By BE-EDGE Team
In today’s rapidly changing landscape, the Future of Work is reshaping how we approach our careers. As technology advances and employee expectations shift, professionals must adapt to stay relevant and thrive.
As an undergraduate student rounding out her sophomore year of college, the idea of internships and future employment has been looming stronger than ever. Educational progression is linked to employability, as showcased by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
by Kate Dougherty
October 22, 2024
Throughout this Fall 2022 semester, I was able to find more clarity in my professional path. Entering college last year, I was unsure where I saw my academic journey taking me. I had interests within political science, business, and potentially economics and began my exploration process as an undecided major.
by Minh Tran
October 18, 2024
Spending my whole life growing up in Vietnam, I was surrounded by people that shared similar cultural identities as me. Most of the friends I’ve had come from the same cultural background, and we share similar mindsets, characteristics, and traditions. I didn’t acknowledge that until I got into Northeastern, a place where nobody comes from the same background, shares the same skin color, and has the same cultural experiences as me.
by Carter Horiye
October 16, 2024
New shifts in technology have made the world feel as if it is getting increasingly smaller and interconnected by the day. Just one search and you could be looking at Niagara Falls and with another you could be looking at Windsor Castle or even Voortrekker Monument.
by Maria Andrea Angarita
October 10, 2024
Was it hard for me to establish a presence in a foreign environment? Yes, it was.
It is something that happens to any wishful international student who wants to follow higher education in the US or any international destination different from their home country.
by Chornnaton Hort
October 8, 2024
One of the most exciting things that I have accomplished since I have been in the United State, is the consulting case for my international business class. Through this consulting case, I was able to work for Drexel Hamilton, a veteran-owned investment bank. This group project is a big stepping stone for me as a newcomer in the market, it helps drive me to do more research about the current market as well as the market in other countries, to maximize the work in the group project as well as to achieve many more aspects.
by Landon Mukaigawa
October 6, 2024
You attend high school, then you have a college degree. Then, after grinding out those long hours of studying in the library, it’s time to start working in the real world. It’s simple right? Well, not quite. According to a study done by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, it’s surprising to find that only 27% of college graduates work in a field related to their major.
by Bosen Zhang
October 2, 2024
In recent years, China has occupied the top position for sending international students to the United States; according to US Mission China, over 317,000 students have enrolled in US institutions in 2020/21 due to Chinese students’ and parents’ growing interest in the US education (2021). Sharing a similar interest, I have selected the USA as my destination for my educational journey.
by Caroline
September 25, 2024
The Covid-19 pandemic forced people to reevaluate their means and reprioritize what is important to them. Many people ended up taking up new hobbies that helped them pass the time during quarantine. This article by the American Heart Association highlights the benefits of taking up hobbies that include lowering stress levels and heart rates, increasing brain activity, and improving overall mental health. Hobbies can be a necessary creative outlet for people who need to improve both their physical and mental health.
by Karan Kwatra
September 18, 2024
By now, most of you have heard about the [S]trengths, [W]eakness, [O]pportuntity, and [T]hreat model. It is an approach created by Albert Humphrey and used by organizations to identify growth opportunities and complementary characteristics of the organizations which will synergize to take advantage of the opportunity.
by Jill Kligler
September 11, 2024
Innovation is more abundant than ever. The digital age and pandemic have completely transformed how our world operates. From the metaverse to artificial intelligence to the unlimited internet, innovations are becoming widely adopted and constantly progressing.
by Tianyang Bao
August 29, 2024
Takeaways:
One of the most competitive advantages is rooted in my original culture. Coming from China, I am not only different by skin color but also by my logic and room for growth. Research has shown that various-ethnicity groups can bring corporations competitive advantages, including creativity (McLeod). With this possibility ahead of me, I am able to explore and establish more advantages and transform them to be competitive.
by Mehdi Choufani
August 15, 2024
Strategic planning when running a company can be extremely difficult. What path to choose? Who are the stakeholders? What is the end goal? All these questions need thorough strategic planning. The purpose of this write-up is to illustrate the do’s and don’ts of strategic planning.
April 28, 2023
After nearly 6 years in Boston, the finishing lines of my academic chapter have been written out. This time is filled with numerous joyful and rewarding moments that boil the excitement within me for what is coming. More than a million international students graduate from US colleges every year. They have similar excitement but also are facing similar challenges.
By Julia Ivy
In my earlier post on three starting points for personal strategy coaching, I shared stories of John (a veteran, 47), Tyler (recently graduated Millennial, 22), Dana (approaching graduation Millennial, 21), and David (multidimensional professional, 36) to illustrate that personal strategy coaching must start with the classification of the client’s “what’s next?” dilemma.
May 7, 2020
A research study by IIE Center for Academic Mobility, Research and Impact “Gaining an Employment Edge: The Impact of Study Abroad on 21st Century Skills & Career Prospects in the United States” investigates the connection between study abroad programs and the development of 15 soft and hard skills considered to be most desired by 21st-century employers.
If you find these questions resonating and you nodded yes on each of these questions, then you surely need to be aware of BE-EDGE Institute and its products. This is where you can get the solutions and answers to all these questions and more of your career-related confusions.
Dec 9, 2022
Women have always been at a disadvantage when it comes to being represented and recognized at the workplace. As per a study conducted by McKenzie for 60 major corporations, there was significant drop in the percentage female’s employees up the corporate ladder. For every 3,25,000 women at entry level jobs, the study revealed that, only 7000 made it to the senior management level. Although in the recent years there have been severe improvements, there is still long road to progress with women still being underrepresented at all levels of managements.
November 30, 2022
The final project was a phenomenal investment in my journey towards my vision. It was relevant for my “core as a pro” career aspirations, as I gained valuable knowledge of Scale’s consulting efforts for their clients, and ways to optimize their best-practice processes that I can definitely utilize in my future job setting at PwC.
By Julia Ivy
I have just talked to my friend about her millennial son. Anton is a junior and doing well. He has been accepted for his second internship at a top tech company. It’s very likely that after graduation, he will be selected for Silicon Valley in a 100K+ job.
However, this boy is reluctant to leave college but why? He knows that he would be ok fitting the job, but he is not sure whether he would be ok with fitting everything else but the job. He doesn’t want to be defined by his job. The question is who is Anton based on his generational profile?
By Gerad Sockol
November 15, 2020
Experiential Learning: two words that every Northeastern University student sarcastically repeats back in a mocking intonation. And as Northeastern tour guides showcase the Boston campus (albeit virtually in these trying times) whose lush, green space juxtaposes the urban chaos yards away, the phrase “experiential learning” (one sure to enter into the prospective student’s lexicon should they choose to enroll at Northeastern) will bombard the ears of both parents and students alike.
October 26, 2021
Articles like “If You Want to Succeed, You Need to Have the Manager’s Mindset” from Inc.com emphasize the importance of adopting a leader mentality. While Inc.com focuses on the manager mindset in a post-college, professional setting, the Huffpost asserts that thinking like a manager can be beneficial as a student in “How to be an Effective Student Manager.” As a business student, I learned this lesson first hand.
By Shreshthi Mehta
September 22, 2022
I was born and raised in Pune. For a major portion of my life, I had lived in India and had been a part of one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. I was fortunate to attend some of the best schools and universities in my home country. In spite of the recession in 2008, I was able to secure a job as a new graduate and work as an HR manager.
By Aqib Rahman
August 29, 2022
In just two months, the environment in America has completely transformed, leaving many to face uncertainty. There are 40 million Americans that have lost their jobs, with an unemployment rate of 14.7%. Many people have been distraught from layoffs, while others like me are recent graduates just entering the job market. As we now start reopening and restarting our economy, we must stay determined to prosper.
May 9, 2022
I had an interview with Professor Julia Ivy, Northeastern Professor in International Business and Strategy. Professor has extensive global experience in Ukraine/ Vietnam/ Australia/ United States. She is originally from Belarus and has an established career before moving directly to the U.S. She has years of teaching experience, she was a top-rated executive professor, coach, consultant, and board member, but she must start over in the U.S, and in her words, “As a newcomer, I had to build my professional life from the scratch. I did it. And I learned how all of us, newcomers, could do it well.”
May 1, 2022
In the context of the globalized economy, most large companies fall in the category of multination companies (MNC) (Barak,2021). Students who want to enhance their employability and maintain a completive advantage needs to understand the importance of diversity and how diversity could bring innovation.
February 16, 2022
In the first semester of my college career at Northeastern University, I faced a heavy task: writing a consulting case for an existing company. It required that my team and I consult directly with the company. But how would we choose a company?
While all the team members knew a family member or friend who owned a restaurant, I knew that we should choose a unique company, selling a product that would provide an interesting and relevant case. So, I contacted my family friend, Michael Pink, who is the CEO and co-founder of SmartPM Technologies. Read more
by Stella Zilberberg
February 15, 2022
Over the course of the consulting case, I began to develop an understanding of emerging markets, and most importantly, began to think of ways of how to position industry leaders in foreign markets, where the industry itself is either incredibly small or is only beginning to emerge. As a researcher, I feel that I have developed strong habits for seeking out primary information about a government or an industry.
February 8, 2022
I worked with a team throughout the semester to develop a consulting case for a company. Working on this case provided me with a real world understanding of consulting which aligns with my vision of working in Healthcare Management, as the profession will require me to work in teams to create recommendations for the improvement of healthcare processes. This case served as a steppingstone to my personal strategy by introducing me to this area of business and allowing me to develop the skills that are necessary to collaborate effectively in a team and provide quality research and recommendations to support the decision-making process of a company.
February 7, 2022
In a study published by Richard J. Kraft, talks about why experience is key and that the education systems need unique forms of teaching to reach out to students as everyone studies and learns at their own pace. The author explains that “adventure programs and other experiential learning environments have enormous potential for use in the mainstream of our educational settings.” Sitting in front of a classroom and listening to lectures repeatedly may not be the best form of education for some learners, so other experiential forms of education could have a better impact on the student. Read more
February 3, 2022
Consulting for a real company was not what I expected to be tasked by my professor Dr. Julia Ivy on the first day of my undergraduate. I have only become a college student by title and being faced with this daunting task, I felt like a child thrown into the deep end to be taught how to swim. To a degree, I knew what the task was: I have run my own small business and worked at a local restaurant helping keep their book, but a consulting case was another task. Likewise, I know what swimming was; I could kick and paddle but to float was a whole other story. However, I was excited. Coming to a school like Northeastern, I wanted to push my abilities and knowledge. For me, the consulting case was one I saw as fruitful in the future, determining that it would be a fantastic learning experience.
January 27, 2021
As an incoming freshman at Northeastern University, I craved an understanding of my skill level and a real-world challenge. That is exactly what I got through a consulting case project from Professor Julia Ivy. The project began simply with assigned teams and instructions to identify a company that wanted to expand globally.
An article published by the King’s College of London “Why Overseas Experience is Important” states the reasons why overseas experience can make a difference in your future career- this type of assignments helps you gain a competitive advantage among your peers such as gaining a new perspective, learning a new language, bringing out your adventurous side, taking on a global mind-set and creating a new network from across the globe, among others.
The Forbes article “Can HR Strategies Create a Competitive Advantage for Your Company?” by Scholley Bubenik echoes the chatter from human resources and other functional leaders that YES “maximizing your human capital is a major contributor to achieving a competitive edge in the marketplace.
Be-Edge crafters like myself need a framework to uncover their core and competitive advantage. Dr. Ivy Be-Edge tool and methodology helped guide my experience of recognizing my personal, social, and professional capital through consulting projects. I was able to answer my own question of how I can be an HR leader for my organization.
By Ty Taylor
April 30, 2021
Studies have shown that graduate school applications rise in periods of an economic downturn, and that trend has continued with the Covid pandemic. More specifically, business school in the United States saw double-digit percentage application increases in the fall of 2020, and the top M.B.A. programs managed to reverse “several years of declining demand, according to the nonprofit Graduate Management Admission Council, which tracks hundreds of M.B.A. programs.”
By Juan Dib
April 2021.
As my college career comes to an end after five years, I reflect on how learning what you don’t like guides you to know your real passions and what you like. After living in 4 different cities, working in 4 different industries, and having mixed experiences, I can finally say that I know what I want to do in my professional career.
A recent study revealed that 44% of undergraduates are unable to define the industry that they would like to work in once they graduate. That’s why I wanted to share my story and suggest some actions that can help to find real passions.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has never attempted to estimate how often people change careers along their working lives due to the lack of consensus around what exactly is considered a career change. However, it is estimated that people change jobs about six times between ages 18 and 24, two times between ages 25 and 34, three times between ages 35 and 44.
By Chaewon Jung
April 28, 2021
Throughout my business undergraduate program at Northeastern University, a concept that was often mentioned was that of competitive advantage — specifically its importance in business success . Competitive advantage, as defined by the Corporate Finance Institute, is an attribute or trait that allows a company to distinguish itself from and outperform its competitors. Especially in the marketing program, it was emphasized in every course that a company needs a strong competitive advantage in order to gain market share and prove itself successful.
April 1, 2021
MARCH 26, 2021, Four East Boston businesses and 16 volunteer young professionals, a number of which are East Boston residents, came together for a “Consult-a-thon” to work on solving the challenges small businesses are facing in the neighborhood. This hackathon-style event was organized as a four-step process based on the BE-EDGE method by Julia Ivy with the goal to help millennials and immigrant-run businesses of East Boston to synchronize their goals and passions. Read more
March 2, 2022
There are different techniques used in marketing, promoting, and advertising products and services. Emotional marketing is one of the effective techniques of marketing. Marketers utilize this technique to focus on emotions like happiness, sadness, fear, and anger to engage the consumer and increase sales of their product or service by inciting response.
By BE-EDGE
December 2021
Considering the analogy of social capital at an individual level; you are always advised that your social circle has a significant influence in your future success in business or career development. On a large scale, the idea transcends to the societal parameters (the network of people and their relationship) that dictate the logistics for community development.
By Julia Ivy, PhD
May 13, 2020. Published on June 9, 2020 at HR.com
The Millennial generation (born between 1980 and 2000) now comprises about one-half of the American workforce, and this generation has been hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic. More Millennials (61 percent) have lost their job or had their hours or salaries reduced than any other generational group due to the pandemic.
At the same time, this generation is the most educated. Historical data of educational levels among people 25 to 29 years of age shows 40 percent of Millennials held advanced degrees in 2016 compared to 32 percent of Generation Xers in 2000 and 26 percent of Boomers in 1985.
By Alix Crichton
April 26, 2020
Happy employees could increase “sales by 37%, productivity by 31%, and accuracy on tasks by 19%.” (Shawn Achor, 2011). In 2011, Shawn Achor demonstrated that happiness at work is not only beneficial for self-development, but it is also a key success factor for employers.
With this statement in mind, I dedicated my last year of graduate school to seeking the perfect job. Like many Millennials, I felt that the traditional job market did not go along with a fulfilling career (Julia Ivy, 2019). The Answer seemed to be elsewhere, but maybe I did not ask myself the right questions.
April 22, 2020
For college students that study business, summer internships are expected, almost mandatory, of anyone entering the industry (of course, there are some exceptions, like entrepreneurs and self-starters). Many students use summer internships to secure their first jobs after graduating from college.
by Julia Ivy
January 19, 2020
At a time when college graduates are more vulnerable to unemployment than other workers, how can they crack the job market?
Northeastern professor Julia Ivy has come up with a strategic method to not only find work after graduation—but also to build a career in a field suited to your interests.
By Julia Ivy
December 26, 2019
At the beginning of December, Ian Thomsen, a journalist, contacted me to schedule an interview about my book “Crafting Your EDGE for Today’s Job Market” — the book that equips Millennials, graduates, and soon-to-be graduates, with an instrument to craft their Boutique Employability while they are still in college doing their capstone projects and internships. We also discussed that the book would serve accomplished professionals (say, veterans) with a tool for how they can utilize their already accumulated personal, social, and professional capital for self-differentiation in the civilian market.
By Julia Ivy
November 25, 2019
This post talks about understanding the strategy behind the personal strategy, and not just any personal strategy but Personal Strategy for Boutique Employability. First of all, the term Personal Strategy is overused, while not really defined. While it obviously includes the “strategy” in its definition, it’s frequently used by psychologies to emphasize their message that a person should define and own their own path in life.
By Julia Ivy
November 23, 2019
If we were to be professional in dealing with clients that come to us with the “what’s next?” question, we should project an impression that assures high-impact practices, without appearing shallow at the level of cost on consulting cases.
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