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SGH Careers Month: Meet Deema Kharuf, Marketing Specialist – Social Media

amanda.k
Community Manager
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Deema.jpgDeema Kharuf joined Autodesk in August 2021 as a Marketing Specialist – Social Media. Although she's still new to working at Autodesk, she's been working in Social Media Marketing for almost 10 years. Read her interview to find out more about the role. .

 

 

Question: What degree did you graduate with, and how has it affected your career? Or, what education / training do you have that has helped with your role?

Deema: I graduated from UC Davis with a degree in Communication. I actually started my college career as an Economics major, but quickly realized I was feeling unfulfilled and unhappy. I believed a communication degree would give me the time and flexibility to keep expanding my social media skills and that eventually paid off. Making the switch helped my career more than I could have ever imagined! Not only did my courses provide me with a firm grasp of psychology, marketing, and writing, but I landed an internship through one of my professors which gave me an immense amount of hands-on experience. I was given the opportunity to grow social media channels and a blog from scratch, with unlimited resources to implement different marketing strategies. This opportunity enabled me to think outside of the box, which has proven useful within my role at Autodesk.

 

Question: How would you describe your role at Autodesk? What does a typical workday look like? Which skills and qualities are important to be successful in your role?

Deema: My role at Autodesk varies day to day. In general, you’ll find me researching our target audience, analyzing past content, searching for new content, scheduling posts, and collaborating with other teams to create content. The skills and qualities necessary to be successful as a Social Media Strategist definitely include creativity, communication, and flexibility.

 

Question: What do you find interesting about your role? What are the challenges? What do you find satisfying about your work? 

Deema: What I find most interesting about my role is that while it is a very new field, it is incredibly important across all major industries. Social media marketing is becoming one of the most vital roles in business. Marketing has changed immensely over the years, and social media marketing is rapidly consuming the marketing field in general. The challenge with this role is the unknown. There isn’t a clear-cut way to “do” social media marketing, unlike putting an ad in a magazine. There are different platforms, various types of content, and most challenging of all, a massive audience to tap into, as there are billions of people on social media. So, how do you separate yourself? That is the million-dollar question. Above all, the most satisfying thing about my role at Autodesk is the opportunity to be creative. Creativity is intelligence having fun!

 

Question: What advice would you give to a student who is interested in pursuing a role like yours?

Deema: Every experience is a valuable experience. I advise students to not only search for internships, but also to start and grow your own social media channels and blogs, help that friend who just launched her lip gloss business, or reach out to local small businesses and offer to help them with their social media strategy. There are opportunities to grow your experience in social media everywhere you turn.

 

Want to discuss the emotions around switching majors with Deema? Learn more about where she draws her creativity from? Make sure to ask below!

 

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