly what tasks and decision-making people will retain and what tasks will be automated when the system is implemented. This includes identifying how automation will be supervised by someone with subject matter expertise.

Getting Started: Identifying Key Pain Points

Make sure the product or system you choose will create the right human-tech balance. Ensure that the assumptions built into the smart tech align with your values. And be sure that the tasks that require empathy and intuition will be assigned to people, while tasks such as data entry or analyzing huge swaths of data will be assigned to smart tech — and not the other way around.

Choose the Right Smart Tech for The Job

Step carefully and slowly, because it can be difficult to undo the harms of automation once the smart tech is in place. Pilot test the new system and workflow to ensure that your hopes and assumptions are correct.

Create a Virtuous Cycle of Testing, Learning, and Improving

The Trevor Project is an example of what we call a "Smart Nonprofit" - an organization that has stepped carefully and wisely into automation by understanding "cobotting," the combination of people and smart tech that brings out the best in both.They created Riley, a chatbot that helps train counselors by providing real-life simulations of conversations with potentially suicidal teens.Riley expands the training capacity of the organization enormously by always being available for a training session with volunteers.

The Trever Project

Smart tech and automation can make work and workplaces more fulfilling and less exhausting. But doing so requires leaders to dig into the implications of automation and make smart, ethical choices about using tech that enhances our humanity and makes work better, healthier, and happier for everyone.

The Bottom Line

Technology needs to assist, not replace humans.

Automation can free us up to focus on the parts of our jobs we find most meaningful.

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Technology & The Future

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Problem Solving

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Artificial Intelligence

Using Technology to Make Work More Human

There are lots of room for everyone in the web3 space. Job boards:<ul><li><a href="https://remote3.co/">Remote3</a> is a job board that lets you explore remote work. It is geared to those who code, but other categories exist for non-coders, writers, community builders, etc.</li><li><a href="https://cryptocurrencyjobs.co/">Cryptocurrency Jobs</a> is a website that use blockchain tech and post jobs in customer support, design, engineering, finance, marketing, operations, product and sales.</li><li><a href="https://bankless.pallet.com/jobs">Bankless</a> is a community that lets you browse through crypto and DeFi job offers.</li></ul>

Working in the web3 space

Consider joining an onboarding program to introduce you to web3 and teach you the basics. Some courses are free while others are not.
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.useweb3.xyz/">useWeb3</a> has many different resources such as book recommendations, code challenges, courses, guides, tutorials and more.</li>
<li><a href="https://consensys.net/academy/">ConsenSys Academy</a> offers courses on blockchain, namely Blockchain essentials, developer program on-demand (about Ethereum development) and the blockchain developer online bootcamp where you can learn fundamental Ethereum concepts.</li>
<li><a href="https://she256.org/">she256</a> offers mentorship, education, and community.</li>
<li><a href="https://bloom.fstvl.io/">Bloom</a> offers online blockchain and web3 developer programs.</li>
</ul>

Programs and courses to get started and hired

<ul><li>Companies will often tweet when they're looking for someone to join. Ensure to follow these companies.</li><li>Go through tweets under popular hashtags, such as #hiring, #web3jobs, #cryptojobs.</li><li>Job board Twitter accounts may tweet about job opportunities, such <a href="https://cryptocurrencyjobs.co/">@jobsincrypto</a>  or <a href="https://twitter.com/CryptoJobsList">@CryptoJobsList</a>.</li></ul>

Twitter

No experience with coding? No problem. There’s lots of room in web3. Here's a few tips for job searching in the space.

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Cryptocurrency

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Career

How to Find Jobs in the Web3 Industry

Many entrepreneurs say that working for themselves for too long has made them unemployable. Yet, many still decide to transition back to corporate. While you may have more skills and talent to offer a company, reporting to someone else is a major change and you may be concerned that you won't be able to fit in seamlessly.

Becoming an employee

As a current entrepreneur, you already have a steady income and may afford to take longer to find the right fit. Write down what your ideal career situation looks like for you. It takes an average of five months for a person to find a new role, so there is nothing wrong if you're still struggling after a month or two.

Focus on finding the right fit

A coach can assist in finding out the kind of role you're looking for. You may be out of the loop for a while and may have an outdated idea of the typical hiring process. A coach can bridge this gap, help get you up to speed on the latest interview techniques, and give you valuable feedback that appeals to companies. Coaching programs can also help you improve your skills.

Consider finding a coach

Most entrepreneurs are proud of creating their own companies successfully. Still, some employers might be concerned that your background and attitude mean you're not a team player and may struggle to follow instructions. Your background could give you an edge. A recent survey found that the most sought-after skills include taking the initiative and being able to adapt. Try to frame your background as experience in becoming adaptable and self-sufficient, and emphasize that you're excited to work in a team.

Don't over-emphasize your entrepreneurial experience

If you've found yourself wanting to transition back to corporate, take the proper steps.

How to Go From Entrepreneur to Employee Again

To become a graphic designer, you don’t necessarily need an undergraduate education. Often, the quality of work in your portfolio and the caliber of the clients you’ve worked with will speak louder than the degrees in graphic design you’ve received. However, many people do choose to obtain bachelor’s degrees in graphic design, or in related fields such as industrial design, animation, or fine arts. In fact, some graphic design jobs require a bachelor’s degree in order to apply. There are also associates degree programs focusing on graphic design.

Degrees Needed

<ul><li>Find the samples that best show your and skill as a graphic designer. </li><li>For each sample you chose to showcase, write some words on why you chose it, what it was created for, and the process of its creation. Mention if you worked on it with any other people.</li><li>Choose your website. Popular platforms include PortfolioBox, Adobe Portfolio, Cargo, and Behance. If you’re an avid web designer, you can also choose to design your own website.</li><li>Get your work on social – a great added component to a web portfolio is a social media account where you showcase your work as a graphic designer. </li></ul>

Graphic Design Portfolio

<ul><li>Freelance: As a freelancer, you’ll typically stitch together an income through contracting with multiple clients. Before you send out freelance applications, make sure you know how much you’re comfortable with charging for your work, so you have a metric to enter negotiations with.</li><li>Full-Time: Many companies and independent design firms are constantly hiring full-time in-house graphic designers. Typically you’ll submit a resume, your portfolio, and in some cases, a cover letter. After that, you may be invited back for an in-person interview, and you may have to showcase your skills.</li></ul>

Graphic Designer Hiring Process

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 266,300 graphic designers employed in the United States in 2016. The rate of employment growth for graphic designers until 2026 is 4 percent. However, these statistics account only for the United States market, and because graphic designers can complete assignments from their computers, freelance employment opportunities are often open to graphic designers across borders.

Graphic Designer Job Market: The US

If you’re invited to an in-person interview, it’s important to prepare all your materials ahead of time. Here are a few tips to nail your graphic design interview:<ul><li>Bring a paper copy of your resume, and if you can, paper copies of some of your design material.</li><li>Consider bringing a flash drive with files of your work, as well as bringing a tablet or computer you can show your work on.</li><li>Dress sharp: Your clothes can project the vibe you wish to give off as a future employee, such as edgy, laid-back, or put-together, depending on what you wear.</li><li>Research the company – learn what you can about it.</li></ul>

Graphic Designer Interview Tips

Tips to help you become an effective and self-reliant graphic designer

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Marketing & Sales

Being a Graphic Designer in the Modern World

Here’s everything you need to know about becoming a graphic designer and how to get hired as a graphic designer.

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Product & Design

How to Get a Job as a Graphic Designer | Glassdoor

We have more open jobs more than unemployed people, what does that say about our hiring process?Studies show that 75% of those who've applied online don't hear back from the employer, and it isn't much different on the company level because about 46% of employees either get fired or quit within their first year.

Applying for jobs online

The resume is a piece of paper that describes our skills, roles we've had, languages we speak, but what it misses is that it doesn't show the potential that we might not have had the opportunity to do so in the past.With such a quickly changing economy, our resumes stay talking about what we've done in the past therefore we're not going to be able to match people to the jobs of the future because companies are looking for skills that aren't learned yet.

Focusing on the crux: the resume

Putting our trust into an algorithm in order to land us a job is pretty scary to think about but there is one thing that has been shown to be really predictive of someone's future success in a job, and it's called the multi-measure test.This test is a combination of assessments that measure cognitive abilities, personality traits, and values. With the ever-growing technology, we can apply the test to an algorithm that's measurable and scalable so that it can provide data to employers about what the traits are of someone who can be a good fit for the job.

How Algorithms Can Help Us Find Jobs

If we're building algorithms based on top performers, how can we make sure that we're not just perpetuating the biases that already exist?The thing with technology is that it poses the opportunity of being able to create algorithms that are more equitable and more fair.

Unbiased Algorithms

When we focus on the inherent characteristics that can make somebody fit for the job we can transcend racism, classism, sexism, ageism, and even good school-ism.

From resume writing to interview questions, Our ultimate guide to help you find the job you love

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Teamwork

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Communication

A Job Seeker's Guide

Finding a job used to start with submitting your résumé to a million listings and never hearing back from most of them. But more and more companies are using tech-forward methods to identify candidates. If AI is the future of hiring, what does that mean for you? 

Finding a job used to start with submitting your résumé to a million listings and never hearing back from most of them. But more and more companies are using tech-forward methods to identify candidates. If AI is the future of hiring, what does that mean for you? Technologist Priyanka Jain gives a look at this new hiring landscape. The Way We Work is a TED original video series where leaders and thinkers offer practical wisdom and insight into how we can adapt and thrive amid changing workplace conventions. (Made possible with the support of Dropbox) Visit https://go.ted.com/thewaywework for more!

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Videos

Finding a job used to start with submitting your résumé to a million listings and never hearing back from most of them. But more and more companies are using tech-forward methods to identify candidates. If AI is the future of hiring, what does that mean for you? Technologist Priyanka Jain gives a look at this new hiring landscape.

The Way We Work is a TED original video series where leaders and thinkers offer practical wisdom and insight into how we can adapt and thrive amid changing workplace conventions. 

Visit https://go.ted.com/thewaywework for more!

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You're welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know.

TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy: https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization/our-policies-terms/ted-talks-usage-policy. For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com

How to make applying for jobs less painful | The Way We Work, a TED series

Take the time to ask yourself why you want a new job. If you try to explore the goal you have in mind, it will motivate you to find space for job hunting.  Defining your "why now?" will call you to action to take the first step.

Define your why — and why now

Find a moment to sit down and meditate. Then visualize the times when you were excited about a new job or the happy moments in your current one. Ask yourself, do you like the people you worked with or are working with? What about the kind of work? Do you have different feelings now? Finally, visualize how you'll feel when you find your dream job. Embrace the energy you're feeling — the excitement and the engagement you feel through your body. With this practice you can determine what's important to you and give you the necessary energy to power through.

Visualize current state and target state

It's often scary to think about the uncertainty the future brings but if you create a plan and follow it to the bone, you'll glean with energy from accomplishing every step.  <ol><li>Determine how much time you're willing to dedicate to the job-hunting process and commit to that every day or every week</li><li>Create an activity schedule — like what will you do at this time? Prepare your resume? Update your LinkedIn profile? </li><li>Figure out who are the people who will support you with the job-hunting.</li></ol>

Make a plan 

Each company has their own style of recruiting process. Some have a maximum of four interviews while others, ten. However, this shouldn't get you down because that's something not within your control. If you focus on what you can control you'll increase your positive energy and build momentum. Instead here are some things you can control:<ul><li>Developing your resume and LinkedIn profile </li><li>Scheduling meet-and-greet opportunities with people from your field</li><li>Preparing for interviews</li><li>Reaching out to references and encouraging them to be enthusiastic in talking about you</li></ul>

Focus on what you can control

The job-hunting process is emotional and it sometimes can feel like a roller coaster ride. That's why mental preparation is just as important as preparing your resume.  We can be positive all we want but we still have to prepare for the time for when the possibility of being rejected happens to us. Prepare yourself on how you'll work through it and then move forward.

Breathe and Believe

Five strategies to help you muster up the energy.

How to Job Hunt (When You’re Already Exhausted)

Automation in business can significantly reduce delays in data processing and workflow because of human error. The business process automation (BPA) approach can result in cost reduction and simplified procedures. However, automation solutions can impact employees. Therefore, successful companies attempt to balance retaining employees and smart automation deployment that can boost efficiency, employee productivity, and customer satisfaction.

The business process automation (BPA) approach

<ul><li>Invoice processing can ensure properly carried out and tracked payment procedures.</li><li>Recruitment. Onboarding can be streamlined with e-signature, advanced employee data management, or automated benefits management.</li><li>Scheduling. Employees can be notified about the correct timetable and register their performance, presence, and absence.</li><li>Customer support. A 24-hour automated support system to ensure instant responses.</li><li>Sales management. CRM systems can benefit sales agents' daily operations.</li><li>Accounting data reconciliation can eliminate errors and reduce fraud.</li></ul>

Operations that can be automated

AI and ML deployment is not a substitute for a person in a business process. However, when working in tandem with humans, it can improve workflows. Automating specific processes allows staff to focus on the things that require human intervention. It is advisable to automate using a step-by-step implementation process. Try first to implement one process as a pilot project, then move to another.

Take the right direction

Use a proof of concept (PoC) strategy while looking for an innovative solution to enhance your company performance. This step could reveal the success or failure of the technology you are considering implementing.

Don't ignore a proof of concept

Employees may become frustrated with every change in the system management caused by automation, requiring them to disrupt their comfort zone. Guide your staff through the entire automation cycle, involving them in every stage, establishing roles, and ensuring team cohesion.

Get your staff involved

Any system could potentially go down, and your company needs to be prepared for it. A failover option can save the situation and ensure ongoing workflow performance. However, failover may require intervention by a tech specialist who can restore the system and data.

Prepare a backup plan

Automation is only one part. The other is the overall approach to business process management. Ensure to monitor automation performance early on to eliminate flaws and disrupting workflows. Make use of key performance indicators to assess the effectiveness of the automation solution.

Continuous process improvements

Business process automation implies a gradual deployment process. These practices will help you to take the right direction while implementing BPA solutions.

Discover the world of business and economics.

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Economics

Best Practices in Business Process Automation

Try this kind of visualization practice anytime you’re preparing for a high-stakes situation. It could be a job interview, your first day of work, or even how you want to come across with new colleagues after being hired. Designing the way you want to show up, and not what prize you’ll get for doing so, will help clear away some of the head fog driven by your stress, and restore a sense of calm and clarity that allows your spark to shine through.

Visualize how you show up — not a specific outcome

To safeguard your wellbeing during any hard time, and keep your spark alive, you must learn to separate your emotions from your worries.When something is pulling at your mind (such as your employment situation), schedule that heavy thought and visit it only once per day at a designated time. Tell yourself, “Each day at 9 a.m. I will give this subject five minutes of my complete focus.” Then, when the subject occurs to you at other times, as it will, remind yourself it’s already scheduled, and try to move on.

Make an appointment with worry

If you are under a great deal of financial pressure, accepting any job — and tabling your search for a job with a greater purpose — may be the right choice for you, at least right now. Do what you need to do to feed yourself or your loved ones. You can find a way to grow and contribute in almost any role.The pressure around a job search causes many people who do have other options (either desperately or excitedly) to say “yes” without a moment’s pause. It can cause people to apply to every job without considering whether they’d actually enjoy it. If you have the leeway to do so and won’t be putting yourself at risk, try to give yourself some time — both before applying to a role and when considering an offer.

Give yourself a minute to think

Three strategies to help you slow down and perform at your best.

Finding a Job is Stressful. Here’s How to Get Through it.

Every recruiter worth their salt will ask about your salary expectations when you first start interviewing. Do not give them a number. What to do instead: Ask for the range they’re budgeted for the role.How to say it: “Can you tell me the salary band for this level? Happy to let you know if it’s within my range, and we can discuss specific numbers later when I’ve met the team.”

Negotiation starts earlier than you think

Go into the interview ready not just to answer questions but to ask some of your own. You will use this to negotiate later. Here are a few examples of what you should ask:<ul><li>What’s the biggest priority for the team right now?</li><li>Why is this role open?</li><li>What’s the biggest challenge for someone stepping into this role?</li><li>How does the org structure on the teamwork?</li></ul>

Mine for intel during interviews

Once you’ve been offered the role, the recruiter’s job shifts from evaluating you to closing you. Most experienced recruiters will ask you again to put up a number for your salary. Clever recruiters may even tell you that they “will go to bat for you.”What recruiters say: “If you give me your number, I will make it happen for you.”What they mean: “I’ll get you something lower, but kinda close to what you asked for.”

Don’t give in to the pressure

At FAANG-size companies (i.e. over 5K employees), compensation is heavily formulaic. In fact, there is often a separate team — the “compensation committee” — who sets your salary. They take into account your background, interview performance, and level. They give the recruiter a number to go with. The recruiter then gives you the number, and every time you negotiate they have to go back to that committee to ask for a re-evaluation.

At FAANG, your recruiter may have no say at all

Your initial offer speaks volumes if you know how to interpret the data.

Read between the lines

You may be dealing with the founder directly. It’s very likely there is no range for the role, as smaller companies have much less access to salary data. The goal at the initial offer conversation is to understand three things:<ul><li>The current state of the company (financing, runway, profitability)</li><li>The plan for your role/function</li><li>The value of the equity, considering exit scenarios.</li></ul>

At a startup, the playbook is different 

It can be tempting to think you need to negotiate now that you have data. Nope, not yet. The next step, instead, is to upsell your worth before you come back with any kind of counteroffer. This is especially important if you’re going for a senior role.What to do next: Ask for follow-up meetings with decision-makers. If you’re a Director or higher, you can usually ask to meet with any VP and possibly C-level execs. VPs can often meet with the CEO and even board members. Take your time; this is important if you want your salary to reflect your value. If everyone wants you, you’ll be calling the shots later.

Your job is to win hearts and minds

Did you know that women make only 47 cents in equity for every dollar a man makes? A HUGE reason for that is that many women don’t fully evaluate their offer before negotiating. Ask yourself these questions: <ul><li>Is the offer competitive? </li><li>How does it work? (When do I vest; what is the stock worth?)</li><li>Is it all true? (Is the value of the equity over-inflated?)</li><li>Does it add up? (Consider taxes on bonuses and stock.)</li><li>If you have goaled comp, are the goals realistic?</li></ul>

OK, now get some good data

Getting paid more up-front doesn’t always mean you’ll make the most overall. Plan carefully.Not all offers are made equal — in fact, they are intentionally confusing. At Google, you may get a front-loaded vesting schedule on your stock; at Amazon, sizable cash bonuses the first two years. It seems obvious that you should look at the comp, but that’s not everything.

Comparing offers

It can be awkward to ask for more money, but trust me, everyone expects you to do it. On top of that, it doesn’t help that so much of the advice out there is conflicting.You absolutely do not need multiple offers. Just being able to say you’re speaking to other companies is sufficient — you can quote the expected salaries for other roles if needed.

Time to make an ask

Guest post by Niya Dragova, co-founder of Candor