Building a career in human resources at the international level requires more than theoretical knowledge—it demands practical experience, cultural awareness, and the ability to connect with people from diverse backgrounds. The career trajectory of Nikolina Sertić demonstrates exactly how a specialized education can provide these foundational skills. Starting from the Dubrovnik campus of RIT Croatia and advancing to a senior HR leadership role at Philip Morris International, her story offers valuable insights for anyone considering a path in people management or hospitality management.
Building a Professional Foundation in Dubrovnik
Nikolina Sertić graduated from RIT Croatia’s Hospitality and Tourism Management program in 2009, completing her studies at the university’s Dubrovnik campus. This location, situated in one of Europe’s most prominent tourist destinations, provided an immersive learning environment where academic concepts met real-world application daily. Students at RIT Croatia benefit from studying in cities where hospitality and tourism form the economic backbone, allowing them to observe industry dynamics firsthand.
The curriculum at RIT Croatia emphasizes experiential learning, a pedagogical approach that distinguishes it from many traditional European universities. Rather than relying solely on lectures and examinations, students participate in cooperative education (co-op) programs that place them directly into professional settings. This structure ensures that graduates enter the workforce with documented experience, not just academic credentials.
For students exploring their options in Croatia, RIT Croatia’s programs combine American educational standards with the distinct advantages of studying in a European context. Schedule a free consultation to learn more about how this approach might align with your career objectives.
The Cooperative Education Experience: Lessons from the United States
A defining component of Nikolina’s education was her cooperative education placement at the Old Oaks Country Club in the United States. This experience placed her in a high-touch service environment where she worked directly at the front desk, managing guest interactions, resolving issues, and maintaining service standards under demanding conditions.
Working in this setting taught Nikolina skills that would prove transferable across industries:
- Anticipating needs: Learning to recognize what clients or colleagues require before they explicitly state it
- Clear communication: Conveying information accurately, especially during high-pressure situations
- Emotional regulation: Maintaining composure and professionalism when faced with frustrated or demanding individuals
- Problem resolution: Converting moments of friction into opportunities to build trust
These competencies, developed in a hospitality context, form the core of effective HR practice. When Nikolina reflects on her early career, she notes that exceptional service fundamentally involves listening first, responding quickly, and creating positive experiences even from difficult interactions. This framework translates directly to how HR professionals should engage with employees and managers.
Why International Work Experience Matters
The opportunity to work in a different country during university studies provides advantages that extend well beyond the immediate placement. Students who complete international co-ops develop cultural intelligence, adaptability, and a broader perspective on how different markets operate. For those pursuing HR leadership roles, this exposure proves invaluable when managing diverse teams or implementing global initiatives.
RIT Croatia’s co-op program specifically targets placements that challenge students to step outside their comfort zones. Explore our related articles for further reading on how cooperative education shapes career outcomes.
Bridging Hospitality and Human Resources
At first glance, hospitality management and human resources might appear as separate career paths. However, Nikolina’s experience reveals the substantial overlap between these fields. Both disciplines center on understanding people, managing expectations, and creating positive experiences—whether for guests or for employees.
RIT Croatia recognized this connection early, offering HR-focused specializations within its broader business and hospitality programs. At the time of Nikolina’s studies, this approach was relatively uncommon in Croatian higher education, positioning the institution as forward-thinking in its curriculum design. Students could develop industry-specific knowledge while simultaneously acquiring skills applicable to HR functions.
The transition from hospitality to HR requires a mindset shift rather than a complete skill overhaul. Hospitality professionals already understand how to manage stakeholder relationships, handle confidential information, navigate complex interpersonal dynamics, and deliver consistent service. These capabilities map directly onto HR responsibilities including employee relations, talent management, and organizational development.
Treating Employees as Clients
One of Nikolina’s key professional insights has been applying hospitality principles to HR by treating employees and managers as clients whose experience matters. This perspective transforms how HR functions operate within an organization. Instead of viewing HR as a compliance or administrative function, this approach positions it as a service provider dedicated to creating positive employee experiences.
In practice, this means:
- Approaching employee inquiries with the same responsiveness expected in premium service environments
- Designing onboarding processes that mirror thoughtful guest orientation experiences
- Handling difficult conversations with empathy and professionalism
- Measuring HR effectiveness partly through employee satisfaction and engagement metrics
This philosophy has gained traction across industries as organizations recognize that talent retention and engagement directly impact business performance. Professionals who can bridge service excellence with people management bring distinctive value to their employers.
Career Progression at Philip Morris International
Following her graduation and early career experiences, Nikolina intentionally sought opportunities with multinational companies that reflected the culturally diverse environment she had appreciated at RIT Croatia. Philip Morris International (PMI) offered this global scope, and she joined the organization in an HR administrative capacity.
Her progression within PMI demonstrates how foundational skills, combined with deliberate career choices, can lead to advancement. Starting in administration, she moved into talent acquisition and eventually assumed leadership responsibilities spanning multiple European markets. Today, as People & Culture Manager for Croatia and Slovenia, she oversees strategic HR functions for a significant regional operation.
Several factors contributed to this advancement:
Organizational alignment: Nikolina sought employers whose values resonated with her own. PMI’s principles—emphasizing care, collaboration, and innovation—created an environment where she could thrive authentically.
Transferable skill application: Rather than viewing her hospitality background as irrelevant to corporate HR, she explicitly leveraged it as a competitive advantage, using service-oriented thinking to differentiate her approach.
Continuous learning orientation: She maintained curiosity throughout her career, treating each role as an opportunity to acquire new capabilities rather than simply executing familiar tasks.
For current students evaluating potential career paths, Nikolina’s trajectory illustrates that starting positions need not determine ultimate destinations. Submit your application today to begin building your own foundation for flexible career growth.
Leadership Perspectives: Learning Agility and Women in the Workplace
In her current leadership capacity, Nikolina has developed clear views on what makes professionals successful in contemporary organizations. Two themes particularly stand out in her approach: the importance of learning agility and the need to address confidence gaps among women in the workplace.
Prioritizing Learning Agility in Hiring
When evaluating candidates, Nikolina looks beyond credentials and experience to assess learning agility—the ability to acquire new skills quickly, adapt to unfamiliar situations, and apply knowledge in novel contexts. In a business environment characterized by rapid change, hybrid work models, and evolving technologies, this quality often proves more predictive of long-term success than technical expertise alone.
She specifically seeks evidence of “real ownership” in candidates: individuals who demonstrate curiosity, take initiative, and follow through on commitments without requiring constant oversight. This orientation toward ownership suggests that a candidate will add value independently rather than merely executing assigned tasks.
Addressing Confidence Erosion Among Women
Nikolina has become an active advocate for women’s professional development, both within PMI and through external mentoring relationships. She identifies “confidence erosion” as a significant barrier—the tendency for women to gradually doubt their capabilities, underestimate their contributions, or avoid visibility despite possessing the skills and knowledge their roles require.
Her mentoring approach focuses on creating environments where women can practice “showing up” with confidence: speaking in meetings, asserting their expertise, and positioning themselves for advancement. This work recognizes that systemic factors often contribute to confidence gaps, and that individual support alone cannot fully address structural inequalities. However, practical mentoring can provide women with strategies and reinforcement that help them navigate these challenges.
The emphasis on mentoring reflects a broader truth about professional development: growth often occurs through relationships rather than formal training alone. Nikolina notes that she learns as much from her mentees as they learn from her, highlighting how mentorship creates value in multiple directions.
Strategic Advice for Aspiring HR Professionals
Nikolina’s journey from RIT Croatia to global HR leadership offers several actionable insights for students and early-career professionals considering similar paths.
Embrace Unfamiliar Opportunities
Reflecting on her own career, Nikolina emphasizes the importance of saying “yes” to opportunities that feel uncertain or stretch beyond current comfort zones. Each unfamiliar role, she notes, builds transferable skills and opens doors that cannot be predicted in advance. The goal should not be a perfectly linear career plan but rather sustained momentum, continuous learning, and relationship building that compounds over time.
This advice challenges the common assumption that successful careers follow predetermined trajectories. In practice, many professionals discover their most valuable opportunities through unexpected turns, lateral moves, or roles that initially seemed misaligned with their long-term objectives.
Recognize the Breadth of Your Degree
A hospitality management degree, or any specialized undergraduate program, provides a foundation rather than a restriction. Nikolina explicitly encourages students to understand that their first job will not define their career—their mindset will. The service foundation built through hospitality education translates directly to HR, leadership, and business transformation roles.
This perspective is particularly relevant for students who may feel pressure to pursue immediately obvious career paths. The skills developed in hospitality programs—stakeholder management, service design, operational thinking, cultural awareness—have applications across virtually every industry and function.
Invest in Relationships
Career advancement depends substantially on professional relationships: mentors who provide guidance, colleagues who offer opportunities, and networks that surface information about emerging roles. Nikolina’s career progression benefited from relationships built during her studies, her co-op experience, and her early professional positions.
Students should approach relationship building strategically but genuinely, seeking connections with people whose perspectives and experiences differ from their own. The diverse environment at institutions like RIT Croatia provides natural opportunities to develop these networks across cultural and geographic boundaries.
The Value of an RIT Croatia Education for HR Careers
Nikolina Sertić’s career path illustrates several distinctive advantages of the RIT Croatia educational model for students interested in HR leadership:
Experiential learning integration: The co-op program ensures students graduate with professional experience, not only theoretical knowledge. This experience provides concrete examples to discuss in job interviews and a realistic understanding of workplace dynamics.
Cultural diversity exposure: Studying alongside peers from various countries and completing international work placements develops the cultural intelligence essential for HR roles in multinational organizations.
Service-oriented mindset development: Programs rooted in hospitality and tourism management naturally cultivate the people-focused thinking that distinguishes effective HR practitioners.
American credentials with European context: Graduates receive degrees recognized internationally while benefiting from the lower costs and distinctive cultural experience of studying in Croatia.
For students evaluating educational options, these factors deserve careful consideration alongside traditional metrics like rankings and facilities. The alignment between educational approach and career objectives often proves more consequential than institutional prestige alone.
Moving Forward: Applying These Lessons
The transition from student to HR leader rarely follows a straight line. Nikolina Sertić’s journey from RIT Croatia’s Dubrovnik campus to Philip Morris International demonstrates that specialized education, combined with strategic choices and continuous learning, can produce remarkable career outcomes. Her story suggests that hospitality management graduates possess foundational skills highly valued in contemporary HR functions—and that these skills become even more powerful when paired with international experience and a commitment to professional growth.
For current and prospective students, the practical implications are clear. Seek programs that provide real-world experience, embrace opportunities that feel uncertain, view your degree as a foundation rather than a limitation, and invest deliberately in professional relationships. The path to HR leadership may not be linear, but as Nikolina’s career demonstrates, it can be both achievable and rewarding.
Have questions? Write to us! to learn more about how RIT Croatia’s programs can support your career objectives in hospitality, HR, or business leadership.
