J.Ivy as a Practitioner

As a practitioner, I serve graduates, veterans, and seasoned professionals who face the “what’s next?” stage in their professional life, and who want to capitalize on their multidimensional background in their employability instead of trying to fit a given “box.”

I serve universities and businesses that are interested in assisting such multidimensional career designers in their efforts to craft their own edge for today’s job market.

I provide both of these groups with instruments of empowerment, of knowing how to invest in personal, social, and professional capital, and how to leverage this capital for boutique/built-in employability.

What I Do:

It seems that whatever I am doing as a professional, my work always combines the two practices that I love equally. These are:

Coaching and Workshops for Groups and Individuals
I provide workshops in one or a combination of the topics above, tailored to the specifics of the organization or a person. Whether working with individuals, teams, or organizations,  my goal is to coach my clients in accomplishing THEIR goals and dealing in THEIR contexts.
Consulting and Program Development for Universities and Businesses
If universities or businesses need assistance in launching a new program (e.g., an internship with impact measures, a capstone for employability, veterans-focused curricula, or a “Make Your Case” competition for graduates and alumni), I am happy to help.

My Specialization:

Boutique/Built-in Employability
Science and practice behind boutique employability vs, general employability. Emergent strategy and Blue Ocean strategy for individuals. Generational differences and preferences: Millennials are for the BE.  Background differences: Multidimensional professionals are for the BE. Methodology and instruments for assisting graduates, veterans and accomplished professionals in crafting their edge for today’s job market while relying on their own multidimensional profiles.
Personal Capital
Psychology for making significant choices. Four types of personal strategies. Millennials and their “should do-would do-would not do” dilemmas. Veterans and other accomplished professionals: How to capitalize on their portfolio in career design. Instruments for assisting graduates and accomplished professionals with an assessment of their existing portfolio in order to Elucidate their “What’s next?” Professional CORE.
Social Capital
Strategic navigation of low-trust vs. high trust “What’s next?” environments for those entering or changing professions. Three types of strategies. Social capital and stakeholder management vs. networking for newcomers. Case method as an instrument of Developing TRUST — establishing a rapport, cultivating empathy and trust, and stakeholder loyalty.
Professional Capital
Science and practice behind investments in professional capital: VRIO and dynamic capabilities for individuals. Pragmatism and design thinking for Generating VALUE  for the “What’s next?” company. Options and methodology of assisting career crafters.
Capital Utilization
Management of the impressions made on employers by graduates, veterans, and accomplished professionals who are interested in crafting their own edge. Science and practice behind Exciting the Market with a message on the links between CORE, TRUST, and VALUE.

Recent Examples

Capstones with Coaching on Boutique Employability

I incorporated the BE-EDGE method into my “Strategy in Action” capstone course for graduating undergraduate students at D’Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University. As a result, our program annually developed approximately 35 real-life consulting cases for companies from around the world, with more than 150 projects developed so far. Students provide five deliverables during the capstone:

IPM3
  1. Career Design Goals and Case Proposal. Goal: A choice and justification for the scope of industries, types of companies, and types of projects that would serve as a stepping stone in graduates’ journey toward their Professional CORE.
  2. Company Case. Goal: Developing personal and professional TRUST within the industry of their choice
  3. Problem-Solving/Consulting Report. Goal:  Generating VALUE through pragmatic, problem-solving, tailored to the client’s context.
  4. Personal Strategy for Boutique/Built-in Employability. Goal: Linking students’ career goals soft skills, developed through the company case, and design thinking skills, developed through the problem-solving process.
  5. “CORE-TRUST-VALUE” Message Delivery. Goal: Exciting the market. Equipping graduates with portfolio for interviews and resume, contacts within the industry, references.

The Teaching Innovation Award I received from D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University testifies to the effectiveness of my methods. A number of our cases have been published in SAGE Business Case collection, in the Emerald Emerging Economy Business Cases, and in case journals, strengthening visibility for companies and for graduating students.

Program Development: “Make Your Case” Competition for Master Students & Alumni

In 2012, I  launched a Consulting Case Writing Competition that was open for all master’s students of the College of Professional Studies. Over four years of running this competition, we had participants and their consulting cases from 12 programs — both on-ground and online. Participants, their mentors, and judges received a package of how-to instructions, examples, and rubrics.  

The scope of programs: Masters in project management, leadership, global studies, corporate communications, international management, regulatory affairs, technical communication, education, MBA, and others.

We learned that the competition strongly served students’ career design and employer engagement. It provided students with a framework to define the industry, the type of organization, and the scope of specialization they desired and introduced new industry partners to the college. This resulted in my receiving a WOW Award from the College of Professional Studies, and SAGE Business Case Collection’s invitation to publish student and mentored cases.

Assessment & Consulting: Testing & Grooming Talents on the Company Fit

I have collaborated with a range of industry partners that expressed interest in assessing potential hires using the BE-EDGE method.

We defined our scope of interest as applicant’s (a) talent, focus, maturity, and scope of multidimensional built-in capabilities,

(b) social fit to the company,

(c) design thinking, relevant to the company’s scope of interests, and

(d) capacity to deliver, and developed instruments and measures for each of these.

We specified universities, veteran organizations, and recruitment agencies as different avenues for acquisition of multidimensional talent and devised methodology for cooperating with each of these entities in assessing talent that would be a good fit for the company.

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