The arrival of Curitiba-born Jenifer Fortunato at Helisul Aviação, in August 2010, was a surprise in her life. As she herself reports, the professional “fell from a parachute” into the company’s personnel department, after being mistakenly approved in a selection process at a recruitment agency in the capital. She got up, stayed and today holds the position of coordinator of personnel administration at the company.
“I forwarded my resume to a recruitment and selection company. I did the whole process, the test. Suddenly, the recruiter said: ‘You did very well on your test, I’ll send you to the interview at the company, okay? And he started talking about an air taxi company in Bacacheri. I said, ‘No, girl! I entered the selection process to work at a company in the health sector”, reveals Jenifer.
Going through the selection process happened at a time when she wanted new career paths. Her first experience was an internship at the Pinhais city hall, then she worked at an industry in São José dos Pinhais and then at a supermarket chain and at a surveillance company in Curitiba.
Afterwards, she came to Helisul, a pleasant surprise. “I didn’t know it was an air taxi company. She had never heard anything about the aviation field. For me, aviation was Gol, Tam, these companies. But as I was looking for an opportunity, I agreed to do the interview. I thought: ‘It will work out and the vacancy is better. And, really, the salary and the opportunity were better”.
11 years ago, Jenifer was hired for personnel administration as an Analyst Jr. and, since 2016, she is the coordinator of the sector. The 34-year-old professional learned the minutiae of her chosen career on the ground and with a lot of independent study. By training, she is a technologist in Financial Management and has an MBA in Business Management.
The HR area, however, which she already knew even before entering college, was the one that won her heart. “For life’s training, I like to work with human resources, I have been working with HR since I was 17.” Jenifer says that she started in the training and payroll area when she was an apprentice and that she always enjoyed contact with people.
“I have always enjoyed working with people and learning. In college, I confess that I didn’t identify with it very much.”
Teamwork
All the baggage acquired helped, over the last 11 years, Jenifer to be one of those responsible for structuring the personnel sector within Helisul, along with her manager at the time, even though she had no affinity with the particularities of a company’s universe of aviation.
“I got to know the place and fell in love with it, because the aviation environment is fascinating. Saw plane, helicopter. You fall in love right away. Then I did the interview with manager Edgar Nunes. And I started working with him in HR. When I started at Helisul, he was alone, there was no one to really help with the effective skills of the company’s personnel department”, she recalls.
Gradually, as Jenifer remembers, both improved the department, until today, a process that fills her with pride. “A good part of the personnel department that we have designed today, and which works very well, was implemented by us in the company.”
Jenifer coordinates five people in the sector, who are responsible for the payroll of the 448 employees of Helisul, in addition to the employees of Helisul Experience and Volare Táxi Aéreo.
“College for life”
Today, Jenifer sees Helisul as a great professional school. “It was a universe that I knew absolutely nothing about and I never imagined myself working. But I met and learned a lot. For me, Helisul was a college, as if I had studied at Harvard. Helisul is a college for life”, he considers.
Challenges in the helicopter operator are daily and success depends on a lot of knowledge and study, in the opinion of the professional. “The legislation is unique, it is not common. Labor legislation needs to go hand in hand with aviation legislation, so you always need to study, understand and always be up to date.”
And she adds: “We are the heart of the company. Our work is very consistent, technical, detailed. Complex, actually. We cannot miss R$ 1 in the employee’s salary”.
Marriage and children
Jenifer lives in the Cajuru neighborhood, is the “mother” of the nine-year-old Yorkshire dog Toddy, and is engaged to accountant Everton, whom she intends to marry in 2022 and start a family. “Still do not have children. Next year, who knows.”
When she is not coordinating the personnel team at Helisul, or studying autonomously at night, Jenifer is in bodybuilding classes, which are practically daily. On the weekends, she likes to gather the gang at home for a nice barbecue. She herself guarantees and certifies the quality.
“My hobby is cooking. I’m homemade, canceriana born. I play at home that I’m the house grill. I’m the one doing the barbecue. I make a fire, I choose the meat, I buy the meat, I roast the meat. I like everyone gathered at home”, says Jenifer.
She also loves a beach and goes to the coast at least twice a month. “Rain or shine.”
