Alina Lovitskaya

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Alumna
Alina Lovitskaya

Job
Junior Ad Operations Manager

Company
Equativ 

Graduated
2023 

Degree programme
International Business Administration 

Faculty
Communication and Environment 

Time of interview
March 2024 

Why did you decide to study International Business Administration at Rhine-Waal University?

I always wanted to study abroad and I always wanted to study in English. I started exploring education options across Europe, but I quickly focused on Germany because my second foreign language in school and university was German. First, I dove into German degrees and thought about master’s degrees to expand on my bachelor’s degree path (becoming an English teacher). That didn’t seem to work, because we have two different education systems in Germany and in Russia. Thus, I decided on another bachelor’s degree. Business was kind of the obvious choice for me, because it felt universally applicable. This education can open so many doors for you and you can combine it with so many other fields. 

When I came across Rhine-Waal University, it was a super obvious choice, because it had everything I wanted: it’s super international and most of the degrees I saw were in English. I didn’t even consider anything afterwards. I just stopped looking and applied to three programmes: International Business Management (IBM) and International Relations in Kleve, and International Business Administration (IBA) in Kamp-Lintfort. I got accepted for IBM and IBA and had to choose between Kleve and Kamp-Lintfort. I made a deep dive into the module handbooks to compare the two degrees and I checked all the subjects which were taught. My conclusion was, that in Kleve, the focus is a bit more on accounting and finances and in Kamp-Lintfort, there was a little bit more HR and business management. In the end, I considered my personal strengths and interests and decided on IBA. 

What was the topic of your bachelor’s thesis?

“The influence of data driven marketing practices on privacy concerns among young adults and their further interaction with firms”. The only reason I remember the complete title is because I’m writing an article right now based on it for a book about digital media and brands. But apart from the publishing aspect, which I am really happy about, I also found quite interesting results in my research. I applied the grounded theory method. The end result of this method is the development of your own theory. The first step for the bachelor’s thesis was just to develop a hypothesis to base your future theory on. And I have more than enough hypotheses. I had so many ideas, in fact, that I developed eight different potential hypotheses. In the future I could continue my research and develop these hypotheses through a master’s thesis, and maybe even a PhD. I can just stick to this topic and keep developing it and collecting insights on some or all of these hypotheses. In the end, I might even arrive at my own unified theory.

Some of the hypotheses confirmed the observations of previous studies, which is also good, but some of them were pretty unique because of what people told me in the research interviews. Eventually, I really hope to land on the master’s thesis path. My current job is literally about my thesis. When I was writing my thesis, I was essentially writing about data driven marketing. Targeting, specialized offers and advertisement: all of it from the consumer’s perspective. And all that time I was dreaming and hoping to end up on the other side of it: that I could be the one inside the targeted advertisement system dealing with these practices every day. I’m hoping to collect new insights at my job and feel how it is from the other side, before eventually continuing my research path on this topic.

What were your experiences with the job hunt after graduation? 

It was pretty tough for me because I didn’t have any job experience before graduating. In the fifth semester, I could choose to do an internship or a semester abroad, but it was in the middle of Covid, which made it difficult to find an internship. That’s why I opted out for a semester abroad, which was amazing, but that’s another topic. So I ended up graduating without any industry experience. Without it, it’s pretty tough to find anything. Usually, employers hope at least for some experience.

On top of that, I started searching maybe one year before I graduated. I was occasionally scrolling through different positions and offers and just applied everywhere. My goal was to start working as soon as I graduate. And I can tell you now that it’s not easy to write your thesis and wrap up your degree while also having a side job and searching for a new one at the same time. At a certain point I was receiving so many rejections that it was just overwhelming. I barely got any follow-ups or interviews. But I also have to admit that my strategy was wrong. My “strategy” was to send applications randomly everywhere. And my favourite one was fast application on LinkedIn, these one-click applications. They ask you three questions, you answer them, attach your CV, and the process is done. It did not bring me anywhere, but just wasted my time.

About half a year before graduation, I started being very careful about my applications, sending out very few, but very targeted ones, and I also asked around within my network. So eventually I had a shortlist of five companies, landed three interviews and ended up taking one of the job offers. As soon as my search got specific and narrow (and not randomly throwing out my CV everywhere), it started working. Looking back, my job application process didn’t start a year before as I said in the beginning, but rather a couple of months before graduation. I ended up submitting my thesis in the last week of February and I started my job in the first week of March. I officially graduated end of April after passing my colloquium. So I actually started working before I “officially” finished my studies.

You are working as a Junior Ad Operations Manager at Equativ. Please tell us more about your job.

My job goes in the tech direction since I work for an advertisement technology company. We like to say that the company is like Airbnb in the world of advertising. There are publishers out there with advertisement spots, and there are brands who want to place ads in those spots. We are in the middle: we have access to the publishers with advertising space and the brands interested in it.

My role is looking at what the brand is interested in: what kind of reach, what kind of industry, etc. And then setting it up on our platform, applying the targeting, uploading the advertisement material, and adjusting the format. Is it a video? Display? Story campaign? I select the right websites for the specific advertisement. And that’s when the fun part begins. As soon as we go live, the advertisement is visible on different websites and I can collect performance metrics. I analyse how many people we reached, how many watched the advertisement, how many clicked on it and so on. Based on this analysis, we can optimize the campaign to achieve the best results for the client. 

This is literally what I was writing my thesis about. Targeted advertisement, but from the consumer’s point of view. How it “feels” when an advertisement reaches you, what annoys you, what you are happy about, do you like having them, do you avoid these kinds of practices, how you typically avoid it (ad blockers, click unsubscribe or click close), who tends to watch an ad, who clicks, etc. And now I’m on the other side, i.e. the person who's targeting and optimizing ads. I see it as collecting insights from both sides. I’m not sure where I will end up with these insights, but I’m sure that at a certain point in my life, I will manage to bring these experiences and insights together in one place and do something about it. 

What do you enjoy most about your work? 

I have a couple of points straight away. It is important to say that this is a super new experience for me in terms of corporate life. I have never experienced a corporate environment before. I’m convinced that every person needs to have this experience to find out if it’s something for them or not. I absolutely love that I work in a big global company. This is something I have dreamed about since I was a teenager. It was very important for me to have access to other points of view, other cultures, other opinions. It was not only about traveling and seeing places physically, but about having a chance to work with people across the globe. Every day, it’s such a wide palette of emotions and experiences. And this is something, I think, that is only achievable in a global international company. It gives you access to other worlds. 

Secondly, it’s flexibility. My job is about what is happening to the digital campaigns. To put it very bluntly: I doesn’t matter if I’m doing it in the office, at home, on the beach, in a café and so on. I enjoy this flexibility in terms of where to work, how to work, and how to organize my work, and I enjoy the degree of responsibility and independence. And while the level of responsibility is pretty high, it’s also lots of fun. 

That is probably my third favourite thing about my workplace: the collaboration opportunities. We have internal exchange program – Globetrotters. I recently got a spot in that program and going to fly to Dubai for a week. We have a company 48h-competition – Innovativ Days - where you can develop an innovative idea. I took part in it last year and was working on a sustainability project. We have regular summits, seminars and other business trips, where we have a chance to visit our Headquarters in Paris and other offices abroad. That makes the job really exciting and diverse. 

Do you have any advice for our students? 

Yes, I have one. It’s “dream big”. It sounds easy, but it’s actually super complicated and something I am still struggling with. I still can’t fully appreciate that literally everything you dream about is possible. The key is to have the courage to think and dream about it in the first place. 

One example: back in Russia I was dreaming of going to Paris for a business trip. I thought it is something that would never happen to me. I thought it’s something that happens to others, super professionals with loads of industry experience. I didn’t picture myself as that calibre of person back then, but this visualisation of success was always somewhere at the back of my mind. Don’t ask me why. It sounds childish now and I am sure it comes from some image from my teenage years. 

Then, one day, I made it. I was hired for my first job and I found out that my company is headquartered in Paris. And my first business trip was to Paris. While packing, it finally hit me: my dream is actually happening. I couldn’t comprehend it back then. Later, reflecting on the experience, I realized dreaming big is like a lifehack, or a cheat code. You can dream something into existence. I firmly believe that you will end up there somehow if you genuinely want it. So, dream big and then be brave enough, be courageous enough to actually, really, genuinely want your dream. Your path might take ages, but out of the blue, you may realize that it’s finally happening to you. 

I know that this advice sounds quite romantic and kind of a “bigger picture” type of answer, which is very easy to give when you’re no longer studying and searching for a job. When you’re in the midst of all that stress, you might think: “Okay, girl, happy for you, but I’m not there just yet. So, could you be any more specific how to end up there?” Fair enough, so let me give some more practical advice for students, too. 

I would highly recommend everyone to make use of every single opportunity presented to you apart from studying. If there’s a chance to participate in any project, volunteer activities, trips, company visits and so on – do it. There are so many student projects, organizations, associations, initiatives – just go for it. 

I can barely remember the topics of the papers I wrote or even a single exam question I answered. What will actually matter to you in the long term are these collective experiences outside of studying. What you will probably end up using are the skills and experience you had earned between the lectures. You’ll not necessarily remember the topic of the project, but you will remember the situations you ended up in while working on the project: how you managed them, how you built relationships, how you went through stress and crises as a group – all of it. 

If you find yourself unable to do anything extracurricular, apply the same logic to your studies. If you have a choice, for example, to write a paper or do a group project, go for a group project. I know this might sound super unappealing, but it really is something that will enrich your experiences much more than writing a term paper. If there is a chance to do an internship or part-time job or just a summer job, go for the practice experience. Any practical experience from working with your fellow students to getting industry experience is something you’ll value a lot after graduation. Even if it's super scary, go for it. Just close your eyes, click “apply” and close the computer. 

This is actually one small, but super-efficient tip, which helped me a lot to get the courage to apply to many places. I just wrote an application or a message that I want to be a part of a group or project, then I closed my eyes, clicked send, closed my laptop and walked away because it was so scary and overwhelming to me. And you know what? Most of the time the reply was, “yes, sure, we’d be happy if you joined”. If it’s scary, close your eyes, click and run. 

Looking back, what is your favourite memory of your time as a student at Rhine-Waal?

It’s actually exams. I know, it sounds super weird, but you have to know that my education was almost completely online. I only spent the first semester on campus before Covid started. The next two years I spent online. So, the only chance to actually see people and talk to them was exams. Those were the rare occasions when we were required to come to campus. We had to wear masks and do Covid tests beforehand and then we all ended up being in this room together experiencing lots of stress, but we were united by a super emotional situation. 

And after the exam, after going through this stressful situation together, most of us stayed on campus and talked about it. What did you answer to this question? What did you have for this other question? Oh, I should have written that, and so on. We just kept talking and this excitement and feeling that there are also many other people who care about these things, as much as you do, and are willing to exchange this energy, these emotions, and go through everything together with you… it was just a very valuable experience, which gave me so much motivation to push forward. It was like an energetic wave taking over the whole group. This intense feeling of belongingness and unity after exams is what I remember most.