Have a Little Faith

For Chip Turrisi, working for Royal Caribbean came in the form of a blessing – he stumbled upon it at his church, Vous. He kept running into his future boss, Jennifer Lestin, until one day she mentioned there was an opening on her team.

“Well, can I interview for it?” was all he had to say to get his new position as the Human Resources Campus Recruiter.

A local from the suburbs of Chicago, he came to Miami almost three years ago for another recruiting position. Now, he has been at Royal for a year and a half – and his impact has already been felt in such a short amount of time.

Today, he manages the recruitment efforts for the Internship Program that brings about 90 new students and recent graduates to our campus. When he first started in 2016, there were only about 40 applicants. This year over 30,000 applicants and narrowed it down to 90 summer interns. Because of Chip and his team, Royal Caribbean’s summer internship program is the #2 most searched job on LinkedIn.

For someone who has made such an impact during his time on the recruiting team here, Chip almost didn’t get into the field.

“I almost went to the military after college,” he said. “I just thought if I didn’t go, what am I going to do?”

One day, the president of his collegiate fraternity said a local Chicago company needed someone to help recruit. Without even knowing what it was, he applied and it started him on the career track that he’s on today. Chip’s ability to learn about the people around him and work well with them has helped him succeed: he was a recent recipient of the Circle of Excellence.

“I came to this job not knowing what to expect and I’m blessed to even be here,” he said.

His motivation stems from his faith and his love of people. This simple philosophy is what drives him to do his job – and do it well. So much so that during the busiest months of the year for HR, February and March, he continued recruiting despite unknowingly having a parasite. He felt migraines and exhaustion but didn’t realize what it was.

Hopefully without parasites, Chip wants to continue growing professionally and increasing the successes of the internship program. But for now, he’s enjoying his familiarization cruise to Greece and Italy with his wife.

Article found on internal employee website.