Grad to Grown-Up: 68 Tips to Excel in Your Personal and Professional Life

by Gene Rice, Courtney Bejgrowicz

Overview

Everything you didn’t learn in school but all you need to know to launch your personal and professional life.

Grad to Grown-Up: 68 Tips to Excel in Your Personal and Professional Life is a unique self-help book that offers a roadmap to kickstart your future. Rags-to-riches author and CEO Gene Rice and his high school English teacher daughter Courtney Bejgrowicz demystify adulthood by sharing critical information alongside professional and personal successes and failures. The five sections—life, job search, career, personal finance, and health and relationships—provide real-world insights that are often overlooked in formal education. You will learn everything from how to conquer the interview process to how to get promoted; from myths about credit scores to the impact of taxes; from the power of meditation to positively impacting society; and much more. Armed with this knowledge, you will be ready to move out on your own and move up in life.

“Gene is one of the top executive recruiters in the world. He’s helped me, as well as over a thousand others, get the jobs of their dreams. This book will help anyone starting out in their career or looking to advance. Even better? He shares how personal growth is essential to professional success.”
—World B. Free, Former NBA All-Star, 76ers Ambassador

“This is a highly illuminating work of distilled wisdom from two fine sensibilities who are from two dramatically different generations. A perfect graduation gift!”
—Michael Krasny, Retired Radio Host on Sirius and NPR; Author of Off Mike: A Memoir of Talk Radio and Literary Life and Spiritual Envy

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781637581926
Publisher:	Post Hill Press
Publication date:	04/12/2022
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	967,631
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

GENE RICE is a leading executive retained recruiter, chairman of Rice Cohen International, and co-founder of the Plant a Seed Inspire a Dream Foundation, which helps children pursue their passions. He brings a desire to help others to all he does.

COURTNEY BEJGROWICZ is a high school English teacher who uses her passion for literature and desire to inspire others to inform her work. She enjoys mentoring teachers and helping her students find their inner voices.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction xiii

Part 1 Life

1 What's Your Foundation? 3

2 Seek Out the Oldest Person in the Room 6

3 It's Never Too Early to Start Making a Difference 9

4 There's No Success Without Failure 13

5 You're Always Right 16

6 Become a Continual Learner 19

7 Personalize Goal Setting 22

8 Know Your Linchpin 25

9 Keep a Journal 28

10 Be a Tigger 32

11 Be Present 36

12 Never Underestimate the Power of Humor 39

13 There's No Harm in Asking 42

14 Use Open-Ended Questions to Build Connections 45

Part 2 Job Search

15 Understanding the Role of the Resume 51

16 How to Increase Your Number of Interviews 55

17 Working with a Recruiter 58

18 Dressing for Success 63

19 Using the Targeted Approach 66

20 Acing the Interview Step 1: Rapport 70

21 Acing the Interview Step 2: The Answers to the Test 73

22 Acing the Interview Step 3: Ask the Right Questions 76

23 Acing the Interview Step 4: Any Concerns? 79

24 Acing the Interview Step 5: Closing for the Next Steps. 83

25 Responding to "Tell Me About Yourself" 86

26 Responding to "Why Us?" 90

27 Understanding Behavioral interviewing 93

28 Should You Take the Job? 100

29 Negotiating the Offer 104

30 Resigning Professionally and Navigating the Counteroffer 107

Part 3 Career

31 Find Your Purpose 115

32 Take the Stairs 119

33 Seek Out a Mentor 121

34 Listen to Feedback 124

35 Be an Eagle 127

36 The Show Must Go On 130

37 Manage Your Manager 133

38 Present and Implement Solutions 138

39 Be a Team Player 140

40 Cultivate Success Working from Home 143

41 Strive for Work-Life Balance 148

Part 4 Personal Finance

42 Living on Your Own: A Monthly Budget 153

43 College Loans 157

44 Your Credit Score 161

45 Credit Cards 166

46 Taxes 169

47 Saving for Retirement 171

48 The Stock Market 175

49 Mastering the Stock Market: Penny Stocks and Limit Orders 179

50 What Are You Worth? 183

51 Cars: Lease or Buy? 186

52 Home: Rent or Buy? 190

Part 5 Health and Relationships

53 Know Your Family History 197

54 Be an Active Participant in Your Healthcare 200

55 Ditch Dieting 204

56 Discover the Right Exercise for You 208

57 Say Yes to Yoga 212

58 Meditate 215

59 Be Open to Therapy 217

60 Marry the Right Person 221

61 Leave Your Baggage Behind 225

62 When You Lose It, You Lose 228

63 Schedule Date Nights 231

64 Respect Your In-Laws 234

65 Be Generous with Time, Praise, and Encouragement 237

66 Share the Financial Details 240

67 Create, Adopt, and Honor Family Traditions 243

68 Prepare Your Will 246

Final Thoughts 250

For More Information 251

The Plant a Seed Inspire a Dream Foundation 252

About the Authors 253

Editorial Reviews

"Gene is one of the top executive recruiters in the world. He’s helped me, as well as over a thousand others, get the jobs of their dreams. This book will help anyone starting out in their career or looking to advance. Even better? He shares how personal growth is essential to professional success.

World B. Free

The wisdom in this book is timeless. Every young adult needs a GPS through life—the earlier the better!

Dianna Booher

Gene is loved and admired by all who know him. He generously invests his time mentoring young people while encouraging them to reach their goals.

Julie Spencer

I share Gene’s life lessons everywhere I go. He is the greatest leader and career coach I’ve ever had. Gene is the best at what he does and has impacted my career tremendously. The fact that these lessons are now in a book with so much more is a gift to everyone who reads it. If you want to move up in your career, this book will get you there.

Lloyd Erlemann

"Grad to Grown-Up is a must-read. What I learned from Gene about work ethic, respect, finance, and career helped me to the NBA. Gene has the strongest character of anyone I know and a unique ability to build relationships with others. Every young person can learn from him, and this book is full of his invaluable insight."

Ryan Arcidiacano

Gene Rice and Courtney Bejgrowicz’s Grad to Grown-Up is a compelling dual first person autobiographic work of a successful businessman father and his teacher daughter. They are both good storytellers with engaging personal stories to tell and their deep love and respect for each other comes through strongly in what is also a keen guide to values and how best to live a full and successful life. There is a lot of good, solid, sensible, and practical, well-grounded advice here, especially valuable for the young but with enough important lessons to be of major use and value to anyone at any stage of life. Can we learn from a book about passion, purpose ,and ways to seek and find fulfillment and happiness? The authors clearly believe we can and want to show us how. Gene’s daughter calls him Genie, and indeed it is as if he has come from some far away place to answer our wishes for answers. Courtney, who calls herself a snowflake, is really a natural teacher who acts as a guide as well as a kind of alter ego for her father. There is much to learn and value from both of them in this important book and there is also a treasure trove of information about basic important everyday things to know about such as how best to prepare for and give a first-rate interview. This is a highly illuminating work of distilled wisdom from two fine sensibilities who are from two dramatically different generations. A perfect graduation gift!

Michael Krasny

I’m betting on this book. It has all the elements of a bestseller! The interplay of a father’s wise and practical advice and his daughter’s good-hearted (and often funny) challenges make for a very readable set of informal business and financial commandments that any young person (or older person starting out on a new career) would be wise to follow.

Mark Morgan Ford

Grad to Grown-Up will help every person looking to grow and get on the path to success. It’s these lessons that helped me achieve academic and personal success so young. Gene is a mentor to me to this day and the book shares all his advice.

Dr. Kennedy Chukwuocha

Want to be rich and enjoy your life, too? This book will get you there! I love the father-daughter approach. I wish my two daughters had this resource after graduating college—it has everything you need all in one place.

Robert Garzilli

Gene has personally helped me multiple times in my career. He helped me get the job I wanted and brought the best talent into my company. He was never concerned with just placing a client but making sure his placements led to happiness and fulfillment. This book does the same and will assist you in advancing your career. I wish I had this book earlier in my career!

Margaret-Ann Cole