Keeping Up with Digital Transformation: Alumna Giorgia Conte
An International Business major, Giorgia Conte graduated magna cum laude from John Cabot University in December 2016, and currently works as a Junior Marketing Assistant at the startup uFirst. While at JCU, she was a member of Ipazia and the Business Club. Recently, Giorgia was invited by the Institute for Entrepreneurship for a presentation on digital marketing strategies.
Alumna Giorgia Conte
How’s life after graduation?
The first few weeks were challenging. While at JCU, I could take full advantage of my flexible schedule. Now that I am working, however, I need to organize my day considering that I have to spend 8 hours in the office. Nevertheless, I am lucky because, even though my supervisors delegate many tasks to me, they recognize the result of my work as a great accomplishment both for myself and for the entire company. Being part of a startup with many young people has helped me adjust to the work environment. In our team, we share our achievements and failures, and we can always count on each other for feedback and support.
What brought you to JCU?
When I was in high school, I studied abroad during the summer holidays. This fueled my love for traveling and exploring, making me realize that I wanted to be able to live, study, and work anywhere in the world. I wanted to discover foreign countries and their cultures. When I first visited JCU, I appreciated its international, yet intimate environment. I realized that it offered me the right tools and opportunities to work abroad. While majoring in International Business, I started to develop an interest for the lean, startup, and innovation environment and decided to minor in Entrepreneurship to better understand how to build a company from scratch.
Tell us about your experience at uFirst.
uFirst is a very dynamic young startup that constantly gives me the chance to improve myself by learning new skills. I was hired after joining a “job challenge,” a day-long assessment where recruiters test applicants’ hard and soft skills through a number of activities, interviews, and projects. I started working in the marketing department, handling offline and online activities, such as creating branding material as well as managing social media, graphics, and digital companies for external agencies. Later I applied growth hacking tools and techniques to the whole business of uFirst. I currently manage social media strategies, in order to deliver a consistent and effective message across all platforms.
You have recently come back to JCU to present on uFirst, how was it?
It was extremely exciting! Just one year after graduation, Professor Silvia Pulino, the Director of John Cabot’s Institute for Entrepreneurship gave me the chance to talk about my experience in front of a class. I consider it a great accomplishment and I was delighted to see that students were sincerely interested.
It seems like the role of marketing in today’s world is expanding rapidly. What do you think makes marketing so important nowadays?
Marketing is all about connecting with people and marketers must do it on a personal basis, understanding their customers’ mindset, wants, and needs. Today, the world is going through a massive technological revolution. Smartphones and the web overwhelm us with a wealth of information. Marketers need to solidify long-lasting customer relationships in a world where the average attention span is constantly put to the test by digital information overload.
What’s your ultimate career goal?
My goal is to acquire as much knowledge and work experience as possible in order to start my own company one day. I believe that many people, especially in Italy, do not have the tools to face the ongoing technological revolution, so I would love to start a business that helps customers understand innovation and digital transformation.
Do you have any advice for graduating students?
My only advice is to find a company that is willing to invest in you, that gives you the means to grow and learn as much as possible. Today’s world is full of possibilities and we should take advantage of them.
