Adelina Iacurto

Meet Adelina. Adelina was able to secure her first job whilst working as a Careers and Employment Student Ambassador at Herts.

Steps to success

Whilst Adelina was studying for her degree, she also worked as a Careers and Employment Student Ambassador for the Careers and Employment Service at Herts. Adelina used this as an opportunity to look for any graduate jobs that appealed to her or were a good fit for her degree. She applied for her current role as Social Media Executive at Tonic Agency in London during her final year and started soon after graduating.

She says, ‘I found my job through the University's careers service. The main interview was by video, and I felt well prepared to script, create slides for, and record a presentation for the interview because I had experienced doing similar things for my assignments.

‘Studying English Literature at Herts involved lots of writing, proofreading, and communicating with different audiences. It taught me to have a critical eye – perfect for reviewing analytics – and I became used to engaging with complex theoretical approaches. These skills have been integral to my current role working for an employer branding agency. I do a lot of copywriting and I can quickly look at a headline and understand whether it works or not.’

The role of a social media professional

So, what does Adelina’s role entail on a day-to-day basis? What does a social media executive do?

Adelina explains, ‘My role involves managing anything social media. One of my clients is Currys, and I manage their Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn presence. I’m involved in briefing the content for their social media, arranging copywriting, and managing any interactions throughout the day. I also arrange paid advertising and targeted content, as well as processing analytics and noticing trends that are emerging.’

Life at Herts and understanding diversity

Adelina has fond memories of her time at Herts and loved studying for her degree. She says, ‘I really enjoyed the theoretical approaches and the impact they’ve had on how I view the world. During my degree, we looked at feminist theory and queer theory, for example, and these are ideas that I still use today. During Pride Month in June, I could explain to my clients what ‘rainbow-washing’ was, and the importance of understanding the meaning of Pride authentically and not marginalising LGBTQ+ people.’

Advice to students

As a recent graduate, Adelina’s key piece of advice to current students studying similar subjects is, ‘Don’t be put off by all the reading! You’re going to read books you dislike, so use that passion to have an answer about why you dislike that book and convince people of your reasoning. Make the people reading your assignments believe what you are saying. It’s all about being persuasive.’