Maria Sole Aliotta

Tell us about your journey: 

I have had 22 years’ experience in Human Resources in various sectors. I have carried out the role of people advocate & servant, often donning a uniform in order to get a real taste of what it means to work on the front line: I’ve been a hotel maid, an onboard hostess, a telecommunications engineer, and an airport information assistant. Each of these hands-on experiences has enabled me to get an insight into people’s working lives and exchange a range of emotions. I have a university degree and a Master’s Degree from Bocconi University, although the lessons that have a lasting impact on me are those that money cannot buy: my family, the Camino di Santiago pilgrims’ way, working as a volunteer in international work camps and lifelong friends. The future? I hope that I will always be known for my smile, as well as for my name.

What does your work bring you? 

The chance to get to know other people and to help to improve their working lives, in the hope that I will be remembered as someone who made a difference and not just as another payroll number…

What do you bring to our company?

Energy, passion, and commitment to transform our company into a workshop in which we can all develop our skills and grow as both professionals and human beings, by engaging with each other and sharing our unique and distinctive knowledge and experiences.

What does our company represent for you?

A window onto the world as it changes thanks to our contribution and the decisions we make in the name of innovation, sustainability, and humanity. 

What is the biggest challenge you have faced during your time with the company?

Joining the company and, due to the pandemic, being unable to get to know people through human contact and their smiles.

What is your biggest achievement in this role?

I am used to assessing results once we have got where we are going and not at the outset, looking back at the journey we have made and at the experiences shared with my travel companions. For anyone like me who works for human resources, the outcome should be described by the people for whom you have worked, and not by the good intentions we have in our heads. So, let’s ask this question to my colleagues in a few years’ time!

What advice would you give to university students or young professionals thinking about a career in your area?

Plan your way ahead by developing your ability to pick yourself up after stumbling or making a mistake or to try new things, but not your ability to avoid tripping up. Life will always manage to surprise us… so let’s use our energies to try things out, develop our skills and experiment, learn how to read, and live in a continually changing world.

Where do you see Mundys and yourself in 5 years? 

I hope that in 5 years’ time I and my company will be exactly where we want to be, fully aware that our choices, efforts, and commitment have enabled us to fulfil our dreams. To feel that you are in the right place, at the right time, and with the right people is a rewarding sensation. I would say that with the commitment, expertise, and passion with which we are all working, in 5 years we will deserve to toast fulfilment and delivery of the strategy that we are now developing.