Anyone looking into reasons for Tenaris’s success is certain to find that one of its key ingredients is TenarisUniversity (TU). An award-winning institution, located within the Tenaris Human Resources area, its purpose is to gather and transmit the knowledge and best practices acquired by the company — both for the guidance and training of new recruits, and to nurture the ongoing development of its standing roster of workers and employees.
Someone who can contribute a philosophical perspective to the work of the University is Paola Mazzoleni, who came to Tenaris from studying philosophy.
What led you to switch from philosophy to Human Resources?
I was studying at the university in Pavia, northern Italy. What I liked about philosophy is its highly logical nature, the hard thinking it demands. Then I got to analyzing whether I wanted to stick with it as a career, and realized that what I really preferred was to come to grips with something more practical, especially within large organizations. I was lucky, because Tenaris quickly took me on — and I found myself moving fast thereafter. I joined a culturally diverse company that encourages the growth of young professionals.
What have been the stages in your career up to now, and what have you achieved?
I’ve been through various sectors of Human Resources, having started out in 2000 as an intern. After that I worked at Tenaris’s mill in Italy to recruit hourly workers and global trainees. Then I went to work in the area of Development on Performance Management. I was with that project until 2004. At that point I was assigned to the Global Trainee Program. This project provided me with lots of travel. I was in Argentina, Brazil, Romania, Mexico — and this is something I greatly appreciate.
Then I returned to Italy to work on the TU project. Here I started out in the salaried employee area in Italy; after six months I was given the commercial offices in the Middle East, and after six more months, in July 2007, was assigned to the hourly employees part.
How did you fit in the TU project?
This work has been a lot of fun. TU has a brilliant team, which evolves and advances a lot. Our CEO Paolo Rocca is closely attuned to this. We have the motivation of knowing we are in a very strategic sector, training. We get a very macro view of the company.
I’ve made a point of working closely with the head of the factory here. What we try to do now is to understand in advance what the future needs of company employees will be, and offer them the necessary training on that basis. Our approach is not to wait to react to needs, but to be ready with a proposal. That is one of the two guidelines I give to the people working with me. The other is that we are a service team, seeing others not only as colleagues but also as internal customers.
What is the main thing that Tenaris offers you that induces you to stay with the company?
What I like most about Tenaris is that it’s an ambitious company. Management is always proposing new projects, and looks far ahead. Tenaris sets itself demanding and very long-term goals. We’re continuously moving forward.
