In this edition of the CEStafette Nicola Amoruso is interviewed by Marte Disse
Welcome! Nice to have you here for this interview. First, would you like to introduce yourself?
Well, I'm Nicola Amoruso, 45 years old. I've had a partner since last year and I've been working at the university since November 2003.
How did you come to work here at UT?
It was quite coincidental that I came here. Well, it wasn’t that coincidental. I had applied to Accounting House at the time, but HR was also looking for someone and they picked up Accounting House's application folder and picked me out. This was because I had a programme mentioned in my résumé that they just started working with. I was already doing payroll administration at the time and they were looking for someone for payroll administration. One and one is two. So, they asked if I wanted to come and work there, and to apply. I did so and I was hired. I did thirteen years of salary administration and then five more years of functional management in HR until 2021. Then I came to CES as functional management IM.
What exactly do you do?
I manage the system. I make sure it's running and that the right people are authorised for the right actions. We track a student’s journey. Once students have enrolled, we follow them until their graduation year. We make sure they get their certificates. Not that we print them out ourselves. Somebody else does that. But we make sure the certificates are up to date. This ensures that when they are printed out the correct information is on the certificate or diploma for that student. Briefly explained, I take care of setting up the systems to make sure that we are able to see what we need to see. I also make sure to remove access to what we don't want another person to see, due to their function. Like me or my colleague functional administrators, we see everything, well, sometimes not everything. We don't want to see everything. That's not allowed either, so it's limited for us too.
When I came to HR, they were just working on a new payroll system and I already knew a bit about it. I was hired as a payroll administrator and some people from functional management HR asked me, "Would you like to join them in testing?" So, I joined them testing and because of that I gained a lot more knowledge of the system. Even more so. At some point I thought, “But I find what you do very interesting. Much more interesting than what I actually do now as a salary administrator.“ So, I indicated a couple of times ”Listen, suppose you're looking for people or someone leaves, think of me because I'd like to join the team.“ And that was the case. They were looking for someone else and that's how I ended up in functional management.
Did you also study at UT?
No, not at UT. I didn't leave Enschede to study. I was at the MEAO [CF1] (the name of it then) here in Enschede. So, I haven't left Enschede, not even for study because actually Enschede offers everything needed. I was born and raised here. I was able to live comfortably at home with my parents and yes, my mother can cook well....
You have a very beautiful Italian name....
Yes right. Both of my parents are Italian. I was also raised bilingual. I'm really super proud of that too. So, I can also speak quite a bit of Italian.
You already shared a bit about what you like about your job. What do you like about working at UT?
UT is a really great employer. I don't ever want to leave. They have everything here. They give you freedom in some things. Fantastic working atmosphere. Nice People, nice colleagues. I can play sports here. And how many people are here now? 16.000 people, including the students of course. It's a small village.
What is something you would still like to learn?
Of course there are things I would like to learn. Languages for one. I would really like to learn Spanish. Because of my Italian I can already speak some Spanish, but I really want to improve it a lot more. I also want to learn French. But they are Roman languages and I pick them up really quickly. I would love to play the piano as well. In terms of work content, I would like to learn a few more things. I can't think of them right now, but I'm always curious about things.
How do you do for a good work-life balance?
Sports. Crossfit and bodypump. Although bodypump is kind of on the back burner right now. But those are the two sports I like to do. And I travel a lot. Just going on vacation, getting away. I do get my energy from that. Well, my boyfriend lives abroad so I go there regularly.
So, what's your next travel goal?
I'm flying to Gran Canaria this Saturday and I'm going on a cruise there so I'm going to visit him for a week.
What is your favourite place that you've ever been?
There are so many amazing places. The first place I found really very impressive, really two different worlds, was when I went to Vietnam alone for the first time. That was really different. They live differently than we live here. For example, are we too clean compared to them. A different world. Even though they lack some comfort, they still had wi-fi. They are happy. They lived in a house that had almost no windows. It smelled of the coal they use and everything was pitch black. That was very impressive. The most beautiful place I found were the island groups in Bali. Gili Trawangan is really beautiful. Beautiful white beaches, turquoise water, Nemo fish and turtles. I think that's one of the most beautiful places I have been to so far.
Thank you for this interview and enjoy your holiday!
