From HAN to Warner Music
Tieu Anh's career journey is inspiring. She graduated from Communication with honors in 2019. A year later, she got her master's degree in Communication and Media Studies - with distinction. After her graduation, she did a traineeship at a communication agency and worked as a junior social media manager. In 2022, her hard work paid off as she landed her current job: working as a content creation manager for Warner Music.
My internship allowed me to lead an entire project within a start-up. It was a great opportunity!
How did the Communication program help you prepare for the professional work field?
''The Communication Studies program at HAN University of Applied Sciences was hands-on and included cases with real clients as well as full-time internships. It helped me gain a lot of practical experience and made me feel ready to enter the world of professionals. Being part of a broad variety of communications projects helped me gain invaluable skills - like presentation, negotiation, and pitching.''
Where did you do your internships as a Communication student at HAN? What were your main tasks?
''While I studied at HAN, I did two full-time internships at comdirect (an online bank) and minubo (a start-up offering a BI solution for e-commerce) in Germany. My tasks varied a lot.
I spent my first internship supporting the Social Media department at comdirect. I wrote content plans. I produced and edited the content for Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. That included research to understand and discover current topics within the industry. I mainly worked on my copywriting and video editing skills.
My internship at minubo was in the field of Employer Branding. They were looking to build an employer brand from scratch. It was a great opportunity for me since there was no role for that topic yet. It allowed me to lead an entire project within the start-up. I started off with extensive research. I interviewed employees to find out what makes the company special as an employer, the things that employees appreciate about their employer, and what areas they can still improve. I used all this information to help minubo build their brand and communication strategies. I finished my internship by creating and designing a new website, producing pictures and an image film for the page, and outlined the social media strategy for them to launch their channels.''
How did you find your first job after graduation?
''I graduated during the first lockdown, so it was quite difficult to enter the work field during that time. I found my first job via LinkedIn, and started off as a trainee at a communication agency. For me, that was a great opportunity to learn and evolve as a young professional. The traineeship allowed me to work in different areas of digital marketing such as consultancy, project management, performance marketing, influencer marketing. I wrote monthly content plans for various clients. This traineeship gave me a lot of insights into different industries. I had the opportunity to build a diverse set of skills and figure out which area I specifically wanted to focus on.''
How did you end up at Warner Music?
''It had been a dream of mine to work at Warner Music ever since I started studying Communication at HAN. I had applied multiple times throughout the years for different roles. The application process required a couple of interviews, a case and a presentation, and I struggled to get through all rounds as a young professional. However, with more experience under my belt, the right position at the right time, and persistence, things worked out in the end!''
Do you have any tips for upcoming students?
''I’d recommend making use of all the opportunities that school is providing you as it makes entering the work field a lot easier when you’re prepared and have already gained experience.''
Read more about the bachelor program Communication at HAN University of Applied Sciences.
