The Real Rules of Work.
Getting hired is just the beginning. Thriving in the workplace requires skills the traditional curriculum doesn't cover.
Orange Coast College
The Skills That Determine Career Success Are Never Taught.
Universities prepare students to get the job. Companies invest in onboarding: systems, processes, and company history. But the unwritten rules — the ones that actually determine who advances — are left for new professionals to figure out on their own.
Most never fully do. And it costs everyone.
For Career Services & Student Success Teams
Employer retention, career advancement, and employer satisfaction now define success. We give your graduates the workplace navigation skills to deliver on all three — extending your impact beyond the job offer.
For Corporate L&D and HR Teams
75% of recent hires fail to meet expectations, learning workplace basics through costly trial and error. The Real Rules of Work eliminates that cycle — turning new hires into contributors faster and freeing managers to focus on strategy, not basics.
The AI Factor
As AI eliminates rote tasks, experiential judgment becomes the differentiator. Workplace navigation, communication, and professional presence are exactly what AI cannot replicate — and what we teach.
The Real Rules of Work:
What Used to Take Years to Learn, Taught by Day One
Eight modules that distill decades of on-the-job insights and learnings into actionable teaching
- Student to Professional Transition
- Professional Presence Fundamentals
- Managing Up Like a Pro
- How to Communicate to Be Heard
- How to Hear What Others Communicate
- The Compensation Conversation
- What Actually Gets You Ahead
- Thriving Through Change
Your manager is a person, not a role
They're you, 3–5 years from now. Understanding this changes everything.
Initiative is the superpower
When your manager trusts you're on top of things, you gain autonomy and they gain peace of mind.
Never bring a problem without a proposed solution
Even if imperfect, it shows you're thinking like an owner, not just an employee.
Built for the Institutions
That Shape Early Careers
Every graduate should leave campus equipped not just with academic skills, but with the workplace navigation and professional judgment employers expect from day one.
- Extends career services impact beyond graduation
- Improves employer satisfaction and first-year retention
- Differentiates your career readiness programming
- Scalable: 20–300 students per cohort
Proactive training, not reactive management. Equip early-career hires before they struggle — freeing your managers to focus on growth, not workplace basics.
- Reduces first-year turnover
- Accelerates time to full productivity
- Integrates with new hire onboarding
- Virtual, hybrid, or in-person delivery
Close the gap between hired and high-performing. At $14,000 average cost per failed hire, leaving early-career success to chance is too expensive.
- Protects your hiring investment
- Closes the workplace fundamentals gap at the source
- Supports early-career development programs
- Measurable outcomes from day one
Designed to Fit Your Program
Every institution runs differently. The Real Rules of Work is designed to slot into your existing structure — a single event, a semester capstone, a full onboarding program, or anything in between.
Virtual or in-person. 20 to 300+ participants. Pricing customized to your institution's needs.
Led by a Veteran Disney & Warner Bros. Discovery Executive
I spent two decades leading global brand strategy, marketing initiatives, and change management across multiple business units at two major corporations. Along the way, I specialized in guiding early-career professionals through their critical first years, and often watched them make predictable mistakes over and over and found myself giving the same feedback year after year.
Now I'm taking what I learned in the corporate trenches to develop Career Launch Edge. We teach all the unspoken "I wish I knew that two years ago!" rules that took most of us years to figure out.
Deena Beach
Founder, Career Launch Edge · Creator, The Real Rules of Work
