Alumni Spotlight: Marianne Dodson’s Impactful Role at Human Rights Watch

On Wednesday, Sept. 20, Ohio University welcomed one of its distinguished alumni, Marianne Dodson, back to campus as part of the Marty Wall Career Advising Series. Dodson, a social media officer at Human Rights Watch (HRW) stationed in New York, shared her career journey and gave some valuable advice to students eager to learn about nonprofit and non-governmental organization (NGO) work. While at Ohio U, Dodson studied journalism and political science. She spent two and a half years in newsrooms covering national and international news, but decided to pivot to HRW to focus on the international aspect. 

HRW is an international NGO with a mission to advocate for human rights worldwide. Dodson explained that her role as a social media officer involved overseeing HRW’s English language social media platforms, including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, which reach over 14 million people across more than 10 languages. Her responsibilities include sharing and publicizing the work of researchers and advocates, creating content and analyzing social media engagement data that stems from that content. A big part of her job is being able to detect the rise of new platforms to target diverse audiences in the most effective way possible. Despite not having a second language under her belt, she encouraged students to consider learning one. 

Another thing Dodson covered was advice for students seeking internships. She stressed the importance of casting a wide net and applying to as many as you can, as each year internships get more competitive. “I’d recommend, when you're applying for internships, casting a wide net and not being set on one thing. I had four internships while I was a student at OU. It’s all very individual- so it’s up to you how many you choose to have. And I didn’t go into any of them thinking, ‘this is exactly what I want to do with my life, this is my dream’. I just was like, this is what I applied for and got and I’m excited about it”.

Through a personal story of her connection with an Ohio U alumna at CNN, Dodson also encouraged students to connect with professionals in their field of interest. Citing that the best way to do that is through LinkedIn, which makes it easy to find people from your college in your field through its great organizational system.

Dodson  urged students not to hesitate to apply for positions even if they did not meet all qualifications. Her three main pieces of advice for when being interviewed were “Be critical, be authentic and be willing to admit what you don’t know.” 

She also noted that following up after an interview demonstrates genuine interest to your potential employer that will raise your chances of getting the job.

Marianne Dodson's visit provided Ohio U students with some great tips for pursuing careers in NGOs post-graduation. 

Twitter - https://twitter.com/hrw

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/humanrightswatch/

Facebook - English: https://www.facebook.com/HumanRightsWatch