Hi everyone!

My apologies on not being able to attend the JSOM Student Conference last Friday. I saw some amazing posts/photos on LinkedIn and wish I could have attended. I wanted to still provide some advice/tips for you all and share a bit of what I was going to cover during my presentation. This post will be directly just for JSOM students, but feel free to share with any other friends that you think might benefit from it.

Introduction

My name is Eric Aaberg, and I'm a Social Media Strategist II at Riot Games (a large game publisher headquartered in Los Angeles, CA that has produced League of Legends, VALORANT, and a few other titles). I'm a graduate of the Naveen Jindal School of Management at The University of Texas at Dallas with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing (Cum Laude). I was the UT Dallas Mascot, Temoc, for 5 years, as well as served as the Director of Esports for the university. In addition, I was an Orientation Leader, RA, and as one could say - really involved on campus. In addition, I am a content creator in my freetime and have worked with brands such as 7-Eleven, Bose, American Eagle, and more. Today I'm going to share some tips that helped me be successful in my undergraduate years, as well as some tactics you can apply to your every day life to get "ahead" towards achieving your dreams.

Keynote Presentation: What is success and how to be successful?

When people think of success, they probably think of owning their own business, landing that dream job, or even just acing all of their classes easily. Success is what you make of it, but it can also come down to something simpler: living out your dreams and achievements in life.

Success to me, comes in many forms/areas. It could be success in my professional life (ie. career, landing a new job, making a sales quota, etc.), personal life (making the friends you enjoy hanging out with daily), or personal development (relationships, psychology, learning more about yourself, which typically comes from reading books).

Recently, I just landed a dream job as a Social Strategist at Riot Games. How I got here would not be possible without my involvement during my undergraduate years at UTD. Let me paint the picture: I got my foot in the door by running the University's Esports Program, from there I was an intern at a professional esports team Evil Geniuses in 2021, then a Social Media Coordinator at Optic Gaming, and then became the Social Media Lead at Complexity Gaming. I also was an Ambassador for Discord during a semester, so a lot of my experience focused on gaming and esports. In addition, I was recently awarded/named 2024 Marketer of the Year by the American Marketing Association for my marketing leadership at UT Dallas for the esports program! So, be sure to get involved (bonus points if you're able to apply your involvement, ie. a marketing chair role for marketing majors, on your resume/portfolio).

Don't wait until you graduate to start working on your professional life. It's important to start painting the road for your career while you're a student.

• Utilize LinkedIn weekly and have a very built-out profile where you highlight the cool projects you're working on.
• Send messages to industry professionals asking for a coffee chat (bonus points if they're at companies you eventually want to intern/work for).
• Don't be afraid to ask questions or ask for an introduction from someone else (utilize your resources).
• Try to set your own cadence of networking/meeting people (ie. 10 people a semester).

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

• Don't try so hard for just that ONE dream job with ONE company, focus more on landing that dream career.
• Don't spend your ENTIRE undergraduate working/grinding for a good job after graduation, enjoy your student life!
• HAVE a good balance of personal/professional activities.

Some tips/resources:

• The more you're able to manage your time wisely, the more time you have. Utilize a Google Calendar to put EVERYTHING you have going on in there, you'll be surprised how much more you can do once you shift from trying to memorize your daily routine to having it in a software (I do this daily!!).
• Utilize LinkedIn like a social media platform: Share updates, message people, and use it frequently.

Personal Branding:

• Personal branding is your own brand/name for yourself when you're applying for jobs or wanting to become more known/stand out in the industry.
• Personal branding sets you a part from others, as you're going above and beyond just a resume/CV.
• Create "case studies", manage a blog, or have your own website/portfolio.
• Utilize "Webflow" for a free website and Canva for a free portfolio/templates.
• BE PROFESSIONAL ON ALL SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS. Digital footprint exists, all of my socials are @itsericaaberg and completely employer-friendly.

Please Reach Out!

Did I miss anything? Please do feel free to reach out to me via email eric@ericaaberg.com or message me on LinkedIn. I'm more than happy to do a virtual call (IRL coffee chats are on pause as I'm moving to LA soon!).