Youth and Media Alumni in the Spotlight Name: Marnienke van der Maal Graduated: 2012 Current Job: Research Executive @ ZIGT’s Research & Insights department

What was most memorable to you about your experiences in the master’s program? I found the assignment for Company meets Student fun and interesting, because you really can bring your knowledge into practice for a real client. I also really enjoyed the lectures of Professor Jochen Peter and the book ‘It's not the Media’. I did qualitative research for my master thesis, which was very interesting and fun to do. I interviewed children and their parents about the role new media plays in the family and how it affects family ties. It was fun to hear how different parents and children think about the internet and Facebook, how children experience the rules about media use at home, and what they think about the presence of their parents on Social Network Sites like Facebook. What did you do after graduation and where are you now? After graduating, I immediately started my first job at YoungWorks. I worked two days a week during my study (writing for YoungWorks BLOG) and when I graduated, they actually offered me a job as junior researcher and I could keep writing for YoungWorks Blog, which was pretty nice. Unfortunately, I lost my job in August 2013 (economic crisis) and have been unemployed for four months. Now I'm working at ZIGT, a media agency, as a quantitative researcher. I am doing research on the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. It’s something else than the youth audience, but just as fun and interesting.

If you are working, how did you get the job or find out about it? After I lost my job, I applied for a lot of different jobs. First, I searched for a job in the youth world. I liked my job at YoungWorks so much that I wanted to do 'something with young people’ again. After four months of searching and applying for jobs, I found my job at ZIGT. I applied and got the job within two weeks. It all went very fast, but I was especially happy that I was able to work again.

What do you do for this position? Together with another colleague I am the Research & Insights department, and we do a lot of research for Lidl, Beter Horen, Rijksoverheid, DTG, VNU and other clients. We research the effectiveness of advertising campaigns, audience / target group research and insights, brand tracking research, competition / image research and pre-testing. I am planning to introduce qualitative research, because I did this a lot at YoungWorks. As Research & Insights department we are involved with media strategies, which is very interesting.

What did you learn in your master that helps you in your current position? As a researcher you should be aware of all relevant and available information about your subject and you must like it to look for it in different sources. This is something I’ve learned quite well during the master. I also followed an elective course from the master Persuasive Communication, in which I’ve learned about media strategies. How the media works and how it affects people is something that is very important in my current job. This is something you learn in communication science anyway, but the master Youth & Media is certainly deepening in this subject.

“Try to do something that you like and matches with your studies. […] You can create your own blog around Youth & Media.”

What piece of advice would you give to students considering the same MA track as you? Although the master at first seems quite specific, it is actually quite broad. You learn a lot about the development of children and young people and the role the media plays in their life. It gives a lot of insight into how (young) people interact with media and how they respond to media. I found the MA incredibly fun and interesting. You also get a lot of chances and opportunities to put the knowledge into practice, for example during the specialization seminar Youth as Media Consumers which is carried out in collaboration with YoungWorks. I think this was the most fun and interesting assignment. What should students do during or after their master to stand out on the job market? My internship at YoungWorks has finally given me the job. An internship is always a very good starting point to gain experience and get noticed by employers. I have written a lot about youth, media and research during my studies which helped me a lot as well. Try to do something that you like and matches with your studies. For example, I like writing and blogging, did the master Youth & Media and it was perfect for me that I could combine this at YoungWorks. You can create your own blog around Youth & Media. In addition, it is always smart to be present on social media like LinkedIn.

For more information about the Youth and Media master track at the University of Amsterdam, see http://gsc.uva.nl/programmes/content4/youth-and-media.html