Alumni Interview with Orlan Elizarraraz

Moody College of Communications Alumni, Orlan Elizarraraz, shared his experience as a graduate student at the Stan Richards School of Advertising and his journey to his current position as the Social Media Coordinator for the UMAC department at UT. As a child, the UT branding had been ingrained in Orlan. He always knew “the university to be the best in Texas,” so when it came to applying for school, he knew exactly where he wanted to go. “I had no hesitation that I wanted to go to UT,” Orlan said. And it just so happened that he was accepted to the #1 ranked school for advertising.

Two years after graduating college in 2014 from the University of Texas – RGV, Orlan came to Austin to pursue his Masters in Advertising. As a student, Orlan took a more well-rounded approach, taking classes from different tracks within the program and dabbling in “design, social media, strategizing, and analytics.” While a lot of his classmates talked about working at agencies after graduation, Orlan wanted to work in sports, music, or the university. He found himself drawn most to the latter. Orlan was very picky when first applying to jobs. “I wasn’t happy with the initial offerings and market at the time, so I took an internship at Gartner Digital Markets to reflect a variety of jobs on my resume while still making the time to apply and interview for the jobs I wanted,” Orlan said.

After constant checking of the UT job portal and several interviews, Orlan landed his current position at UT in January of 2022, as the Social Media Coordinator, where he creates and shares content for the channel and manages all social media platforms for the university. Always finding new ways to expand his skills, Orlan loves how his job allows him to grow in every way. Take it from Orlan, “when it comes to knowing what jobs you’re wanting, determination is the key to getting there.”