Irene Balboni, HR & Recruiting Manager, CheckYeti

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 Irene Balboni, HR & Recruiting Manager at CheckYeti in Vienna (AT). USI Degree: Master in International Tourism, 2022.

How did you start your career?

Back in 2021 during my Master's Degree in International Tourism at USI, I came to Vienna for an exchange semester, which I completed in February 2022. I felt in love with the city and, since I needed to do a mandatory internship to complete my studies, I decided to look for one in Vienna. This is how I started my journey at CheckYeti GmbH and, after completing a 5-month internship, I was offered a FT position, and I've been working here ever since.

Why did you choose a career at CheckYeti?

My company is an online platform that sells outdoor activities in many different destinations throughout Europe. Our customers are mainly tourists, so the company is very much related to my field of studies, and this is why I chose it for my mandatory internship. I liked my internship and this is why I decided to accept the position I was offered after completing my internship.

What is your current role/duties?

Today I'm HR & Recruiting Manager, I take care of the whole employee journey from publishing job ads, to screening CVs, organizing interviews with managers and members of different teams, offering positions to candidates, creating contracts, taking care of the initial onboarding of new employees, and the offboarding once they finish our journey with us. Moreover, I'm involved in different projects to ensure a welcoming and supportive working environments and constantly improve it.

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

CheckYeti GmbH is a start-up, so there is much room to grow within the company for motivated and proactive employees. In my case, for example, I started in the company with an internship in Operations for the Italian market (customer service and support). However, thanks to my curiosity and interest in HR topics and my proactive attitude, I was given the possibility and space to grow within the HR & Recruiting team. In fact, in my company, previous experience and studies are not so relevant, and employees are more evaluated directly on the job, based on their skills, motivation, different passions and interests.

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

What I really liked about the Master's in International Tourism is the vastness of topics that we tackled in the different classes. In fact, I still remember the HR Management class with Professor Solari, before attending it I had no idea of HR and the related topics and I had never thought about the impact that the work environment has on employees' performance, productivity and satisfaction. This class introduced me to HR and made me develop an interest in this field, and the same happened with different subjects. Moreover, the Master's was very practical, we were always starting with the theory and then apply it to concrete projects, there was a lot of teamwork, we were given issues to solve with concrete strategies. I particularly liked this part because it was very similar to what you do at work.

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

During my experience at USI, I improved my communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills. I learned how to better manage my time and organize with the various projects and tasks we were assigned. Moreover, the broadness of topics that we addressed made me develop a flexible and solution-oriented mindset and increased my creative thinking.

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

I would suggest them to be flexible, to look for different positions and not limit themselves to their field of studies. In fact, once they enter a company, there is often the possibility to grow within the company itself, to switch to different positions, to explore different topics to discover their interests.