Sunday, July 26, 2020

How to Increase Workforce Racial Diversity - Workology

How to Increase Workforce Racial Diversity - Workology Specific Strategies for Increasing Workplace Diversity Racial diversity in the workplace â€" from recruiting to hiring to promoting people of color â€" continues to move at an unimpressive pace. And if LinkedIn’s annual  workplace diversity report  is any indication, the needle is moving so slowly that it appears to be broken. Among the company’s 6,435 employees, 5 per cent are Latino, and 3 per cent are Black, representing only a 1 per cent increase over the previous year. LinkedIn’s leadership is 3 per cent Latino and 1 per cent Black. The company’s diversity report is particularly disturbing because according to LinkedIn’s own  stats, it has 433 million registered users, with two new members joining the social networking site every second. It’s safe to assume that LinkedIn has access to more potential employee profiles than any other organization, which begs the question: If it can’t find suitable candidates of color among hundreds of millions of profiles, who can? Houston, We Have a Problem A quick scan of other top corporations gives a similarly problematic picture: Google’s workforce is 3 per cent Latino and 2 per cent Black. Intel is doing slightly better: 8.05 per cent of the workforce is Latino, while 3.67 per cent is Black. So, why do companies have so many problems when it comes to recruiting, supporting and promoting people of color in the workplace in a genuine way? “Companies often treat recruiting diverse people as compliance or risk mitigation, rather than a business opportunity,” says Art Hopkins, a consultant at executive search and leadership advisory firm Russell Reynolds Associates. Another issue he points out is that these same companies view hiring people who seem different from the majority of their employees as somehow lowering the bar. Having such a limiting mindset negatively impacts their ability to recruit and build a genuinely diverse workforce. But when companies view the recruitment of people of color as a business opportunity, such inclusivity can result in a more engaged workforce. “An inclusive culture is the bedrock of a hiring process that broadens the definition of best talent,” he explains. Debunking the Pipeline Excuse Some companies â€" especially in the tech industry â€" claim that their recruiting problem lies on the supply side or pipeline, with not enough Black and Hispanic students graduating with degrees in the necessary fields. However, an  analysis  by USA Today revealed that these two groups are graduating with degrees in computer science and computer engineering at twice the rate that they’re being hired by the top tech companies. And Dr. Kenneth Gibbs, a program director for the Division of Training, Workforce Development and Diversity at the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, published a  study  in 2014 revealing a significant increase in the number of Black, Hispanic and American Indian students obtaining a Ph.D in a scientific field while showing that the diversity gap for university faculty persisted. With these two microcosms of the larger racial diversity issue in mind, is it possible that organizations are not actively searching for underrepresented candidates? Problem #1: Employee Referrals Viyas Sundaram, chief revenue officer at Snagajob, does not think companies are intentionally trying to avoid hiring people of color. Pointing to the tech community’s lackluster demographics despite many taking an active pro-diversity stance, he suggests the issue lies in social networking, more specifically: employee referrals. “Happy employees are the best brand ambassadors and make great mini recruiters,” Sundaram explains. In fact, he says that 50 per cent of all Snagajob hires are a result of employee referrals. However, Sundaram warns, “The drawback when you rely on the social network of a non-diverse staff is homogenization.” Sundaram isn’t the only executive who believes that companies really are trying to diversity their workforce with people of color. According to Leela Srinivasan, CMO of recruiting software company Lever, “Many companies that have made the diversity and inclusion commitment recently are coming at it from the standpoint of wanting to correct past failings, and it shows in the composition of their current workforce, and in the makeup of their leadership teams and management layers.” But are some companies only paying lip service? The past is the most accurate predictor of the future. And as a result, while a company may say that it’s committed to diversity, candidates are not necessarily going to take the company at its word when there are no other apparent indicators. Problem #2: Appealing to Diverse Talent Without a Diverse Staff According to Harj Taggar, cofounder and CEO of Triplebyte, it’s impossible for an organization to genuinely reach out to any group that it’s not a part of. “Of course, if people of color were already well represented at companies, then this wouldnt be a topic at all, so companies have to put together their best guess at how to do it.” Srinivasan explains that minority candidates want to see other people like themselves represented in the company. “They want to have the confidence that they will belong, that they cannot only contribute and have impact, but flourish and build a career,” she says. And when organizations can’t point to past successes or provide examples, there’s a justifiable amount of skepticism among applicants of color. Research supports that skepticism. A now-infamous study by researchers at Stanford University and the University of Toronto revealed that callback rates were higher for minority college students who  whitened their resumethrough simple strategies such as altering their first name and leaving out extracurricular activities, such as undergraduate student groups, that could reveal their race. Even among companies that used pro-diversity language in their job ads, callback rates were no higher among students who did not whiten their resume. Problem #3: Unconscious Biases and Microagressions Srinivasan explains that some companies suffer from the unconscious biases of their employees, which manifest in  microagressions  against diverse applicants and new hires, which can lead talented people of color to leave the company or never sign on in the first place. According to a  study  by RHR International, a global firm of management psychologists and consultants, white leadership has a misled and troubling tendency to view African-American workers as incompetent or overly aggressive, while Hispanic employees are often seen as uneducated and lacking ambition. These perception biases can prevent candidates from being hired or promoted to the ranks of leadership. The same study shows corresponding delays in promotions of African-American employees. Problem #4: Internal Isolation Another hindrance is a lack of networking. Just as employee referrals from a homogeneous staff can skew hiring decisions, the RHR study found that a lack of networking and mentorship relationships for diverse talent within the company could hinder chances at promotions to senior leadership positions. While the respondents in the study indicated that networking was important to them, they were less likely to have such relationships. Offering voluntary, employee-led groups for non-white or LGBT employees to network is a good first step, but Srinivasan warns against over-relying on them. “While they are an important source of support for workers, confining the conversation to those groups and not opening it up to a broader audience, the majority, reduces the chances of a company making progress in the way it empathizes with and supports diverse talent,” she says. “I’ve seen this play out at my company Lever, where one of the single biggest proponents of diversity and inclusion is a white male named Tim,” explains Srinivasan. “We’re constantly working toward a balanced workforce and are currently at a 50/50 gender ratio and 40 per cent non-white employees.” She attributes these accomplishments to making diversity and inclusion a company-wide priority instead of limiting it to an employee resource group. The Role of Organizational Culture Organizational culture is front and center in efforts to recruit, retain and promote employees of color. According to Sundaram, “A company that values diversity and implements a recruiting and promotional structure that allows it to flourish, indirectly creates mentors that make a company more appealing.” For example, when he joined the C-level staff at Snagajob, Sundaram says that it motivated junior staff members of similar ethnic backgrounds who were encouraged by his promotion. “In addition, prospective employees saw me as ‘one of their own’ succeeding, which has given us an increased ability to recruit a more diverse workforce.” Organizational culture is so critical to Srinivasan that she thinks it may be the single most important factor to building a diverse workforce and says it’s the job of leadership to create an environment that fosters success among employees from all backgrounds. “One of our shared values at Lever is to champion cross-functional empathy, or XFE as we call it, and that lays an important foundation for everyone regardless of role, function, gender, race, sexual orientation or anything else to treat one another with respect and compassion.” Srinivasan doesn’t think that the company would be nearly as diverse without this emphasis on empathy. The Benefits of Addressing and Improving Diversity Rates Ideally, companies would pursue diversity because it’s the right thing to do. But there are also commercial benefits to consider. “A diverse workforce that thrives in an inclusive culture leads to a better ability to serve customers, a higher level of innovation and a stronger employer brand, as we found from conversations with  Diversity and Inclusion #GameChangers,” Hopkins says. Taggar agrees and adds that the companies focused on getting the best ideas are most likely to succeed in their diversity efforts. “If that’s the most important aspect of your culture, then it’ll act as your true north and always point you in the direction of finding and promoting the best people regardless of their gender, ethnicity or background,” Taggar explains. Research supports the advantages of diversity as a way to improve the company’s bottom line. “The commercial benefits are well documented through studies like the one done by  McKinsey, which shows that  ethnically diverse organizations are 35 percent more likely to outperform their peers,” Srinivasan says. However, some companies may not understand exactly how diversity can affect their bottom line. Taggar explains that there two specific commercial benefits: Diversity, in general, leads to more viewpoints and more ideas, which results in better products and services. Companies need to keep producing the best product or services to thrive, so those who are able to get a more diverse workforce will have a competitive advantage over those that dont. People of color are themselves increasingly representing an important consumer base, and companies have to understand how to build products they want and market to them. Successful startups focused on this market alone are already coming out of Silicon Valley. Specific Strategies for Increasing Workplace Diversity Hopkins advises executives to assess and challenge the company’s culture by asking themselves these three questions: Is your environment ready to embrace a diverse workforce? Do you value diversity of background and thought? Are you aware of biases and willing to confront them? If the answer to all three questions is “yes,” the next step is to hire and develop inclusive leaders. “Companies must hire leaders who see business sense in diversity, act as authentic role models, have the courage to address employees’ fear around discussing diversity, and finally, create an environment where employees feel like they belong,” Hopkins says. With approximately 100 employees, Lever is small enough that they’ve been able to manage without a head of Diversity and Inclusion, but Srinivasan says the company will need this individual as it moves to the next stage of growth. “At larger organizations, having someone provide that focus is important, as is making sure that the leadership team is aligned and committed to championing diversity at all levels of the company.” She also advises companies to analyze their ratios and have discussions with their teams. “Understand where the greatest pain points and obstacles to accomplishing DI lie, and then build the plan to knock them down, one by one, while leveraging your entire organization on that path.” This post was originally published on the Economists Career Blog here. Its author,  Terri Williams, is a freelance writer who covers leadership topics for The Economist Careers Network.

Sunday, July 19, 2020

How to Talk About Your Strengths to Employers - Hallie Crawford

Step by step instructions to Talk About Your Strengths to Employers Hallie was regarded to be included in an ongoing FlexJobs article about how to discuss your qualities in a prospective employee meeting. As a follow up to this article, we needed to impart some extra tips to you. Figure out how to explain your qualities. To have the option to discuss your qualities in a prospective employee meeting, you need to realize what your qualities are. More than that, so as to sell yourself in a meeting, you additionally should have the option to talk about them articulately. Give instances of how you influence them and how that has delivered results for you in past employments, and disclose to them how they would be significant in the activity you are meeting for too. Dont expect your questioner will assemble 2 and 2, you must have the option to spread it out for them during the meeting. Assist them with seeing how those qualities would decidedly affect their main concern. Know your one of a kind qualities. Additionally, you should have the option to disclose to them how your interesting mix of qualities make you stand apart from different up-and-comers. For instance, if youre an inside fashioner with experience also in development in light of an occupation you had directly out of school, that can be a special arrangement of qualities not every person brings to the table. Recount stories to have an effect. Ensure you have a story from past experience about every one of your qualities to use in your meeting to delineate that you have that quality. Dont simply let them know, give them utilizing a tale about how it was utilized, and the positive effect it had at your last employment. Qualities aren't all that matters. Recall that its additionally imperative to remember that the things that activity scouts truly search for are delicate aptitudes. This incorporates being a cooperative person, being focused on close to home and expert turn of events, having an inspirational mentality, and being keen on learning. They can see on your resume your achievements and whether you realize how to utilize certain PC programs. What's more, they can generally furnish you with preparing, however they cannot show you how to be a cooperative person or how to be certain. Those are basic also, and qualities or character attributes that can make you stand apart from the group. Need assistance with your profession? Confirmed Career Coach and her group of mentors spend significant time in helping experts distinguish their optimal profession way, explore their progress and support their vocation. To plan a complimentary meeting and discover increasingly about the vocation mentors at HallieCrawford.com visit our site: https://www.halliecrawford.com.

Saturday, July 11, 2020

Dream job 101 Ask the tough questions - Hallie Crawford

Dream work 101 Ask the extreme inquiries I was working with Ben, one of my group instructing customers, as of late. Hes drafting his profession statement of purpose. This is normally an extreme activity from the start, yet once it begins to click it very well may be moving for everybody. Your pursuit of employment can truly take off once you've characterized this. On the off chance that you need to start composing your profession statement of purpose ask yourself these extreme, basic inquiries and consider them. Set aside some effort to muse on them. You ought to try and ask your loved ones what they think. Its the Who, What and How of your vocation. Who would you like to effect or help through your profession? What would you like to assist them with? How would you like to support them? Heres my very own case reason articulation as a lifelong mentor: I need to push youthful to mid-vocation experts (WHO) characterize and land their fantasy work (WHAT) by instructing them separately and in gatherings (HOW) to discover their profession course. Presently you attempt itIf you could do anything, be anything or have any effect on the world you needed towhat would it be? Whats your Who, What and How? On the off chance that you need assistance with this, evaluate our new Online Career Center where you get all day, every day access to our vocation mentors, in addition to 2 live month to month instructing calls with me. It's just $1 for the first month! Profession Search Coach

Saturday, July 4, 2020

12 Linux Unix Interview Questions to Test Programmers (June 2020)

12 Linux Unix Interview Questions to Test Programmers (June 2020) 12 Tricky Linux Unix Interview Questions to Test Programmers in 2020 Image Source: PixabayUnix is a hardy perennial of operating systems, first devised almost half a century  ago in the late 1960s in Bell Labs. With the exception of the Microsoft NT systems, Unix’s DNA is everywhere, most notably in Linux, but also the Mac OS X, iOS, Android, Chrome, even in the Orbis system in Playstation 4. And that’s why, when going for a job in programming, that it’s good to know about Unix interview questions and especially the workings of its descendant Linux.Even if you consider the design philosophy underpinning Unixâ€"it’s a collection of small modular utilities, each undertaking one task as part of a complex entiretyâ€"you can appreciate the continued relevance of the ‘original of the species’ Unix.This is why there are so many similarities between a Mac OS X terminal or file system, and Linux’s, and why they are so different from Windows. The former two were inspired by the  Unix operating systems, where as Windows does not.The original Unix h as two offshots: on the open-source side, BSD led ultimately to  iOS, Orbis as well as the GNU project that birthed MINIX, which inspired Linux and then to GNU/Linux, which is the foundation stone for Android, Chrome, Steam and others.Meanwhile, the commercial descendants included those systems developed by large corporations and licensed as their own respective variants of Unix. These, some of which are still in operation today, include  ATT UNIX, SCO UnixWare, Sun Microsystems Solaris, HP-UX, IBM AIX, and SGI IRIX.And while the march of Unix toward industry standard global domination was halted by DOS and IBM-compatible computers, especially Microsoft’s variant of DOS (which led to Windows NT and eventually to Windows XP), its influence endures, especially in Linux.Below we  have compiled  a list of 12 questions shared online by Unix and Linux developers and  we encourage you to  study them before you go for your interview. But alongside your preparations, make sure your general interview essential items are all in order. Be neat and tidy at all times, and  carry any necessary paraphernalia  in a quality  briefcase, a slimline backpack, or a neat  messenger bag / satchel.To follow up on this article, there  are numerous books about Unix and Linux available  online.  A Practical Guide to Linux Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming (3rd Edition) by Mark G Sobell is regarded as one of the best sources on essential Linux commands. Another is The Linux Command Line: A Complete Introduction by William E Shotts Jr, which is highly rated and recommended for essential shell commands. Last but by no means least is How Linux Works: What Every Superuser Should Know, which is another highly rated Linux guide for programmers.asyazon_link]Image Source: Amazon (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 12 Linux and Unix Interview Questions for Programmers DevelopersSo, as we have seen, the influence of Unix remains palpable and potent. Not to labour the point , but Linux is the most popular descendant, and displaced the SUS-certified Unix variant in the early 1990s. However and perhaps most significantly of all, Android, which is the most widely used mobile operating  system in the world, is based on Linux. So, while Unix has a long history, experts will tell you online that interviews for Java programming, Android and other development jobs are almost bound to include Linux and Unix interview questions.What follows is a list of 12 Linux and Unix interview questions to get you into a state of readiness for what you might face during an interview. They range in difficulty from easy to complex, but none should be under-estimated. Good luck, Linux Unix AGENTs! (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 1. What is UNIX?As the Udemy team point out, this may sound like a no-brainer, but it’s incredible just how many candidates struggle in an interview to give a clear definition of Unix. Udemy’s answer suggestion is as follows:UNI X is a multi-user multitasking-optimized operating system that can run on various hardware platforms.Question Answer Source:  Udemy2. How do you find all the links in a folder in UNIX or Linux ?According to Java67.com, this is one of the trickier UNIX interview questions, as there is no specific command to find all symbolic links. The ln command creates and updates soft links, but nothing gives all the links in a directory.The one to use is the ls command which lists everything in the directory; then you need to list all the links, as they start with l as first characters. The actual UNIX command to find all links in a directory is:[emailprotected]:~ ls -lrt total 2.0K -rw-r--r--   1 Linux Domain Users   0 Dec   6   2011 a drwxr-xr-x+ 1 Linux Domain Users   0 Sep 19 12:30 java/ lrwxrwxrwx   1 Linux Domain Users   4 Sep 19 12:31 version_1.0 - java/ [emailprotected]:~ ls -lrt | grep '^l' lrwxrwxrwx   1 Linux Domain Users   4 Sep 19 12:31 version_1.0 - java/Question Answer Source: Java67.com (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 3. Technical coding questionsBe sure to research technical Unix interview questions, for your skills will undoubtedly put you to the test. Toptal provides a typical question: How would you count every occurrence of the term “potato” in all the files appearing under the current directory,$ grep -orI potato . | wc -land its subdirectories, recursively?Answer: To list every occurrence of the term “potato” on a separate line, one must run grep -o potato pathAdding the r flag to the command makes the search recursively process every file under the given path, and the I flag ensures that matches in binary files are ignored. In addition, the w flag can be included to match the exact term only, and ignore superstrings such as “potatoes”, and to make the search case-insensitive, the i flag can be added as well:$ grep -iworI p otato . | wc -lThe number of lines yielded by this grep command is the number of occurrences of the desired term, which can then be counted by piping it into the wc -l command.Question Answer Source: Toptal.com4. How do you print/display the first line of a file?TheProfessionalsPoint blog points out that there a number of ways to answer this question, but the easiest way to do it is by use of the  [head] command.$ head -1 file.txtUsing [head -2] would print the first 2 records of the file.Another method is the [sed] command, a powerful text editor which can be used for various text manipulation purposes like this.$ sed '2,$ d' file.txtThe d parameter instructs [sed] to delete all the records from display from line 2 to the last line of the file (represented by $). The command does not actually delete the lines. Rather, it does not display the specified lines on a standard output screen, so the user will see only the remaining line, the first line.Question Answer Source: TheProfess ionalsPoint.Blogspot.ie (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 5. What are shared, slave, private, and unbindable mountpoints?A mountpoint that is shared may be replicated as many times as needed, and each copy will continue to be the exact same. Other mount points that appear under a shared mount point in some subdirectory will appear in all the other replicated mount points as it is.A slave mountpoint is similar to a shared mount point with the small exception that the “sharing” of mount point information happens in one direction. A mount point that is slave will only receive mount and unmount events. Anything that is mounted under this replicated mount point will not move towards the original mount point.A private mountpoint is exactly what the name implies: private. Mount points that appear under a private mount point will not be shown elsewhere in the other replicated mount points unless they are explicitly mounted there as well.An unbindable mountpoint, which by definition is also private, cannot be replicated elsewhere through the use of the bind flag of the mount system call or command.Question Answer Source: Toptal.com 6. How to run a program in the background in Unix  or Linux ?As the Java67.com team point out, this is an easy Unix  or Linux interview question, but only when you know. You can use amp; to run any process in the background and then use jobs to find the job id for that process. The fg and bg commands bring that process to the foreground and background respectively. Java67.com recommends candidates to read the book How Linux Works: What Every Superuser Should Know, to learn more about running a process in the background. Image Source: Amazon Check Price Question Answer Source: Java67.com (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 7. How is UNIX different from Linux?Udemy advises that while Linux is an open-source clone of UNIX, with a lot of similarities, the candidate should be aware that there are a lot of d ifferences.   The main advantage of UNIX is that all the core components of the operating system come from the same vendor, which means greater overall stability and better software support from vendors. UNIX releases are more stable and consistent than Linux releases, making UNIX the better choice for enterprise use.Question Answer Source: Udemy8. What is the meaning of ‘644 permission’ for a file?As the Java67.com team points out, to answer UNIX interview questions such as this depends on your knowledge about the basics of UNIX files and directories. 644 represents permission 110 (for the owner), permission 100 (for a group) and 100 for others. This translates into read + write access for the creator of the file (the owner), and read-only permission for the group and others.The team further explains that in Unix, whenever a file is created, the file creation process uses default permission 666 (and 777 for a directory). The user is able to restrict permissions for that file o r directory through the unmask command. For example, a common unmask value is 022, which will grant the file read + write permission for the owner and group, but read-only for group members and other.Question Answer Source: Java67.com and JavaRevisited.Blogspot.com (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 9. What is a Unix shell? Is Bash the only Unix shell?The experts at Toptal.com provide comprehensive answers to these and other Unix interview questions. Firstly, they define a Unix shell as software that provides a user interface for the underlying operating system. Unix shells typically provide a textual user interface a command line interpreter that may be used for entering and running commands, or create scripts that run a series of commands and can be used to express more advanced behaviour.Bash is not the only Unix shell, but just one of many. Short for Bourne-Again Shell, it is also one of the many Bourne-compatible shells. However, Bash is arguably one of the most popular shells around. There are other, modern shells available that often retain backwards compatibility with Bash but provide more functionality and features, such as the Z Shell (zsh).Question Answer Source: Toptal.com10. How do you check all the running processes in Unix?The standard command to see this, according to  TheProfessionalsPoint blog, is [ps]. However, [ps] shows  only a snapshot of the processes at that instance. If you need to monitor the processes for a certain period of time, and refresh the results in each interval, consider using the [top] command.$ ps â€"efIf you wish to see the percentage of memory usage and CPU usage, then consider the switches below:$ ps auxIf you wish to use this command inside some shell script, or if you want to customize the output of [ps] command, you may use “-o” switch, as in the example below. By using “-o” switch, you can specify the columns that you want [ps] to print out.$ps -e -o stime,user,pid,args,%mem,%cpuQuestio n Answer Source: TheProfessionalsPoint.Blogspot.ie (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 11. Your application home directory is full. How do you determine  which directories are using most  space?By using the disk usage (DU) command in Unix, according to TheProfessionalsPoint blog. For example,du â€"sh . | grep Gwill list down all the directories which have GIGS in Size.Question Answer Source: TheProfessionalsPoint.Blogspot.ie12. What is a Linux null (or Blackhole) route? How can it be used to mitigate unwanted incoming connections?A Linux null (or Blackhole) route is a type of routing table entry which, upon matching a packet, discards it without forwarding the packet any further or sending any ICMP. Using this technique, it is possible to block an IP (or range of IP addresses) by running a simple command. For example, blocking 192.168.0.1 can simply be done with the following command:# ip route add blackhole 192.168.0.1/32Question Answer Source: Toptal.com