Northeast Consulting Group, Inc. Reviews: 8 Tips to Land Your First Job

8 Tips to Land Your First Job

Northeast Consulting Group understands that transitioning from college life to career life can be tough. We’re all taught that you go to college, you earn your degree, and you get a job. The scary truth is that the majority of college grads these days are still looking to jump start their career and are struggling to find a job to do that with. How do you get a job when you don’t have experience? How can you get your career going with only having a piece of paper that shows you graduated? Well, Sheryl Sandberg wrote a book called, “Lean In For Graduates” to help new grads land their first job to help jump start their careers. 

Here are 8 tips to help you get started!

1. Adopt the mantra, “Proceed and be bold.”

• Whether it’s applying to jobs or taking on assignments at work, take up this phrase as your new career mantra. “BE BOLD.” This is important for everyone especially women. Women often fear putting themselves out there. Most men will apply for jobs that they feel meet 60% of their job requirements while women won’t unless the job meets all of theirs. Who do you think has a better chance of landing the job? 
• If you’re employed, adopt the “bold” principal for opportunities at work. Let your manager know you’re interested in additional assignments and keep your eyes open for projects that will allow you to make a name for yourself. Shift your mind from thinking, “I’m not ready to do that,” to thinking “I want to do that – and I’ll learn by doing it.”

2. Shift from a “What do I get?” to a “What can I offer?” mindset.

• Most job seekers fall into the trap of focusing on what an organization will do for them, when in actuality, putting the company’s needs front and center is what really gets you noticed.
• At every step in your job search, look for other opportunities to make a good impression. Once you land the interview, go above and beyond what is expected. Look at the companies social media links that they send you. Don’t assume you’ll have the answers to all their interview questions. Plan ahead and have questions of your own.

3. Negotiate – Wisely!

• The wage gap starts early. You don’t get what you don’t ask for and in turn you don’t get what you don’t earn. If you’re willing to work hard and committed to succeeding in a career opportunity, show what you’re made of first and then ask your manager for what you think you've earned. You won’t get anything unless you show what you can do.

4. Break long-term goals into short-term steps.

• Figure out what your long term goal is and don’t be afraid to think big! Goals can be daunting, so start by breaking them down into small achievable steps. Make sure whatever you do, that you continue to learn and grow. Look for ways to improve and reflect on what slows you down or what you’re scared to try. If you do this, you’ll uncover valuable opportunities to build new strengths. 
• Keep your goal in mind and stay flexible and open to new and unexpected paths. Playing it safe holds you back. Seek out diverse experiences, especially if they’ll add new skills to your toolkit. The more you have, the more likely you’ll find yourself on track to achieve your goals both personally and professionally.

5. Own your spot at the table.

• It can be hard to feel confident when you’re just starting your career. Don’t underestimate yourself and in contrast, don’t overestimate yourself. Your success is attributed to skills not luck. It’s difficult to change the way you feel, but you can train yourself to change the way you think, which will ultimately change the way you act. When you walk into a situation feeling insecure, remember that you've earned your position. Act on your knowledge.
• When you’re faced with a challenge, remember that the person next to you most likely thinks they can tackle the challenge, so why shouldn't you? When you push past your insecurities, you’ll gain more confidence, which will lead you to more opportunities.

6. Listen to your inner voice.

• As you shift from college to the workplace, your inner voice can serve as a powerful guide. It’s okay to worry and wonder while you make the transition into the real world. But, don’t let the voices and opinions of others drown out your own. Once you start turning into what you think, feel, and care about, you can begin to forge your own path.
• Your inner voice can help you figure out the answers to really important questions: Do I want to apply for this job? Do I want to live in this city? Practice listening to that voice. Each time you listen to yourself, you build the confidence that will help you lead the life you truly want.

7. Don’t ask, “Will you be my mentor?”

• Too many young people start with the question, “Will you be my mentor?” But studies show that mentors select proteges based on their performance and potential, so shift your thinking from, “If I get a mentor, I’ll excel” to “If I excel, I’ll get a mentor.”

8. Don’t leave before you leave.

• Without realizing it, we start to make career decisions based on responsibilities that we don’t even have yet. Don’t fall into this trap. Keep all your options open until you need to make a choice. Odds are, if you do, you’ll have a more fulfilling position with flexibility for things that will happen later in life. Go in with the mentality that you can have it all. You don’t have to have “a” or “b” – figure out a way to have both “a” and “b” in your life.

Northeast Consulting Group, Inc. is a privately owned marketing firm that specializes in public relations and brand building for our clients. Our job is to help our clients continue to grow and expand throughout their target markets. For our people, we are committed to providing development in the areas of customer service, marketing, sales, communications, and business management. This ensures that we give our peoples valuable skills that are needed to advance within our company or the experience needed to further their careers. To learn more about the career opportunities available within Northeast Consulting Group, please visit our website: www.ncg-corp.com/

Northeast Consulting Group, Inc. Reviews: You Can't Be A Great Manager If You're Not A Great Coach!

The work culture at Northeast Consulting Group is centered around having a team oriented environment that allows people to feel happy, safe, and comfortable in the workplace. We feel as though this allows our people to achieve professional successes and even develop personally by overcoming their fears of speaking up, public speaking, and stepping off of the sidelines and up into the spotlight. So, when we saw this article from the Harvard Business Review about how you can't be  a great manager without being a great coach, we decided we had to share it with our team and the community.

YOU CAN'T BE A GREAT MANAGER IF YOU'RE NOT A GREAT COACH!

The most motivating condition for people in the work place is feeling like you're making progress at something that is meaningful to you. If your job involves leading others the most important thing you can do is to help your people feel like they're experiencing progress. Easier said than done, right? The only way that someone in a leadership role can achieve this is by gaining an understanding of what drives each person. Know their goals, dreams, aspirations, and what they want moving forward. Then, build connections between those and the workplace mission and objectives. This is how you help people learn and grow on an ongoing basis. But, doing this once of twice will not make the difference. Having REGULAR communication around development (coaching conversations), is essential. The biggest thing that separates highly effective managers from average managers is one thing, coaching.

Anyone who has been around the job force over the last few years and has frequently changed positions tends to know that coaching isn't what most managers are expected to do. Most managers think that they don't have time to have these kinds of coaching conversations with their people and if they do have the time, they feel like they lack the skills to have the conversation effectively. If managers aren't getting actively involved, then employee growth is stunted. When that happens, then the engagement and retention of the employees decreases and work morale and turnover increases. 

If you're a manager already or aspire to be one there are simple things that can be done right away to make you more effective. They don't require you to spend money and go back to school, or attend a training seminar, or to buy books on "how to be a manager." Just start by engaging in regular conversations to help support your teams ongoing learning and development. Here are the top five tips to help you get started!

1. Listen Deeply.

Remember that annoying feeling you have when you're trying to get an important message across to someone who clearly has a lot of things on their mind? Well, don't be "that person." If you're having a conversation with one of your people, focus on them completely and actively listen to what they're saying. Put away your cell phone, shut down your email, and close your office door to eliminate distractions. Start the conversation by asking questions such as, "How would you like to grow this month in the company?" Or, something similar. What you say isn't nearly as important as the intention you have behind what you're saying. create a connection with your team member that will make them want to open up to you and help them think more creatively.

2. Ask, DON'T TELL.

As a manager, you're probably used to sharing, right? You have a high level of expertise and you're using to giving direction. This is great for when you're clarifying instructions, or leading a project, or giving advice to someone who asks for it. This is NOT okay for when you're trying to have a coaching conversation. You have to restrain your impulse to provide answers. Your path is not your team members path. Open-ended questions, not answers, are the tools to coaching. You succeed as a coach by helping your team members articulate their goals and challenges and by helping them find their own answers. If you're always giving your people the answers they will never grow.

3. Create A "Developmental Alliance."

Supporting your team members' developmental goals and strategies is essential to increasing your effectiveness as a manager. For example, say one of your people would like to develop by gaining a deeper understanding of some of the other services your firm provides. To achieve this, you suggest that she accompany you a team site visit in a different location, interview the users, and create an article on the experience to post on your firms blog. Now, the follow through on that suggestion is essential. You need to make sure that the individual in question has the authorization, space, and resources necessary to carry out the developmental plan. Follow-up is critical to build trust and to make your coaching more effective. The more you follow through the more productive your coaching becomes, the more your employees trust you, and the more engaged they become.

4. Focus On Moving Forward Positively.

While venting can provide temporary relief, it doesn't generate solutions. Take a moment to acknowledge the frustrations of your people, but then encourage them to think about how to move past them. Ask questions to help lead them in the right direction and focus on positive solutions to negative problems. 

5. Build Accountability!

In addition to making sure you follow through on commitments that you make to employees in coaching conversations, ti's also useful to build accountability for the employee's side of implementing developmental plans. Accountability increases the positive impact of coaching conversations and solidifies their rightful place as a key to the organizations effectiveness.

What will coaching your employees do for you? It will build a stronger bond between you and your team, support them in taking ownership over their own learning, and help them develop the skills they need to perform. Also, it FEELS GOOD! So go ahead and take the jump. You'll love the thrill of coaching conversations that catalyze your teams' growth!

Northeast Consulting Group, Inc. is a privately owned marketing company that specializes in brand building and public relations. Our job is to help the companies that we work with continue to grow and expand. The culture at Northeast Consulting Group is committed to providing our people with the skills they would need to be able to advance within our company. To learn more about the career opportunities within our company please visit our website: www.ncg-corp.com

Northeast Consulting Group, Inc. Reviews: Enjoying the Journey!

Most of us have big goals and dreams that we want to accomplish. What separates the people who usually achieve their goals and the people that don’t is the work ethic, drive, and determination that someone has throughout their path to success. But, what is the point of achieving your goal if you’ve burnt yourself out so much on your journey that you can’t enjoy the reward. Most of us want to get to our destination of success so badly that we forget to enjoy the journey we take to get there.

1. Take Care of Yourself!

Anything that goes up must come down. Anything that accelerates your system will eventually wear off. Most of us get through the day on a combination of energy drinks, espresso, coffee, and caffeinated beverages. Instead of drinking caffeine all day, try starting your day with a coffee or drink of your choice and then switching to water with lemon. Lemon has natural qualities that help you stay alert, focused, and awake. Eliminating a high amount of caffeine consumption can help you balance your energy throughout the day so you don’t crash!

2. Focus on Today

Looking at the big picture of what you want is the driving factor to success. You can’t start your journey on the road to success unless you know where you want to end up. With that being said, you can’t only look at what you want in the future, you have to look at where you are right now. What are you goals today? How will you enjoy today? How will you make today be a valuable part of your continued success moving forward?

3. Stop Taking Everything SO SERIOUSLY!

Life tends to have a sense of humor, laugh it off! The world has a way of playing with us, testing us, and challenging us. We’ve all heard the old adage, “Nothing worth having ever comes easy.” If you understand that, when a roadblock comes your way you’ll learn how to swerve and keep going down your path. If you can’t remember the last time you smiled or laughed; if you feel like life is an endless hamster wheel, it might be time to ask if you are taking it all too seriously.

At the end of the day, working hard for what you want is what will get you to your goals. But, if you don’t enjoy the journey then what’s the point of getting to the destination. Just remember, take care of yourself, focus on the now, and lighten up! It will make all the difference in your personal and professional life!

Northeast Consulting Group, Inc. is a privately owned marketing company. We specialize in public relations and brand building for our clients. Our job is to help these companies continue to grow and expand. The work culture within the company is committed to providing our people with specific training in areas of customer service, marketing, sales, communications, and business management. To learn more about the career opportunities available within Northeast Consulting Group, Inc. please visit our website: www.ncg-corp.com

Northeast Consulting Group, Inc. Reviews: 7 Habits to Form in Your 20's!

Northeast Consulting Group, Inc. is committed to providing development for our people inside and outside of the work place. The professional success of our people is just as important to us as their personal success as well. So, we reviewed this article from http://www.uncer30ceo.com that was all about the habits that people can form in their 20′s to build a solid foundation for their future.


“Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.” Aristotle


When we think about our 20′s, it’s supposed to be the most fun and important decade of our lives. We begin to experience the world and to develop habits that will either positively or negatively impact our future. Living in the present is essential to enjoying life, but it’s also important to not forget about the future too.


Warren Buffet, in his speech at The Nebraska Forum in 1999, mentions that the two most important things you can develop as a young adult to reach your full potential are: education and habits. Education helps unlock your potential and habits are what keep you reaching the next level. He says to think about the person who you admire and to think about the person you dislike the most in your life. Then, write down a list of qualities on a piece of paper for each person that you can look at everyday. The solution is simple, emulate the person you admire and avoid the qualities of the person you dislike.


But, why are habits so important? Well, Duke University researchers published a paper in 2006 that showed that more than 40% of the actions performed each day weren't actual decisions, but habits. Habits are nothing more than the choices we make everyday. At some point, we stop thinking about these choices and they become second nature, so, a habit.


Here are the seven most critical habits you can develop in your 20′s to ensure a solid foundation and a bright future!


1. Intentionally Experiment

Society perceives that people in their 20′s should be figuring out what to do with their lives. So, doing things like taking AP classes, going to college, get a high-paying job with benefits, climb the ladder, and retire at 65. The only problem with that is that it doesn't guarantee true happiness and fulfillment. Your 20′s is a time to experiment, get to know more about yourself, and figure out the kind of person that you want to be. So, experiment and find out where each and every opportunity takes you and see what aligns with your interests.


2. Be Grateful.

Young adults want things, and want them now. Gratitude is about shifting your focus from what your life lacks to what you currently have. It makes people more resilient, improves health, and reduces stress. People who practice gratitude tend to be more creative, bounce back faster from adversity, have a stronger immune system, and have stronger social relationships than the people who don’t practice gratitude. “To feel grateful is not to say that everything in our lives is necessarily great. it just means that we are aware of our blessings.” -Dr. Robert Emmons


3. Ask Yourself Better Questions.

Have you ever been afraid to ask a question when you were in school? You were just too worried you would sound stupid in front of the class. But, just understand that asking questions is the only way to become knowledgeable. Tony Robbins says, “The things you can change start by changing your reality. To change your reality, you need to change what you focus on. The best way to change what you are focusing on is to ask yourself better questions.


4. Love Your Body.

Your body is the vehicle through you carry on your life’s purpose. There are countless studies about the benefits of regular exercise and healthy heating. You can’t be happy if you aren't healthy.


5. Expand Your Body of Knowledge.

Understand that knowledge and education expand way beyond the classroom and it’s a constant process of learning, applying, and experimenting. Read books, watch videos, read magazines, etc. Commit to learning everything there is about your particular field, become a master of your craft. Knowledge is everywhere and is there for the taking.


6. Meditate.

Emotions are part of our system of sensing and responding to the world. Without them, we would be machines. But, emotions can wreak havoc and spread pain throughout our lives. Meditation helps in noticing different emotions and letting them be what they are. Meditation has been found to help increase a sense of purpose and reduce the feelings of isolation and depression.



7. Develop a Circle of Friends With Qualities You Admire!


There’s a famous quote by Jim Rohn that says, “You are the average of the five people you spend most of your time with.” When you surround yourself with people who are far ahead and more successful than you, you cannot help but feed off their success and grow as a person.