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Brain Retain
October 1, 2008
Original New Orleans CityBusiness article→
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Brown said it can be intimidating to an outsider trying to penetrate this inner circle.
“We’ve got to find ways to be very inviting and very nurturing,” he said. “We’ve got a big part of the battle won just with the attractions that New Orleans has for these guys.”
New Orleans CityBusiness
Brain Retain
by Greg LaRose Managing Editor
NEW ORLEANS - It’s no secret New Orleans has attracted young professionals since Hurricane Katrina. A Tulane University study last year pegged their total near 3,000, but the number did not include the well-educated young residents who were here before the storm or left and returned home.
The Idea Village, an entrepreneurial booster network, has recognized the “brain gain” and wants to connect this talent with the business establishment to make sure their stay in New Orleans is an extended one. Its 504ward initiative will provide virtual and real world hubs around which young professionals and business leaders can connect.
“What drives economic growth is talent,” said Tim Williamson, Idea Village president. “By engaging the business community to provide the connections or relationships, the ultimate beneficiaries will be the companies.”
The elements of the initiative include a social and professional networking Web site, 504ward.com, with job postings and talent profiles. Other in-person networking opportunities are in the works involving business leaders and complementary business organization and community groups.
Leslie Jacobs, executive vice president of Strategic Comp and an Idea Village board member, has pledged to privately fund 504ward for three years. She hired a consultant to examine talent retention efforts in other cities and sought feedback from groups such as Young Urban Rebuilding Professionals, the Urban League and Young Leadership Council.
“What we heard was that they love the city, but they thought they’d be here two to three years because there were no opportunities for advancement,” Jacobs said.
Gaining access
Jacobs will pitch 504ward Wednesday to the New Orleans Business Council. NOBC Executive Director Bob Brown said his group looks forward to being part of the “networking fabric” in the initiative.
Brown said it can be intimidating to an outsider trying to penetrate this inner circle.
“We’ve got to find ways to be very inviting and very nurturing,” he said. “We’ve got a big part of the battle won just with the attractions that New Orleans has for these guys.”
Outsiders are not the only ones trying to work their way into the job market.
Jeffery Schwartz, 26, a Ben Franklin High School graduate, returned to New Orleans after earning an urban planning degree at the University of Wisconsin to work for the city’s economic development office. When his position was eliminated after Katrina, he chose to earn a master’s degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He’s back in town looking for an opportunity in urban planning or economic development but has yet to make the connection that might lead to a job offer.
“New Orleans is a provincial place,” Schwartz said. “It can be inscrutable to someone who’s just moved here.”
Schwartz is already plugged into 504ward and said he expects to benefit from its peer and professional networking opportunities.
Marty Mayer, Stirling Properties Inc. president, recognizes a chasm between decision makers in business and the rejuvenated talent base seeking jobs. As chairman-elect of Greater New Orleans Inc., he said one of his objectives is to create an environment to retain young talent.
“I get resumes all the time and there really isn’t any formal mechanism in place to plug them into the system,” Mayer said.
What’s available
Bill Hines, an Idea Village board member and managing partner at Jones Walker law firm, said opportunities for young professionals are likely to come from established industries, such as oil and gas, maritime, health care and culinary arts, and niche areas where the city is positioning itself to grow — digital media, biotechnology, film and video.
“If you’re down here as a smart college graduate looking for what I call a generalist job in a corporate training program, that’s going to be harder to find,” Hines said, adding that these positions could be created once the niche areas grow.
The education field has proven to be a wellspring of opportunity, specifically for the 350 members of the Teach for America New Orleans corps. With the city overhauling its public school system through a growing charter school experiment, the organization expects its Crescent City ranks to climb to 1,250 by 2010.
“The young professionals I’m seeing teaching now, they could be engineers or accountants,” said Amy Boyle, Young Leadership Council executive director. “They’re teaching because they want to change lives.”
Lasting impact
Andrea Chen, 26, is a pre-Katrina Teach for America alumna who lost her job after the storm. The Stanford University grad helped resurrect Social Entrepreneurs of New Orleans with ninth-generation city resident Morgan Williams. The umbrella organization helps a score of groups multiply their impact, often through the contributions of young newcomers.
“These are people who see a problem as an opportunity to help society,” Chen said.
“They can come up with a solution that makes a significant social impact.”
Williamson sees the impact they can make on business and is advising his peers to recruit and hire them.
“Because not only are they smarter, brighter and their networks are bigger, but they really energize your organization and make you think differently,” he said. “Hire them and then get out of the way.”•
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