Israel Idonije, founder of FBRK Impact House, to be awarded the Chicagoness Award at Momentum 2020 for exemplifying the values of the Chicago entrepreneurial community.
[Read more…] about Israel Idonije to Receive Chicagoness Award at The 13th Annual Momentum Awards
Inaugural Cohort of Relativity Fellows Begins Unparalleled e-Discovery Tech Training Program
12 Chicagoland area individuals embark on a new career journey at Relativity
CHICAGO – AUGUST 26, 2020 – Relativity, a global legal and compliance technology company, has officially begun its inaugural Relativity Fellows program. After reviewing more than 320 applications and conducting 116 first-round virtual interviews, Relativity chose 12 motivated individuals from a diverse pool of applicants based in Chicago. The program will run through early 2021 and Fellows that complete the program will be placed in a full-time role at Relativity or one of its e-discovery partners.
“All of us at Relativity are beyond excited to welcome these bright and talented individuals to learn with us so they can launch their careers in litigation support and e-discovery,” said Mike Gamson, Chief Executive Officer at Relativity. “Each of these unique Fellows brings a diverse set of skills and ideas to the table that will not only help them succeed individually but help our organization develop strong subject matter experts and the e-discovery industry build a more inclusive environment.”
In addition to the proprietary educational content around its software, Relativity has also partnered with the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS) to provide supplementary foundational training and development programming so the Fellows can gain an in-depth understanding of complex e-discovery issues and challenges.
“The main goal of this program is to connect the untapped talent we have in our communities to career opportunities in our industry. We want the Relativity Fellows program to act as a career launchpad,” said Colleen Costello, Head of Social Impact at Relativity. “Our team, with the support of various partners in the community, has worked tirelessly over the last year to put together a program that will truly change the professional and economic trajectories of talented Chicagoans and I can’t wait to see where their careers go from here.”
Relativity will distribute a call for applications later this year for the next cohort scheduled to begin in 2021. You can learn more about Relativity Fellows here.
About Relativity
At Relativity, we make software to help users organize data, discover the truth, and act on it. Our platform is used by more than 13,000 organizations around the world to manage large volumes of data and quickly identify key issues during litigation, internal investigations, and compliance operations with SaaS platform RelativityOne and Relativity Trace. Relativity has over 329,000 enabled users in 48+ countries from organizations, including the U.S. Department of Justice, and 199 of the Am Law 200. Relativity has been named one of Chicago’s Top Workplaces by the Chicago Tribune for nine consecutive years. Please contact Relativity at sales@relativity.com or visit http://www.relativity.com for more information.
1871 and The Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center to recognize Aon’s contributions to the technology community.
[Read more…] about Aon Named Corporate Champion at The 13th Annual Momentum Awards
Session available on-demand
FinTech Lunch & Learn with Lucro, OutSystems & TruewindThe banking and financial services industry has undergone tremendous innovation in recent years, however, many companies are still challenged with delivering a customer-centric – omnichannel experience that drives results.The recording of our FinTech talk, organized along with OutSystems and Lucro Commercial Solutions is now available on-demand. In this session Lucro, a leading credit union services organization shared how they developed and delivered a successful, omnichannel end-to-end digital transformation strategy before and during the pandemic.
Crisis Communications, Reconsidered: Evive Supports Workforces through COVID-19, Return to Work, and Beyond
Crisis communication really isn’t so different from day-to-day communication—not if you’re doing the latter effectively.
In this eBook, we share the journey Evive has taken with its large-employer customers from the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic to the Return to Work phase, and the key role rapid, relevant communications played throughout it. COVID-19 threw everyone for a loop and catapulted employers into crisis mode, forcing companies to pivot how they positioned their benefits and resources to employees with strategic, highly-segmented messaging in the right moments. To help our customers support their populations throughout the crisis, we equipped them with tools to help their employees feel heard, supported, and safe.
Read the full eBook to understand how the Evive platform empowered these employers with effective communication capabilities. Plus: learn the compelling insights gleaned from our national survey research and MyEvive user polling that helped inform these efforts and more.
What problem do you solve and how do you solve it better than the competition?
Our approach.Not only does Kastle differentiate with our SLA for response times, but we offer we most comprehensive, advanced technology to keep security current for our clients.Our clients are not experts in physical security.The alternative to Kastle, leveraging an “off-the-shelf” security & video system, means that the responsibility of running, advancing, maintaining, altering, and protecting the equipment falls to the end user. That results in data vulnerabilities, slower resolutions, and equipment that becomes obsolete and requires repeated capital investments.
Kastle pioneered the concept of “managed security” over 45 years ago. We operate and manage advanced, sophisticated security systems for our clients, around-the-clock. We do not merely sell security products, but rather provide our clients a partner in security. From the design to installation, then monitoring and maintaining, onto continuously advancing the technology, the integrity and the service model, our clients go through a vetting exercise one time as opposed to every 3-5 years. Our average length of customer relationship? It’s over a DECADE. We’re doing something different to make that happen.
Most recently, we have faced a new problem: COVID-19 has flipped the world on its ear. In addition to the obvious health concerns, COVID is preventing us from living a public life. That includes our ability to go back to the office safely. Our customers are seeking ways to safely get back to the workplace. Enter KastleSafeSpaces . We took our ‘partnership’ position, and knew we had to answer the need. From all things touchless, automated screening solutions, to contact tracing, to social distancing, our tech is comprehensive and groundbreaking.
How did you get started?
Gene Samburg founded Kastle Systems in 1972 with the mission of providing a more effective, efficient, and convenient approach to securing commercial spaces. In 1972, the technology to manage security simply did not exist.Kastle answered the need with removing it from our clients’ plates.In 2020, the opposite is true.There is so much technology, where do clients start?Recognizing this need, particularly in commercial real estate and its tenants, allows Kastle to provide an outsourced, managed solution for security issues with real security expertise so our clients can focus on running their core business safely.
Are you headquartered in Chicago? What made you choose Chicago? If you are not headquartered in Chicago, what made you open an office here?
In 1992, Kastle opened our Chicago location, and expansion from our HQ in Washington D.C. One advantage to a managed approach is giving the ability for clients to maintain consistency from market to market. Chicago is a hub for business and technology and was a natural extension for our solutions.When we opened this market, we were crystal clear on Chicago’s stature in America’s business community. It was an obvious location, richly populated with some of the greatest companies in the world. Why shouldn’t they have a world-class security solution?
How are you supporting the Chicago tech community philanthropically?
We focus are philanthropic efforts on the broader community, partnering with organizations like Move for Hunger to collect food from members of real estate industry in Chicago, and other cities across the country to provide food to the local foodbanks of each city we serve.
What’s the coolest perk Kastle’s Chicago office has?
In addition to our hands-free technology, the Chicago team benefits from a culture that differentiates us both within our market as well our company. With the growth that our Chicago team has experienced in the last 5 years, our team is (thankfully!) like a family- we have one another’s backs and like to have fun!
What are the growth and scaling opportunities within Kastle’s industry?
Generally speaking, cloud computing, big data, and IoT are creating significantly more intersection points between a company’s network security and its facility security. The ability to bridge virtual security and physical security is, and will continue to be, a very powerful tool. Second, with an endless thirst for data in 2020, an access control provider has the potential to add a ton of value: we know who’s allowed in the space, potentially who is in the space, and specific traffic patterns.But there’s such a thing as data overload (I swear!); the information we provide must be actionable.Additionally, like everyone in technology, integration with outside companies is critical.Providing data is great.Automatically feeding that access control data to a 3rd party for response and system changes is priceless. Finally, it’s all about video.Make video smarter.Make video easier. Make video faster, sharper, and give it the AI it needs to reduce unnecessary (and often ineffective) overhead.
Which companies across the globe inspire you either through brand, innovation, scale, campaigns, organization etc.?
Our goal is to provide Ritz-Carlton like service levels, plain and simple.If there’s someone higher, then we want to be them.For innovation, we want to be like Apple. Constantly pushing updates/ bug fixes to our clients and remaining highly secure.
How has your company culture evolved as Kastle has grown?
Our culture starts with leadership.Kastle is a privately held company run, in many ways, like a family business. Although we are a $120MM operation, with offices in 13 cities, we retain the feel of a family business. While the culture has evolved with new technology, and the pace of change, many things have remained true that defines us as an organization.
Commitment to Service – Our business strategy starts by establishing long-term business partnerships: we offer peace of mind by ‘owning and delivering’ a wholistic approach to our client’s security. Therefore, Kastle seeks and attract people who believe in going above and beyond to ensure satisfaction.
Embracing Technology – In order to provide a managed security solution, it was clear that in order to scale quickly and retain clients, we would need to provide advanced technology. That has defined us from day 1. It is even more true of our culture today than was true in 1972.
What are your primary goals for Kastle?
Innovate, 100%. We want our clients and potential clients to see us as leading the charge in access control, video and visitor technology.Beyond that, we want to keep growing! Client satisfaction and retention are the foundation of growth, so we live and breathe that every day.
Where do you see Kastle in two years? Five? Ten?
While we can’t predict the future (see pandemic), we do know that in two, five and ten years, we will be innovating and using technology to keep our clients’ spaces safe. In two years, I see us providing solutions to every ITA member and partner! In 5 years, as a culture, AI will start to feel a bit more real. For us, AI means that video solutions will see huge advancements. In 10 years? Let’s talk about robots monitoring that video for you!
What’s the No. 1 thing on your to-do list?
Getting Americans back to the workplace safely!Let our tech spark your plan!We dove headfirst into creating a solution, KastleSafeSpaces, back in March to get this tech available as quickly as we could.
Best company/team outing in company’s history? Why?
It happens every year at our annual national sales and marketing conference because it is the most able to all be together at once as the “Kastle family”.
In your opinion, what are some of the pros and cons of being an Illinois business?
Chicago is such a great place. Our clients are direct, real, hardworking, funny, and smart. They want technology, but they are conservative on where they spend their money. That means we have to work harder here to prove our worth to our clients—and we’re ok with that! The recent downside is the crime. It means that we’re busier than ever, but It’s so frustrating to see our city at such a crossroads. And of course, the darn weather.
What risks or issues do you foresee in your industry’s near future?
2020 is defining players in our industry without question. COVID is defining who and which technology has staying power. But COVID is just the impetus. There is truly great, differentiated tech on the market. Clients now need to be educated that it exists and COVID is making that happen.There’s positive in everything!
What are the biggest challenges you face as you scale your business?
Oh, it’s always finding talent to match our client-first, fast-paced, and innovative approach to allow us to grow in the right ways. We are a team-centric, creative organization run almost like a family business. The clients we serve stay with us for typically over a decade and we seek a workforce that is eager to stay with us and our clients for a long time. Our people are our biggest asset, hands down.
What’s the biggest obstacle you’ve faced as an organization, and how did you overcome it?
Over ~50 years history, we’ve got a few! But, like everyone else, we can’t see past this dang COVID!
We’re fortunate. We’re built for innovation. We hire innovative people, because if we don’t provide cutting-edge tech, someone else will! We rely on that culture to provide our clients vital relief with a technology-first approach to solving problems.
Our pivot with COVID-19 has been next-level though. Kastle stopped reeling at the end of March and started driving for change. We recognized that it was absolutely in our wheelhouse to get people comfortable with being back at work! We creatively re-configured our existing touchless technology to integrate screening methods, leveraged the Kastle Presence app to create our KastleSafeSpaces program, and made advancements to existing infrastructure to help with contact tracing and social distancing. Brilliant!
What motivates your employees to come to work every day?
Coffee!!! And our customers. We love our clients, we love client satisfaction, and we love being challenged.
What was the ‘aha’ moment when you realized Kastle made it?
Kastle Chicago started to define its current culture about 5 years ago. We began to fill our team with the right skillsets- smart, responsible, independent and hilarious people.We won (internal) region of the year in 2016.That was good.We had a repeat in 2017.It was at the time of our Bulls-like Threepeat in 2019 that the lightbulb went on- we’re doing something special here.Financial metrics were on point, our client cancellations were next to none, we had zero turnover.Most importantly, our client reviews knocked it out of the park. It was a special year.We’re ready to become a dynasty now- no last dance for this crew!!!
What do you do to encourage constant growth and change for your employees?
Continuous Discovery – Continuing innovation requires continuing discovery – to stay engaged, energized and informed from top management to the service team. Employees participate at Kastle both as students and teachers. Kastle keeps employees motivated, informed, and inspired to create new security solutions for clients – staff informs Kastle what skills they want to improve, and the company finds a way to provide learning.
How does Kastle interact with the Chicago community?
Through partnerships like ITA, ALA, IFMA, BOMA, IREM.Kastle Chicago seeks opportunities to socialize (and give back) by working with our clients on what they care about. We love our associations!
What are the top reasons employees would say they love working for Kastle?
Our culture is work hard, play hard. You will never be in search of personality at Kastle. We spend too much time at work to not enjoy what we do and the people that we do it with. We encourage our employees to enjoy their time at the office (or on Teams these days)! It’s this culture, along with providing a service that our employees believe in, and our relentless pursuit in client satisfaction that spurs our success.
What makes Kastle stand out?
Our technology, hands down.Our industry, and the accompanying expense, is typically seen as a commodity or a “burden” to the P&L.Our technology has a cool element; now your access control or video is actually an amenity!Our evergreen approach is the reason clients come on board, and why they stay for over 10 years!
What is the one thing Kastle cannot live without?
Our clients.
Our customers (partners) keep raising the bar for us. Whether it’s technology advancements, data integrity, response times, or an even more specific need, our advancements are because our clients ask for them. We continue improving because our clients need us to. Period.
This one is all you… anything else you want to tell us?
Our Chicago team is amazing! We have experienced a ton of success in the last 5 years because of yes, very hard work. But we love to have fun! We have a family-type environment- honest, hilarious, and happy! Reach out!
Kastle Systems Awarded 2020 Pandemic Tech Innovation Award
KastleSafeSpaces Recognized for Exceptional Innovation
Falls Church, VA (August 18, 2020) —Kastle Systems announced today that TMC, a global, integrated media company, and its TMC Labs product review division, named KastleSafeSpaces as a 2020 Pandemic Tech Innovation Award winner.
Kastle Systems, America’s largest managed security services provider, launched KastleSafeSpaces in May, as a response to the pandemic and its impact on office workplaces and commercial real estate properties. The product integrates Kastle’s “touchless” smartphone-based access control technology, with health screening and contact tracing to methods to create a building-wide approach for business to safeguard the health and safety of workers returning to the workplace.
The comprehensive system enables office buildings to play a significant role in virus screening by activating touchless access points, promoting social distancing practices and through contact tracing.
Kastle CEO. Haniel Lynn said, “From the minute you walk up to your office building to when you get to your desk, KastleSafeSpaces integrates a coordinated system of touchless technologies for doors, turnstiles, elevators and more, to get employees and visitors safely to their destination. Additionally, KastleSafeSpaces can help facilitate employee screening, social distancing and contact tracing processes to reassure workers returning to their offices.”
The Pandemic Tech Innovation Awards will recognize hardware, software, devices/peripherals, applications and services that help society and business function effectively in the face of challenges caused by Pandemics.
Kastle Systems has displayed its commitment to quality and innovation in the development of their tech solutions contributing to managing and overcoming pandemic outbreaks,” said Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC. “I look forward to more innovation from Kastle and their continued effort toward improving the future of the current challenges faced by the most recent Pandemic.”
The 2020 Pandemic Tech Innovation Award winners will be featured on Pandemic Tech Newsonline and TMCnet.
About Kastle Systems
Kastle Systems has been leading the security industry since 1972 with advanced managed security solutions and services, protecting commercial real estate, multi-family residential, global enterprises, educational institutions, and critical government facilities. Kastle’s state-of-the-art security solutions include access control, video surveillance, visitor management and identity management, as well as a suite of mobile security applications, all integrated on an open, standards-based platform and supported by a team of experts 24x7x365. Headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, Kastle is on CIOReview’s 2019 List of Top 10 Physical Security Providers.
For more information about KastleSafeSpaces, KastleAccess or any of the other advanced security innovations from Kastle Systems, contact Jake Heinz, Chief Marketing Officer at jheinz@kastle.com.
About TMC
Through education, industry news, live events and social influence, global buyers rely on TMC’s content-driven marketplaces to make purchase decisions and navigate markets. As a result, leading technology vendors turn to TMC for unparalleled branding, thought leadership and lead generation opportunities. Our in-person and online events deliver unmatched visibility and sales prospects for all percipients. Through our custom lead generation programs, we provide clients with an ongoing stream of leads that turn into sales opportunities and build databases.
Additionally, we bolster brand reputations with the millions of impressions from display advertising on our news sites and newsletters. Making TMC a 360-degree marketing solution, we offer comprehensive event and road show management services and custom content creation with expertly ghost-crafted blogs, press releases, articles and marketing collateral to help with SEO, branding, and overall marketing efforts. For more information about TMC and to learn how we can help you reach your marketing goals, please visit www.tmcnet.com and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, @tmcnet.
For more information about TMC, visit www.tmcnet.com.
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Twenty years ago, Notes and Domino were revolutionary products, enabling the quick creation of collaborative applications.
But times have changed and you want to move on.
If your company is like most organizations using this platform, you have hundreds, if not thousands, of Notes and Domino applications. So, where should you start?
Learn the 5 steps to successfully migrate your Notes and Domino applications into modern, web-based, cloud-ready apps your users will love.
How fast is your IT? You need speed and adaptability to adjust as big changes in the global economy and our daily lives keep coming. Disruption is the status quo, and the “new normal” is not yet defined.
Are you prepared for what’s next? What are IT organizations saying about it all?
This spring, 2,200 IT professionals and senior IT leaders participated in a survey and shared:
The most shocking result? Only 21% of people feel like they can beat their peers and competitors at the change game.
These and other answers to the survey became a report that offers insights into which organizations are leading the race in speed and adaptability in this era of digital urgency.
Download “The Speed of Change: How Fast Are You?” to learn more about those who lead and those who don’t. You’ll also find out if you are a leader, and get tips on what to do if you are not.
Our vision ahead
Technology continues to evolve at an exhilarating pace. For those in the technology industry, existing IT skills are important; however, being able to adapt to this dynamic landscape is just as critical. At TransUnion, our goal is to provide insights to businesses and consumers to make informed decisions, while enabling trust within the marketplace. Our vision is a technological evolution in a global setting where we work in an integrated way to support our associates and deliver innovative solutions.
To accomplish this, we’re focusing on training and development, because an investment in technology goes hand in hand with an investment in our technologists. The journey ahead requires an atmosphere that provides everyone with the tools to learn more about the essential programming applications to rapidly respond to customer needs. That’s why our associates will be equipped with enhanced technical skills while building a fulfilling career through hands-on skill development.
Teedra Bernard, Vice President of HR Global Technology, shares more on our philosophy, “We’re committing to skill development that builds on the capabilities of our associates to enhance the existing operational expertise. There are several ways to adapt to the future of technology, at TransUnion; learning by doing is one of them. This environment gives everyone the opportunity to do their best work and provide industry leading products to the communities we serve.”
As a result, we’ve implemented an interactive online training portal that is accessible to all associates across TransUnion. On this platform there are various learning paths covering programming languages such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and other functional concepts commonly used in cloud computing. Through this partnership, over 2,000 of our technologists have taken advantage of the resources and initiated over 400 labs. From interactive sandbox environments to step-by-step objective-based scenarios, all learning styles are supported on this platform. This focus on training has allowed us to concentrate on creating products that solve our customers’ toughest challenges. Having the foundation of a collaborative environment where everyone can bring their ideas to the table is what sets the stage for a great workplace atmosphere.
First-hand experience
The outcomes of our products and solutions are powered by our acceleration towards speed and scalability. Skill development on our team gives everyone the opportunity to find new ways to build tomorrow’s solutions at the continuing rate of technology. To remain ahead of the curve, Michael Catuara, Director of Systems Engineering and Programming, recently became a certified AWS Associate Solutions Architect after completing the required courses through the online training portal. Michael shares his first-hand experiences:
How do you think this focus on training is setting you up for success here at TransUnion and beyond?
By leveraging a cloud training platform, TransUnion is setting all associates up for success because technology is not only evolving in one area, rather it’s changing all around us. It’s inevitable that everyone in the technology space will need to learn new operations and protocols as they continue to change each and every day. Using these resources, I’ve been able to advance my skills within the functional programming languages we use to ultimately bring new products to the market. These learning paths promote a growth mindset, and being around that each day makes work an exciting place. I’m thrilled that the organization continues to cultivate an innovative culture that supports the technology team, as well as all associates who want to learn more.
What surprised you about the certification exams you took?
I recently became certified as an AWS Associate Solutions Architect which has given me a better perspective on how to operate in our cloud enabled programs. The course included a deep-dive into the most frequently deployed AWS services, determining how to monitor metrics, configure security, leveraging various cloud storage services and much more. Overall, studying took about three months and now I have a certification that I can apply in my day-to-day activities and beyond. The most surprising function of the cloud portal is how much information each section provides. The step-by-step demonstrations make it much easier for me to take those teachings and implement into my daily product integrations.
What do you plan to learn next?
As a Technical Service Owner for Analytics at TransUnion, my team is continuing to drive key projects into their next phase and it requires an out-of-the-box mentality. Using the real-time lab has allowed me and my team to build our products with an emphasis on end-user capabilities. With this in mind we’re concentrating on ways to take the experience and functionality of our products to the next level. To continue this progression, I have started the coursework to prepare for the AWS SysOps certification exam. The additional knowledge will prepare me for “Day 2” in our implementation lifecycle, focusing on maintenance, uptime and support for TransUnion products.
Do you want to redefine technology?
As technology evolves, we’re focused on thriving by creating a dynamic, fast-paced environment where the growth of our products is driven by our imagination and what we envision for the marketplace. This is not only an evolution, it’s an opportunity to design the path ahead and make a meaningful impact on the world around us. Our associates have the tools they need to turn roadblocks into solutions, together we’re redefining the capabilities that will exist tomorrow.
Learn more about careers in Technology @ TransUnion.
Find your next technology challenge here.
Learn more about TransUnion’s culture here.
To stay in the loop for all TransUnion career updates, register here.
1871 and The Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC) will be hosting The 13th Annual Momentum Awards on October 1st, 2020!
[Read more…] about Over 2OO Nominees Considered For 13th Annual Momentum Awards
Help support the next generation of UX Practitioners by putting them to work on your unique business challenges. Sign up to participate in General Assembly’s Client Project Program today!
How It Works:
• Clients are assigned a small team of UX design students, who collaborate with them to provide research and design for an app, website, or product in 3-week sprints.
• Your participation will give our UX Design students the opportunity to scope and execute work for real companies with real business needs.
• As a client, you get deliverables and valuable insights free of charge; our students get to apply their skills to real business needs.
If selected, you will be required to attend two virtual meetings (via Zoom) for project kickoff and project delivery:
• Project Kickoff: Tuesday, September 8, 2020 (1-2 hours, exact time TBD)
• Project Presentation: Monday, September 28, 2020 (1 hour, exact time TBD)
Additionally, you’ll need to be available via email and phone approximately 3–5 hours a week for your design team. For the kickoff and final presentation meetings, you are more than welcome to invite members of your own UX, Front-End Development, and Stakeholder teams.
You will also need to provide the following:
• Existing metrics and analytics
• Design files and assets (style guides, fonts, etc.)
• Access to the site, product and/or feature in development
For more information and submit your company for consideration, please click here!
Good founders constantly seek to improve their technical and business skills. But they also work 15-hour days, after which it is tedious to try and force oneself to consume even more tactical business content. I know that I find it nearly impossible to keep reading about business techniques during my precious few hours of downtime. I crave respite.
[Read more…] about Guest Blog: 8 Entrepreneurial Must-Reads NOT About Business
Looking over this year’s Best Places to Work winners, it’s hard not to get nostalgic for the office, pre-COVID. Talk of tricked-out breakrooms, birthday celebrations, impromptu happy hours and rooftop decks has us pining for the days of interacting in real life with co-workers.Today, most of us are still working from home, unsure when office life (or any part of life) will be back to normal. It will happen, of course, and when it does, these companies are showing the way: providing employees with the perks, amenities, pay and benefits that keep them happy and productive.
A record 14,522 employees participated in our survey about their workplaces this year, well before the virus took hold. Read more about the top companies in three categories—large, medium and small.
Centro was named the 25th Best Places to Work in 2020 by Crain’s Chicago Business. Among our benefits cited were our 401K match, and unlimited PTO. Here is the full list in the URL below. I’m sure other ITA member companies are on the list too.
To see the entire list of companies, visit the original post here.
In 25 words or less, what is Karat all about?
Karat’s mission is to make every interview predictive, fair, and enjoyable. This lets engineering leaders make quality hires, reduce bias, and deliver exceptional candidate experiences.
What problem do you solve and how do you solve it better than the competition?
Software engineers are essential for business growth. But, most interview processes tax engineering productivity, fail to achieve diversity and inclusion goals, miss hiring targets, and produce new hires that don’t meet technical expectations. This often occurs when companies lack the time and/or expertise to conduct the interviews needed, creating what we call an “Interview Gap.”
Karat is the only company that offers remote, human interviews for software engineers at scale. In terms of competition, clients usually bring us in to either fix their internal process, or to replace some kind of automated code test that is usually riddled with inconsistency, cheating, bias, or poor sign-up rates.
What makes Karat stand out?
The human touch! Being a human-centered company is key to creating enjoyable interview experiences for candidates. I love the empathy we have across our company–from top to bottom. It would be easy to treat job candidates like numbers, but then we’d be no different from the automated code tests that we’re replacing.
How did you get started?
Our co-founders, Mohit Bhende and Jeffrey Spector, were both approaching the problem of interviewing from different sides.
Mo was a product strategy leader at Xbox and couldn’t find the engineering time to interview enough candidates to fill his open roles. They had an Interview Gap! So Mo ended up hiring a bunch of retired Microsoft engineers to conduct the team’s interviews. At Karat, we used a similar approach to professionalize the interviewer role. Now we have a global community of dedicated Interview Engineers.
Jeff was the Chief of Staff to Melinda Gates at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They were conducting research on how people get jobs, and how interviews are such a critical moment in peoples’ lives. The empathy behind that led Karat to treat interview candidates like customers. So we built an unbelievable network of customer experience managers and a top of the line coding/interview studio to make sure our candidates are as comfortable as possible and ready to highlight their strengths as engineers.
And that’s how Interview Engineering was born.
What are the biggest challenges you face as you scale your business?
One early challenge we faced as we expanded into different industries was learning how to align our interviews and results with each company’s unique hiring bar. Karat ended up inventing an entirely new discipline called Alignment Engineering.
The team is led by Shannon Hogue. Shannon is a Chicago-transplant living in San Francisco (but you can still catch her accent slip on the occasional video, it’s amazing). Shannon’s team goes into each enterprise account, meets with the engineering leaders, reviews job descriptions, identifies the competencies that hiring managers need to assess, and works with our content team to develop interview formats and questions that match the client’s needs.
We’re also able to use the data and feedback from onsite interviews and hiring decisions to refine our questions and hiring bars over time, so as our clients’ teams improve and mature, their interviews grow with them!
What’s the number one thing on your to-do list?
We’ve been talking a lot about fairness over the last few months. It’s really heartening to see so many business leaders making commitments to change, and we realize that as a company that sits at this pivotal moment in peoples’ lives and careers–the interview–there is a lot that Karat can, and must, do to help improve diversity in tech.
Earlier this summer, Karat shared our commitment to the Black community. One of the things that our partnerships and research have taught us, is that people get better with interviews the more they practice. But at the same time, less than 40% of computer science students who graduated from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, have exposure to technical interviews before entering the job market.
So last month we kicked off a $1 million practice interview initiative that is designed to make sure the engineers coming out of HBCUs are coming into their first job interviews on equal footing with the kids coming out of traditional top-10 CS schools.
What’s the coolest perk Karat’s office has?
That it’s empty!
We were actually getting ready to open up a big new headquarters in March, but as COVID-19 hit, our leadership team didn’t hesitate to pull people back from the field and go to an all-remote culture.
We got to tour the office once as a company back in February as we were getting ready for it to open. It looked amazing, so I’m sure it wasn’t an easy decision. But really do live our core principles, so instead of moving in, Karat added a bunch of WFH benefits to help employees set up our home offices, and here we are for the foreseeable future.
It will be nice to see people again, though…I miss all the dogs (we’re pet-friendly) and the group lunches!
What motivates your employees to come to work every day?
Technical interviews are broken. And we get to fix them!
Also, I love how quickly we are able to help drive results. Not only with our clients by saving them tons of time and money, and helping them hire quality engineers, but also with the candidate experiences. We have a feedback loop where every candidate has the opportunity to review their interview experience, and some of the responses there are really incredible to see–even from candidates who didn’t perform particularly well on their first try.
It’s so rewarding to see how quickly we are able to make a difference from both a material, and human standpoint.
What is the one thing Karat cannot live without?
We pretty much live on Slack. For better or worse. Sometimes worse. For instance, I’m not looking forward to seeing how many DMs I have after this interview!
What are the growth and scaling opportunities within Karat’s industry?
I love that question! Honestly, it feels like we’re barely scratching the surface. To date, we’ve conducted 70,000 technical interviews for companies hiring software engineers, but it’s easy to imagine the concept of Interview Engineering expanding to other roles, other industries, and other geographies.
What’s most exciting for me is that our mission isn’t to make every “technical” interview predictive, fair, and enjoyable–it’s to make every interview predictive, fair, and enjoyable. We’re changing the way every company interviews!
