Francesca Filomena, Trasformation & Change Management Coordinator, Gucci

To help current students and recent graduates navigate the world of work, several USI Alumni shared their career paths and career story. Here the story of Francesca Filomena, Trasformation & Change Management Coordinator at Gucci in Milan (I). USI Degree: Master in Management, 2022.

How did you start your career?

While finishing my Master, I applied for an internship of 6 months in Gucci and I was selected for the position of Change Management intern.

Why did you choose a career at Gucci?

I have always been passionate about Luxury-fashion business (I wrote both my thesis with case studies of luxury fashion companies). Being part of one of the main actors of the industry with big international context represented a huge opportunity for my career development and goals.

What is your current role/duties?

I coordinate and support all the transformation project inside the company that represent a big impact (organization, culture, system, skill) for the business users. In detail I coordinate WW project on Retail and Supply chain domain. E.g. Change of ERP, change of payment system and tools, change of WMS or new warehouse implementation.

In your opinion, what are the qualities necessary for a successful career at Gucci?

Skills:

• Proactive approach in seeking innovation
• Goal achiever and accountable for tasks assigned
• Ability to structure problem solving approaches in complex environment
• Ability to forge relationships and to interact effectively with colleagues coming from different company levels
• Ability to communicate effectively own ideas to influence others and to make own voice heard
• Strong Time management and prioritization skills in order to meet intermediate and final project deadlines
• Managing multiple tasks and projects simultaneously with the ability to switch rapidly between them
• Analytical mindset and strong data interpreting capability
• Team player and ability to work collaboratively, as well as autonomously
• Ability to define success metrics and measuring performance against these
• Sensibility to weight local/regional/global priority according to the company’s strategy
• Being curious and willingness to always improve and learn something new

What positive aspects and qualities meant most to you during the study programme you attended?

What I valued the most of the Master was:

• having small classes that improved interactions and discussion among peers and professor
• base the studies on practice: analyzing real business cases gave me more perception of each subject the actual competencies required in the job market
• the presence of international environment

What competences and/or skills acquired in your USI Study Program have been useful/are useful to your professional career?

The Master's program taught me to take an omni-comprehensive approach while facing any type of issue. It gave me the opportunity to train myself on how to present my ideas and how to interact with different levels of audience.
Moreover, it gave me a solid theoretical basis on Strategy and company management.

What is your advice to USI students entering the job market?

I would recommend to try to move in advance, before finishing the master already try to have also some little experiences in your curriculum. These experiences will enrich your knowledge and will help you to understand what you really would like to do/ or what absolutely is not in your lines.
Do not be afraid to dare and make mistakes. A Career is not a regular path and with curiosity and working hard nothing is impossible! There is not only one path to achieve your business goal.