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👋 Welcome, Jobseekers

"Everyone knows what works. Few do it after it stops being exciting." -FS

Coldplay kiss‑cam scandal? Check. Crypto and gaming layoffs ripping through Consensys and beyond? Check. Cities like Raleigh where a starter salary actually beats the rent? Check. Two shiny power‑ups—ChatGPT Agent to automate the grind and Origin to keep your wallet alive after severance—double check. Strap in for this week’s Offboard briefing, where HR‑meets‑CEO soap operas collide with pink‑slip realities, geographic cheat codes, and AI tools built to get you hired faster and keep you solvent longer.

• 🧑‍✈️ Career CoPilot: 💋 HR Is Not Your Lover (But Might Be the CEO’s)

• 📉 Layoff Report: Crypto Software Firm Consensys Eliminates 7% of Workforce, Gaming companies take a hit

• 📈 Trends & Data: The Sweet Spot Cities for Grad Careers (Raleigh, NC Leads the Pack!)

• 🔧 Jobseeker Tools: ChatGPT Agent, Origin AI Personal Finance

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📉 Crypto Software Firm Consensys Eliminates 7% of Workforce

• Crypto Software Firm Consensys Eliminates 7% of Workforce 

• Splitgate 2 Developer Holds Another Round of Layoffs 

• Supermassive Games Announces More Layoffs, Delays Directive 8020 to 2026 

• Side Confirms Layoffs To Former Ghostpunch Games Team, Impacting “Less Than 10” People 

• Greedfall 2 studio Spiders set for layoffs that'll affect "most" of their animators and riggers, dev claims 

• Amazon's AWS cloud computing unit cuts at least hundreds of jobs, sources say 

• After raising over $3M, popular VC-backed beauty brand Ami Colé is shuttering 

• Another Startup Bites The Dust: Y-Combinator-Backed CodeParrot Shuts Down 

💋 HR Is Not Your Lover (But Might Be the CEO’s)

What Happened with Astronomer?

A single stadium “kiss-cam” clip just reminded the whole tech world that HR’s first romance is with corporate liability, not you. Astronomer’s CEO Andy Byron and HR chief Kristin Cabot went from a Coldplay cuddle to global scandal in half a day, after TikTok pushed the clip past 10 M views. Byron resigned within 48 hours; Cabot remains on paid leave while lawyers parse airtight employment clauses.

1. Viral commentary that set the stage

2. What these takes add up to

• HR’s structural allegiance is to the firm, not to individual workers. When the chief people officer is socially or romantically tied to the CEO, that credibility gap becomes glaringly obvious.

• Conflicts of interest thrive in high‑growth startups. Boards meet infrequently, share classes are concentrated, and internal compliance is thin. If HR reports directly to the CEO, there is no independent path for complaints about the CEO. Issues stay buried until a public incident (TikTok, tweet, kiss‑cam) forces disclosure.

3. We have seen this movie before

The Astronomer saga shows many startups failed to apply these earlier lessons.

4. Why the HR exec often outlasts the CEO

Legal counsel note three big risks of firing the HR chief too soon:

1. Retaliation or gender‑bias claims (“Why punish her but not him?”).

2. Loss of a key fact witness which could taint any internal investigation.

3. Contractual land mines such as notice or severance clauses negotiated by senior HR officers who know the firm’s deepest secrets.

5. Guardrails founders and boards should install

1. Independent oversight once headcount hits roughly 150. Put HR/People under an audit committee that excludes the CEO.

2. Annual conflict‑of‑interest (COI) attestations from every executive, enforced consistently.

3. Trusted third‑party reporting channel (ombuds or hotline).

4. Explicit relationship‑disclosure rules that apply at every level, mirroring the McDonald’s playbook.

These safeguards cost little compared with brand damage and leadership churn.

6. A three‑part action plan

Implement in that order: shore up governance, then train recruiters, then lock in the new handbook. Skipping straight to recruiter training without a robust HR function leaves the core risk unaddressed.

📍 The Sweet Spot Cities for Grad Careers (Raleigh, NC Leads the Pack!)

Overview:

Landing that first post-college gig now takes more hustle than it did in the 2022 hiring frenzy, but choosing the right city can stretch your starter salary (and sanity) a long way. (ADP Research)

The Details:

• Hiring Slow-Down for Degree Roles

  • Employment for bachelor-level jobs is still above 2019, yet hiring rates have slipped below pre-pandemic levels, meaning grads must dig harder than peers targeting roles with fewer credentials.

• Goldilocks Metros (“Just Right”)

  • Raleigh (#1), Baltimore, Austin, Atlanta top ADP’s three-factor index (wages × affordability × hiring). Think strong tech hubs, robust research parks, and cost-of-living that won’t vaporize your paycheck.

• Hidden Gems on a Budget

  • Cleveland, Detroit, Louisville, Tucson boast hiring rates in the 80th+ percentile and sub-national living costs—just know pay sits around the 35-50th percentile.

• High Pay, High Pain

  • The San Francisco Bay Area leads on wages but is the least affordable metro studied, with only middling hiring—translation: big checks, bigger rent.

• Proceed with Caution

  • Rochester, New Orleans, Fresno, Virginia Beach land at the bottom thanks to sluggish hiring and below-average wages (or pricey living with low pay).

Why it Matters:

For new (or newly laid-off) tech talent, geography is now a leverage play. Target metros where employers are still scooping up degree-holders and your paycheck outpaces rent. Hiring managers in “just-right” cities may also be more flexible on remote or hybrid setups, giving you options without the coastal price tag. In a cooled market, the smartest move isn’t just what job you take, but where you take it. (ADP Research)

ChatGPT Agent

ChatGPT recently launched ChatGPT Agent to their paid users and it’s a preview into the next wave of where AI is taking us. No longer are the days that Chat simply gives us instructions on how to do something. Now it can connect to and control your apps in a way that it can actually execute the tasks that you ask it to. The future is bright and scary.

Origin - AI Personal Finance

After a layoff, money management is more important than every. Origin is more than just a Mint alternative. Track your spending and build wealth with investing, financial planning, and estate planning.

🔧 Browse the Offboard Tool Directory →