Crafting Your Edge for Today's Job Market

Using the BE-EDGE Method for Consulting Cases and Capstone Projects

Julia Ivy

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781789732993
• Topic: Persönliche Entwicklung
• Subtopic: Karriere

Are you looking to cut through the crowd of graduate job-seekers? To craft your edge in the saturated job market? Then you need the BE-EDGE M ethod. The BE-EDGE Method provides a step-by-step guide that connects job seekers to target employers through a process of case consulting. It creates an opportunity for the new or established professional to carve out their own space in an industry of choice, by establishing a relationship of trust with and proving their value to an industry insider. The method shows readers how to:
E lucidate their professional CORE, strategically identifying a space in the market that will best fit their multidimensional profile and selecting a case to work on;
D evelop TRUST with an industry insider on the basis of deep understanding and storytelling--as an industry researcher, company biographer, and case writer;
G enerate VALUE for a company by making a concrete contribution and offering action-based solutions in the form of a consulting case report; and
E xcite insiders with the candidate's fit for a company and their potential to add value in the industry.
These steps allow the BE-EDGE Method to help young graduates to enhance their employability, as well as helping life-long learners to redefine and craft their own space in the market when looking to change careers. Including testimonials from students of this method, this book is unmissable for anyone looking to create their own space in industry.

PART I: ELUCIDATING THE CORE: YOUR FOCUS

Elucidating the Core: Your Focus

How many projects have you done already over your years of study or work that are unrelated to the space you would ideally like to shape for yourself in the job market? Do not do it again. Do not waste your time doing a case that does not bring you closer to the kind of work you want to do and the kind of company you want to work with. Make your case count.

We are in the first “E” stage of your E-D-G-E journey (Fig. I). As explained in the Introduction, your goal of this stage is to E lucidate your Core as a Pro – the knowledge, skills, and focus that add up to your personal capital – and to identify a company of your choice that will serve as a stepping stone on your path to the space you intend to carve out for yourself. To begin, you must acquaint yourself with the precise contours of your ambitions.

Source: Developed by the author.

Fig. I. Stage “E” in the BE-EDGE Journey.

The series of coaching sessions for this stage of your project spans three chapters:

Chapter 1 will help you DISTINGUISH WHO YOU ARE as a professional.

Chapter 2 will help you IDENTIFY A COMPANY AND A CASE that best fits your vision.

Chapter 3 will prepare you to PRESENT YOURSELF TO A PERSON you want to work with on your case.

1

Your Core as a Pro

Our goal in this chapter is to define your professional core by gaining a clear vision of who you are as a professional and of the space in the market you want to claim as yours. Articulating who you are and bringing together your interests and qualifications is usually the most difficult task. In my work with millennials who recently graduated and with people who are interested in changing their careers, I have found that when asked to define the space in the market they envision themselves working in, recent graduates provide a list of their degrees and specializations, while people that change careers, refer to their past experiences. The more dimensions that accrue in their portfolio of competencies and interests, the harder it becomes to unite these strengths in a clear statement of their edge in the market. As a result, highly educated people often fail to distinguish themselves from those who are much less qualified for the job or, worse, sound “all over the place” in conversations with prospective employers.

By following the steps and coaching sessions in this chapter, you will not only protect yourself from wasting time by putting yourself in the wrong place with the wrong skills, but also prevent yourself from being vague and amateurish when you introduce yourself to the industry you target.

What You Do

The process of elucidating your professional core involves three steps that will lead you from your general thoughts to a specific plan (Fig. 1.1). It begins with you envisioning the professional space you believe is a good fit for your next stage in life. It will become the avenue you walk to your future. Second, you will clarify this vision in a process of galvanizing your professional core by seeing exactly what you are doing in that vision. Finally, you define your message concerning the kinds of cases/projects you are interested in working on and the value companies stand to derive from your work.

Source: Developed by the author.

Fig. 1.1. From Defining Your Space to Stating Your Case.

Below you can find examples from Thaissa, Diego, and Noa, who, as they approached graduation, described the space in the industry they envisioned for themselves, each one's core as a pro that emerged from their vision, and their choice of organizations that would be the best fit for their company case projects. You also can see examples of veterans Mark, Alex, and Adam, who recently completed their military service and are facing similar choices of how to craft their edge in the market.

Thaissa (graduating from MS in Leadership):

• Vision: In Thaissa's vision, she is sitting in the office of the United Nations, UNDP, Red Cross, or a similar charitable international organization, looking out a window over a large city. An airline ticket to a developing nation lies on her desk.
• Thaissa's core as a pro: From this image, Thaissa defined her professional aspiration as working for a large international nonprofit specializing in education and health-related projects for developing countries. Her differentiator is in a combination of her bicultural background (raised and educated up to a bachelor degree in Latin America and exposed and educated at the masters level in the United States), her experience in education and leadership, and her passion to improve the quality of life for people in developing nations.
• Scope of cases: Thaissa arrived at the conclusion that a company case for a nonprofit organization or an education- or health-related local business would be the best stepping stone on her path toward manifesting her vision.

Diego (Graduating from BS in Business Administration):

• Vision: In his vision, Diego sees himself in a leading role in Venezuela after the country has experienced a remarkable economic and political turnaround. In the room, he sees charts with high employment rates and the lowest criminal rate reported in a decade in the country.
• Diego's core as a pro: Diego defined his “core as a pro” as a transformational leader who would bring changes to the roots of large social systems, infusing these systems with talent and innovation. He defined his differentiator as a strong education from a leading US school that has enabled him to understand the country's problems in depth, gain him trust among his countrymen, and apply his business knowledge to ensure implementation of his ideas for change.
• Scope of cases: The scope of projects that would advance Diego on a path toward his vision included cases for local Venezuela organizations that work on social issues, as well as for forward-looking organizations in the areas of talent acquisition and retention, and innovation-related challenges.

Noa (graduating from BS in Business Administration and Design):

• Vision: Noa pictures herself planning and executing brand campaigns, from concept through design, in order to get positive and quality engagement with her brand that results in the generation of new sales.
• Noa's core as a pro: Noa defined her “core as a pro” as a manager of a brand marketing team in an existing B2C [business to customer] company such as Wix.com or Spotify. Her specialty grows out of her ability to work with nontraditional brands and to lead a fast-moving team that believes in taking risks with marketing campaigns.
• Scope of cases: This exercise helped Noa define the scope of the company cases of would-be B2C companies that are open to taking risks with nontraditional brands and that might trust her with a marketing campaign that would garner robust company sales.

Mark (recently retired Army Colonel):

• Vision: Mark envisions a relaxing sunny day, right after completing an obstacle course. He does not see specific people around him but knows that some of his fellow veterans and friends are here, sharing his joy of fitness, friendship, and feeling right after a just-completed challenging task.
• Core as a pro: Mark defined his “core as a pro” as a center of networking related to veterans' health- and fitness-related activities.
• Scope of cases: This exercise helped Mark to clarify that he did not want to look for employment, and that, in itself, was a defining moment. As a possible focus of his next efforts, Mark defined involvement in communities and organizations that are open and interested in supporting some variation of obstacle course– and fitness-related activities for veterans.

Alex and Adam (both recently left the Marine Corp to become students)

• Leaving the Marine Corp several months ago, Alex and Adam are still in search of a vision for themselves that might define their “core as a pro” and projects that would serve as stepping stones in their journeys. However, it seems that Alex's multidimensional profile includes impressive leadership experience, devotion to veterans, and deep religious affiliation. Adam's profile leans more toward entrepreneurship and international business in a combination with devotion to military affairs and leadership. Let's wish them luck in elucidating their professional cores and focus for today's job market.

Coaching Session 1

Coaching Session 1.1: Visualizing Your Space in the Job Market

In this session, imagine yourself in 7–10 years. Instead of focusing on what you did in the past or the degree you have or are working on, focus on the work you want to do in your future, ideally. Visualize yourself in a professional setting, as though you are watching yourself in a movie. The “envisioned you” is in your office or in the office of a client or employer, in a conference room, etc. That envisioned you is good at what she or he does and enjoys doing it. What do you see in the snapshot? What is that “envisioned you” doing, and in what setting? Pay attention to details: your facial expression, your clothing, furniture around you, technology, windows, walls, things on the walls, a nameplate on the door.

Describe this picture in detail in first person, present tense, beginning with “I” and then describe what that “envisioned you” is doing in the snapshot. Finalize the statement by describing any detail you can identify in the setting. To empower your vision, make sure that it follows the rules of visualization described below.

Rule # 1: Nobody but You

Envision you and only you. No other people should be included other than in the background of YOUR vision. Even though many people will influence your future success, you have no control over the roles other people will play. This exercise is solely about you.

Rule # 2: Highly Desirable

You must be very attracted to the reality you are witnessing. If what you are seeing begins to fill you with indifference, doubt, dread, or uncertainty, keep searching out a new picture of yourself and draft a new scenario that brings you to a place where you feel emotionally strong, confident, empowered, and happy.

Rule # 3: Rich in Details

The vision must be concrete, specific, and visual. Erase general abstractions like “I am rich” or “I am successful.” The envisioned you is the actor after the director has shouted “action!” What are you doing? What clothes are you wearing? What items are on the desk, on the walls, on the computer screen? Focus your mind until the picture is no longer blurry or obscure by examining the details in the picture.

Rule # 4: Written Down

This vision must be written down. Even if you might think you don't have to write it down because you will remember it, it has been proven that the very process of writing down your vision and polishing it better connects it to your present, empowers you in the space you have just crafted for yourself, and becomes an agreement with yourself. It is well known in psychology that our writing hands directly relate to our inner selves and they “know” better what we really mean.

Rule # 5: In Present Tense

Finally, your statement must be written in the present tense to make it verbally linked to the current you. When a visualization like this is expressed in the future...