With companies such as Uber, Airbnb, and Grub hub popping up left and right, it is clear the 2020s will be dominated by startups gear towards the new “gig economy.” This is not the first time new technology and changing economic circumstances have led to a massive wave of new businesses. Between 1995 and 2000, the world experienced a massive technological transformation as the Internet and home computers became the new normal for everyday people to access. This period, known as the “dot-com bubble,” led to the rise of the online startup and saw the beginnings of some of today’s industry giants such as Amazon and Google. But this period was closely followed by a massive downturn. Many companies that appeared during this time, such as Pets.com, lost millions of dollars in revenue and eventually shut down within months of becoming public. So why do some startups fail?
One reason is that many startups lack proper work-life balance. Starting a business from the ground up is an arduous process and requires a lot of energy. As a result, many startups choose to forgo things like proper breaks and personal time, which often leads to employees burning out and losing their passion for the project. One of Google’s success secrets is its dedication to making work/life balance a top priority. They allow their employees to set their hours and adequately compensate them financially. They have also designed their offices to be comfortable and fun to work in (their offices are dog-friendly!).
Another reason a startup might go under is that it gets out-competed by other products that are easier to use, cheaper, or simply work better. Before Google, the 1990s were flooded with dozens of pre and post-web search engines like Gopher, Aliweb, and Yahoo. Google’s founders designed an algorithm that optimized keyword searches so that the most relevant data was always presented at the top of Google’s search results. As a result, Google worked better than its competition and soon became the world’s top search engine leaving the others in the dust.
The most crucial factor in a startup’s failure is a lack of a market need for the product. For example, Pet’s.com was supposed to be “the Amazon of pet products,” allowing pet owners to purchase their pet products online. But it turned out pet owners preferred to purchase their pet products at the local store as it was much easier and cheaper, so Pets.com quickly fell off.
Imagine this. You’ve finished with a long day of work. You are driving home late, and it starts raining. You are exhausted, and the last thing you want to do is have to go to the grocery store in the rain to buy food to cook for dinner that night. Of course, you could go to a fast-food restaurant, but then again, you don’t want to wait in the drive-through, and you are also in the mood for something fancy. You want to relax, curl up on the couch with a movie, and have your food delivered to you. Now you can. With just a simple download of an app on your smart device or computer, you can order food from hundreds of local restaurants from the comfort of your home, and the food will be delivered straight to you. And food delivery apps are just one of the many new kinds of businesses disrupting the consumer market with their strong focus on customer experience.
Good customer service has always been an essential aspect of creating a successful business. But there are crucial differences between companies that focus on good customer services and companies that want to create a good customer experience. An experienced business makes it their mission to ensure that their customers positively associate with their brand by ensuring that every encounter an individual has with the brand is tailored to their preferences.
Take Uber, for example. Human beings have been utilizing driving services for decades, but unlike taxis or buses, Uber has tailored their driving services to optimize its customers’ experience while riding in the car. Uber customers can choose the size of the vehicle they wish to ride in. They can choose to ride alone or to carpool. They can choose the time that they want to be picked up. And most Uber drivers offer water to their passengers, allow them to select the music played in the car, and even offer passengers snacks and gum. Uber rides range from basic cars to luxury vehicles. Customers can pay for the service, rate the drive, and tip their driver all through an app on their phone. Uber’s strong focus on creating the most rewarding ride for their customers has proven a successful business model, as Uber services are now more popular than any other driving service. Any business in the 21st century that hopes to garner success must embrace the growing desire for individualized customer experience. Studying customers’ habits and maintaining positive and open relationships with customers will help businesses understand the direction the customers want the brand to go.
The reality of the digital age is that eventually, we will conduct most previously manual tasks over the internet. For millennials, this means that finding a job is now a digital venture. And as many of us can attest, applying for a job online is exhausting. Many job boards are packed with applications, and most of them never even receive a follow-up email on the status of their application. Unfortunately, most millennials have few other options outside of applying online, as many companies have already moved away from traditional paper applications in favor of online versions. As a result, many applicants opt to use several positions at the same company to increase their likelihood of a callback. But this can backfire, as hiring managers tend to overlook applicants that look like they are applying randomly. Applying online can be challenging, but it is not hopeless. People do get interviews and even hired after applying online.
Below is a list of tips to make your online application stand out:
The Online Application: Many companies are switching to a standardized online application. Hiring managers find online applications easier to follow as mistakes on an application are easier to track online. If you rush through the application, they will notice. That is why it is essential to take your time to double-check that all the sections are correctly filled out.
The Resume: Your resume should be clean, clear, and concise. A hiring manager won’t even read it if it is tough to follow. Your entire resume should be in the same format and font so that it looks well-structured. There are several online resume templates that you can download for free to help you organize your resume. When listing your skillset, opt for brief bullet points rather than long sentences. List your education but don’t overstate it; companies care more about your professional experience than they do about what clubs you were part of in college. Your professional experience/work history should be easy to follow. Ensure that the company name, your job title, the dates you were employed, and the duties you performed during your time there are laid out. A brief description of the company and your work there will also help a hiring manager understand your background. Lastly, have someone check your resume for grammatical errors.
The Cover Letter: Add one! Most people will only fill out an application and send in a resume, so adding a cover letter can help an applicant stand out from the crowd. A cover letter is your chance to describe your background in more detail. It is also a place where applicants can lay out how they can be an asset to the company they are applying to. If you are applying to several jobs, make sure that your cover letter fits the different positions you are applying for. A cover letter that is too general will not get a second look.
The Follow Up: After sending in your completed application and cover letter, you should also send a follow-up email 1-2 weeks after you send your application. Hiring managers receive hundreds of resumes a day and do not have the time to go through all of them. A follow-up email will show that you are enthusiastic about the position, which will increase the likelihood of your application getting a second look.
If you were born after 1990, you probably could not imagine a world before the advent of the Internet. Since the 1990’s the Internet has become an increasingly integral part of everyday life. The Internet has changed the way we view media, the way we shop, and the way we connect with other people. With more than a billion users to date, Facebook is among the top social networking sites in existence today. Initially invented as a platform for Harvard students to interact with one another, Facebook has become the number one website for individuals of every background to connect with other people worldwide. And with every innovation exists positive and negative aspects.
Pros of Social Networking
Connectivity to the MAX: With social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, it has never been easier to connect to other people around the globe. With social media, all you need is a name, number, and email address, and you can begin to connect with relatives who are out of state, old high school classmates, friends who live in different countries, etc.
Instant Communication: No more waiting around for postcards or sitting by the phone hoping to get a call; with social networking sites, communication is instant. You can send people messages at any time, anywhere.
A New Way to do Business: Social media is increasingly becoming a central platform for connecting business owners and job seekers. LinkedIn is a business and employment social networking site that allows users to create personal profiles dedicated to their resumes and skill set and connect to others with employment opportunities.
Cons of Social Networking
Privacy: Many social networking sites struggle to contain their users’ privacy. Facebook specifically has been dealing with privacy scandals over the last few years, overselling its users’ data to data analytics sites that then used the data without users’ consent.
Online Harassment: Harassment on social media is a big concern. Social media can give users relative anonymity, and some users have opted to abuse this to torment others without the fear of being caught. And since many social networking sites lack a comprehensive policy to combat online bullying, many individuals, especially young people, are still subjected to online abuse.
Rest Interrupted: As social media has become more integral to our lives, it has also become a distraction. People are online several hours a day, and many people are losing sleep over it. In addition, social media usage late at night can interrupt regular sleeping patterns, causing individuals to feel restless at night and more tired during the day.
In 1966 Gene Rodenberry’s “Star Trek” made its television debut on NBC. Audiences young and old were captivated by the show, particularly by its imagination of space, the future, and the incredible technology humanity could yield in it. “Star Trek” would go on to inspire a generation of people determined to create the gadgets of the future. Just three years after the premiere of Star Trek”, humanity would launch Apollo 11, the spaceship that would carry Neil Armstrong to the lunar surface, making him the first person ever to walk on the moon. Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and other children of the space age would become titans of the modern technological era, successfully developing the same kinds of devices used in the iconic television show.
Sixty-three years later, it appears that humanity is inching closer to that future that was but science fiction generations prior. In particular, technology powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming more integrated into our everyday lives. AI-powered virtual helpers in our smart devices have learned to understand our behavior to predict what we need from them. For example, Alexa, a digital assistant developed by Amazon, is trained to recognize voices, commands and even identify when different people are talking to it. Through machine learning, Alexa learns your patterns, allowing it to predict when you need to order groceries, set the alarm to wake up, even remind you to take your medication. And as soon as 2025, developers intend to make Alexa smart enough to predict when your relationships with your intimate partners are about to end.
AI analysts, researchers, and developers are visioning to integrate AI into E-Learning technology. AI-powered E-Learning can learn to apply logic to tasks through the data they collect from users can help developers create software that makes learning in the classroom at a job more accessible and streamlined. Training sessions for new skills that would previously take months to learn in a school can now be taught on a computer, tablet, or other smart device powered by technology designed to enrich the learning experience.
Of course, with any advance in technology, there exists a drawback. Many researchers who study AI have warned of the dangers that super-intelligent technology can pose to humanity. Elon Musk claims that “AΙ is far more dangerous than nukes.” AI accomplishes its tasks as logically as possible; it is neither benevolent nor malicious. However, suppose the AI’s goals do not align with humanity’s goals. In that case, it could pose a considerable threat to our safety. Smart cars that are programmed to optimize your travel from point A to point B may end up leaving havoc in their wake as they bulldoze through buildings and people to get you there the fastest way possible. Data centers storing vast amounts of personal information about us, from our patterns and behavior on the internet to digital images of our faces, also raise huge ethical concerns about privacy. Researchers have warned about AI in more recent years, particularly the algorithms used on social media sites, manipulating public perception by flooding people’s pages with false news articles. AI researchers and technological ethicists have urged that as our technology becomes more competent, it is vital that we prioritize humanity’s safety from the dangers it may eventually possess.
The future of technology is equal parts exhilarating and terrifying. Our lives are more accessible than ever imagined, thanks to the power of technology. Of course, the risks of said technology still must be studied. But humanity will always prevail and will charge forward on our technological quest and continue “to boldly go where no man has gone before.”
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