Breaking Down Business: News and Insights for Students

The 'smartest' thing this HR expert negotiated in a job offer: 'I tell my clients to do that all the time'

A lot of people expect to negotiate the salary of a new job offer, and there are plenty of other benefits on the table too.

But have you ever thought about negotiating your exit from the company?

Doing so helped Tessa White, a career coach with 20 years of HR experience and founder of The Job Doctor, weather a layoff earlier in her career.

"The smartest thing I ever did was, I pre-negotiated my severance agreement," White tells CNBC Make It.

Video Game Quality Assurance Company Opens Center in New Orleans

DAQA, a leading provider of player-centric test programs and technology-driven quality solutions for the videogame industry, has announced the opening of a quality assurance center at The Beach at University of New Orleans. The center will serve as DAQA’s network operations hub, play test lab, and primary site for quality assurance operations, focusing on secure console and live testing for a roster of over 25 clients.

“The decision by DAQA to establish their quality assurance center in New Orleans is the culmination of multiple long-term efforts: the recent development of The Beach at UNO as a home to companies like DAQA; GNO, Inc.’s hosting of DAQA at GameFête conference; and, the on-going cultivation of the tech and creative community in Greater New Orleans, which has been ongoing over two decades,” said Michael Hecht, President and CEO of Greater New Orleans, Inc. “DAQA is well-positioned to thrive at UNO, while helping to elevate New Orleans’ profile in the global gaming industry.”

Initially, DAQA’s New Orleans center will create between 15 and 20 direct jobs, including roles in software development, senior testers, and game QA, with a commitment to hiring local talent from across Southeast Louisiana. As client demand grows, the company anticipates steady hiring to meet the needs of its expanding operations and a continued focus on fostering local talent and grooming future leaders from within.

“We are excited to open our first studio location and have chosen New Orleans to be our network operations center and play test lab,” said Devin Seto, Managing Partner at DAQA.

I'm a former Google recruiter. The smartest job candidates always did these 5 things to stand out.

A former recruiter for Google, Nolan Church now runs Continuum, a talent marketplace for executives.

He says the best job applicants are prepared with anecdotes that illustrate lessons they've learned.

Look for ways to establish friendly connections with employees before you even apply, he says.

Ex-Google recruiter shares the No. 1 thing to do after applying for a job: 'Everyone fails' at it

If you're applying for a job, it may seem like all there is to it is making sure your resume reflects the language of the job description, your cover letter explains why you want the position, you've had multiple people read both — and then, finally, you've sent in all of your material. While those are all crucial steps in the job application process, there is one more step that comes after applying which "everyone fails on," says Nolan Church, former Google and DoorDash recruiter and the current CEO of Continuum, a talent marketplace for executives. That's following up the application with a message on LinkedIn and a personalized email to the company hiring manager and even its CEO.

When Church was at DoorDash, CEO Tony Xu would get such emails and "he would forward them directly to me every time," he says, adding that "probably 90% of the time, we took calls with those people." ...

6 questions you should never ask at the end of a job interview (and the ones you should)

You’ve nailed your job interview, pulling out relevant examples of your experience and selling yourself as the perfect employee.

But things still could go downhill.

Alongside a first impression, the lasting impression you leave your interviewers with can make or break your chances – and in many scenarios, this is when the floor is opened for the candidate to ask questions of their own.

You may think it wise to Google what to ask in an interview, but boilerplate queries can show disinterest.

Additionally, coming across as too assertive or blunt can signal you’re not the right fit for the company...

NOLA Ranked #2 in USA for Food & Drink

New Orleans is the country's No. 2 city for food and drink, according to Food & Wine's annual Global Tastemakers Awards. New Orleans was well represented in the magazine's annual awards, with six restaurants, bars and hotels making the cut. The city's dining scene was singled out for "seamlessly bridging the old and the new." The profile of New Orleans highlighted Dooky Chase, Brigtsen's, Dakar NOLA, Wild South, and the upcoming Acamaya.

Food & Wine has more than 180 food and travel journalists nominate their favorite restaurants, bars, bakeries, markets, cities, hotels, airports, airlines, and cruises. Then, an "expert panel of judges" vote on the best culinary experiences from around the world and rank the winners. New York City took the #1 spot.

The ranking comes a week after Dakar NOLA, Saffron and Jewel of the South of New Orleans received James Beard Award nominations, which the organization whittled down from its larger list of semifinalists. Winners will be announced in June. Further, food, drink – and music - were all highlighted this weekend at a record-setting French Quarter Festival. The festival generates about $310 million for the local economy, putting it third behind Mardi Gras and the Super Bowl in terms of economic impact. Over 350,000 visitors traveled to New Orleans for the French Quarter Festival.

You can read more about the Food & Wine ranking here.

EVERY MAN NEEDS 5 SUITS

Five suits for every man: the cornerstone of versatility. From the sleek sophistication of a tailored black suit to the confident flair of a navy pinstripe. Whether commanding the boardroom or owning the dance floor, these ensembles speak volumes, echoing the timeless mantra: Dress well, feel confident, conquer the world.

New Orleans welcomes three dynamic events this week:

New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW) – The Mardi Gras of Innovation
The New Orleans Book Festival – The Mardi Gras of the Mind
The 3rd Coast Venture Summit – The Mardi Gras of Investing

New Orleans Entrepreneur Week

Entrepreneurs, innovators, and business leaders from across the nation will gather in the New Orleans from March 11 to March 16 for the annual New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, also known as NOEW. Now in its 13th year, the event has become a signature showcase for people from diverse industries to come together for a week-long experience including panel discussions, workshops, startup pitches, city-wide partner events, and networking events. NOEW 2024 themes are artificial intelligence, climate tech, culture tech, founder journeys, and health innovation.

NOEW is free - attendees can register for a pass at www.noew.org.

The New Orleans Book Festival

NOEW and The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University are joining forces this year with crossover programming. Major NOEW events will be during the first half of the week, then Book Fest kicks off the evening of March 14 with crossover programming and continues through March 16. Also free, Book Fest will feature some of the biggest names in the overlapping worlds of publishing, politics, business and philanthropy. Bill Gates will headline the festival's opening night. Also appearing among 130 authors and moderators are writers and journalists including Michael Lewis, Dean Baquet, and Maureen Dowd.

You can read more about the Book Fest here: https://bookfest.tulane.edu/

The 3rd Coast Venture Summit

Finally, the inaugural 3rd Coast Venture Summit will take place from Wednesday, March 13th - Friday, March 15th. This event convenes scalable ventures across the Gulf Coast and venture capitalists at the forefront of what’s next. The 3rd Coast Venture Summit is produced by The Idea Village in partnership with Benson Capital, Entergy, Halliburton Labs, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Key String Labs, Ochsner Ventures and Tulane Innovation Institute. Startup Founders hoping to pitch and meet investors at the 3rd Coast Venture Summit must have connectivity to one or more of the five Gulf South states – Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida – and have already raised some capital to date. Venture capital investors coming to the 3rd Coast Venture Summit should have a history of investing in pre-seed to Series A rounds and work with an investment fund of less than $100 million.

Founders, investors, and the public can go here to learn more: https://3rdcoastventuresummit.com/

Life for Tyres Group Limited, Europe’s largest end-of-life tire recycling company with the manufacturing facilities for sustainable commodities, has announced it will invest $46 million to establish its first U.S. processing facility on ten acres at the Port of South Louisiana’s Globalplex site in Reserve, Louisiana. The company’s recycling and manufacturing plant will convert end-of-life tires into high-quality sustainable commodities such as advanced biofuel feedstock, recovered carbon black and scrap steel, which can then be used in industrial processes. This approach reduces up to 90% of greenhouse gas emissions when compared with conventional tire recycling processes.

With its focus on turning waste into new energy, Life for Tyres is a perfect fit for GNO, Inc.’s “All-of-the-Above Clean Energy” strategy. GNO, Inc. worked with Louisiana Economic Development, the Port of South Louisiana, and local officials to help bring the company to Louisiana.

You can read more about Life for Tyres here.

You can read more about the Port of South Louisiana announcement here

Louisiana gained nearly 40,000 jobs over the previous 12 months, the largest gain since 1996-1997, and is expected to gain at least another 27,000 over the next 12 months, according to data compiled by Gary Wagner, economist with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, in his quarterly Louisiana Economic Activity Forecast.

The outlook for the state - and the U.S. - has improved in the last three months as inflation-adjusted gross domestic product growth is expected to be at 1.5% in Louisiana and 1.7% in the U.S. Job growth is expected to remain strong in each of Louisiana’s nine metro regions. Wages are expected to grow by more than 1% in seven metros over the next 12 months.

GNO, Inc. currently has over $30B of prospective announcements in its business development pipeline. While not all these projects will come to fruition, they potentially represent over 13,000 new jobs. The highest concentration of projects, by investment level, are in energy and advanced manufacturing.

You can read more here.

I always ask these two questions in job interviews - they're more important than a resume!

-Indeed CEO Chris Hiyam