Paula Demicoli Dingli’s journey with ROCS began in 2008 when, aged just 17 and having just completed her diploma in banking and financial services, she went for an interview – along with everyone else on the university course.
“The course lecturer gave us a list of local companies, and the ROCS Group was at the top of that list, so everyone applied,” she recalls with a smile. “I grew up working for ROCS. Even in my first interview, I remember Ms Rachel Vella [ROCS Group Director] telling me that ‘here at ROCS, we advise our employees to always find your next you, and career progression will follow’. At the time I couldn’t understand what she meant – but now I do!”
Today the Group’s General Manager of the CEO Office, Demicoli Dingli started out at ROCS as an office clerk in the Group’s ever-growing investments division. “ROCS trained me in insurance so that I could join the investments team,” she explains. “In fact, it’s a standard part of the ROCS culture for team members to receive such training in whatever division you join, to make sure everyone at ROCS is equipped to give our customers the very best service.”
The ongoing training and support offered at ROCS was also a deciding factor in Demicoli Dingli accepting her new role in the CEO Office – and its myriad new responsibilities – as of October 2022. “The Board of Directors approached me with this opportunity in September,” she remembers. “I grew up in insurance and investments, so it took me a while to consider taking the new role. We agreed that I would still work temporarily with ROCS Invest until a full handover is complete, while taking this next step for my career into the CEO Office. My typical day went from overseeing 25 tied insurance intermediaries for Mapfre MSV Life with the support of the back-office team in ROCS Invest, to one that saw the organisation from a completely different viewpoint.”
While embracing this new opportunity to have a bird’s eye view of the company, Demicoli Dingli’s added responsibilities and hectic schedule now ensure that no two days ever look the same. Routinely carrying two smartphones, she leads various projects on behalf of the office of CEO Colin Aquilina, from organising the logistics of the countless trade fairs that ROCS attends, to planning the opening of new retail outlets, overseeing feasibility studies of new projects, leading teams working on new ventures, and much more.
However, none of these achievements would be possible without the commitment of everyone on the ROCS team, she affirms. “ROCS Group employs for attitude, which puts my mind at rest that everything is in order in all the various divisions. Everyone assumes that everyone is looking for career progression, so no one settles, no one rests on their laurels. That means that, taking a retail outlet as an example, we have the right people working there to create an experience for the customer. It’s not just about how the shop looks – although that’s important too – but it’s the people who make it a ROCS experience. This is a family business that doesn’t operate as one, but the family element is always there. There’s genuine care and trust across everyone in the Group, which is fundamental to the ROCS culture.”
In fact, the core values of trust, quality, loyalty, transparency and commitment have been the foundation upon which the ROCS Group has grown for more than 50 years. Established by the Vella family in 1972, ROCS quickly made a name for itself in hospitality thanks to its high service standards, epitomised by ROCS founder and chairman Charles Alexander Vella’s mantra: ‘a job worth doing is worth doing well’. This signature service style catalysed the ROCS Group’s expansion into other sectors through the coming decades, including travel, real estate, media, insurance, financial services, leisure, recruitment and retail. Today, the Group remains the island’s leading leisure travel company, the top passenger sales agent for Emirates Airlines and the leading tied insurance intermediary for Mapfre MSV Life, while growing its presence in Libya and the UAE.
Being part of the ROCS team, meanwhile, brings a legacy of its own. “ROCS is a household name,” she goes on. “When you mention you work at ROCS, people are always impressed as they already associate the name with quality and excellence. We give our all to uphold that brand reputation that ROCS has curated over 50 years. You are an ambassador for the brand: I treat the ROCS Group as if it were my own company. But working with ROCS is not like working anywhere else. There is time for everything – work and play. In fact, we often say that we work hard and we play even harder, with ROCS employees regularly rewarded with events and trips abroad to the most exotic destinations in recognition of our hard work.”
And with opportunities available across the Group’s many divisions for candidates ready to begin a rewarding career, ambition is key to the ROCS way of life, Demicoli Dingli concludes: “At ROCS, we never say never, and for us the word ‘impossible’ has long been forgotten. Everything we do, we go big. When we expanded our business into Dubai, we didn’t just go to Dubai, we went to Dubai Mall – the most visited place on Earth – and the ROCS venture took the eeetwell brand to be the first Maltese brand at Dubai Mall. When we do something, we do it right and we do it well. That’s how we do it at ROCS.”
For more information about the career opportunities available at the ROCS Group, visit www.rocsgrp.com/careers.