By Sophia Dunkin
On the first day of my International Business course, I didn’t know what to expect when I found out we would be working on a consulting case with a real company. As a pre-med student, taking a business course without any prior experience or knowledge of the business world was something of both a challenge and an opportunity.
My Story
Self-confidence is a crucial trait for any business leader to possess. It allows leaders to take decisive action, make difficult decisions, and inspire others to follow their lead. According to a study conducted by Indeed, “99 percent of employees surveyed say confidence is important for a successful job search.” Unfortunately, self-confidence is not something that comes naturally to everyone, and it’s something that I have personally struggled with for my whole life. Whether it was meeting new people, speaking up in a large group setting, or even raising my hand in class to answer a question, I’ve always preferred to blend into the background and keep to myself.
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 Matthew Felske
February 13, 2025
Nowadays, improving your Boutique Employability is more important than ever, especially for younger people. I had never thought of increasing mine prior to taking my international business course, but after learning more about it, I was able to improve it throughout the semester.
by Katherine Prostick
December 21, 2024
One of the more exciting opportunities I have had since starting my academic career at Northeastern University was creating a consulting case for my international business class. Over the course of a semester long case, I learned more applicable skills and information than I had in many of my other courses. Being able to see a real and tangible product that was the result of my hard work both in and outside of the classroom brought an entirely new dimension to my learning experience – and I highly recommend using consulting cases as ways to learn both about yourself and about different industries if you are new to the business sphere.
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 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.
February 19, 2024
by Mingyue Zhu
Prior to the pandemic, I worked in my first co-op at Wayfair in Boston. Even though I was only a second-year college student at the time, my manager confidently handed me the project and let me take autonomous control. I made minor mistakes, but they all helped me to learn and grow.
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.
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.
by Maiia Poliakova
Have you ever done any consulting cases? Do you know what is it? Or what does it give? My name is Maiia and I had this amazing consulting opportunity with Dr. Julia Ivy. She gave us an experience life as real specialists. I have done a consulting case for the Russian company VALO Hotel City for the globalization of the market and thanks to this experience I can say what a big contribution it gave to my future career.
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.
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.
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 Angie Osborn
April 29, 2021
The team of MBA students volunteered with the “Making Your Case” project to assist a Director of Admissions and Marketing for The Gordon Institute of Engineering Leadership (GIEL) program in a strategic challenge of expanding the outreach of the GIEL program to increase total student enrollment to 50 admitted students. This research topic explores marketing and academic programs offering challenges that higher education organizations face in the highly saturated Boston market.Read more
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.
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 Swapnil Lokhande.
Faculty Mentor: Julia Ivy
May 14, 2020
The research involves the analysis of the impact of the Capstone program on the employability of the students or job seekers. The fundamental analysis in this research involves the identification of the keywords used by the people (authors) while discussing the benefits of capstone courses in the academic curriculum. The specified goal is to categorize the findings through the BE-EDGE concept and see how far the capstone project helps students in developing their personal, social, and professional capital.
by Swapnil Lokhande
Supervised by Dr. Julia Ivy
May 14, 2020
The research involves the analysis of the impact of the Capstone program on the employability of the students or job seekers. The fundamental analysis in this research involves the identification of the keywords used by the people (authors) while discussing the benefits of capstone in the academic curriculum. The goal is to identify the keywords and analyze them based on the BE-EDGE methodology and see how far the capstone project helps students in developing their Personal, Social and Professional Capital.
By Swapnil Lokhande
by Swapnil Lokhande
Faculty mentor: Julia Ivy
April 19, 2020
The research involves the analysis of EMPLOYERS’ PERSPECTIVE on the impact of the internship and co-op program on the employability of the students or job seekers. The fundamental analysis in this research involves the identification of the keywords used by the people (authors) while discussing the internship program in their articles published on business-related and business-targeting public platforms. The goal is to analyze the keywords based on the BE-EDGE methodology and see how far the internship program helps the students in developing their Personal Capital, Social Capital, and Professional Capital.
Millennials Education and Employment has long been a concern for the said generation. While some colleges offer great degree programs, they are not much successful in identifying the “core” of the future professionals.
There is a problem here. Historical data concerning educational levels among people 25 to 29 years of age shows Millennials to be the most educated generation, with 40% holding advanced degrees in 2016 compared to 32% of Generation Xers in 2000, 26% of Boomers in 1985, and 16% of Silents in 1964 (Pew Research Center, 2017).
info@be-edge.com
Boston, Massachusetts
