“This venue has always had something magical for me. Its cylindrical layout is certainly already unusual in itself but for me it has a symbolic value: I used to walk there with dad when he worked at the Italian Post Office and perhaps already dreaming of coming to ‘live’ there”. And Paola – new director of the central Agrigento post office – has truly made that dream come true. Taking her first steps as a teller in the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele office and returning, after having moved to various places including in the province, where it all began, in one of the most prestigious historic buildings of Poste Italiane.
The mess tin
“I walked around this place, holding the image of this circular plan still. I’m excited, after ten years I’m coming back ‘home’. From teller to manager, great satisfaction. A circle closes and a new one opens.” When the so-called apprenticeship bears the desired results, despite the fact that the condition of a woman, young person and mother is still too often compromising in the workplace today.
A success story
That of Paola Caruselli, at 37 years old director of the post office in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele in Agrigento, has all the requirements to be counted among the success stories, especially in an area where the female employment rate is only 24.5% . The young new manager of the Agrigento Centro office began taking her first steps in Poste Italiane at just twenty-four years old in the largest post office in the province, located on the ground floor of the prestigious historic building of rationalist architecture with a peculiar cylindrical shape. Among those stations that you coordinate today, in 2011 you held the role of counter operator, which allowed you to gain experience with all postal and financial services.
Increasing responsibility
From there and with a master’s degree obtained from the Iulm University of Milan, a growth path began for the employee which over the years has seen her take further steps forward through various company roles and in various offices in the province. Between offices in the capital and Licata, Paola first became a financial consultant and then a coordinator, later moving on to the management of post offices. Her growing career and responsibilities are accompanied by evolutions in the private sphere too, with a marriage and the birth of a daughter.
Female-driven team
“I have always believed that by gaining experience and skills I would be able to make my contribution and fulfill myself professionally – continues the director – Believing in yourself is crucial so that others can also trust you. A trust that I believe I have repaid in recent years and I am ready to renew with commitment.” Today Paola leads a team of twenty resources, where among other things the female component is well represented and equal to half of the staff. The presence of a woman at the head of the Agrigento Centro post office had been missing for over ten years. “For me it is a pride to hold this role – she concludes – especially in a prestigious location like this where it all began for me”.
