Interning in San FranCISCO

PROVO, Utah – Dec 14, 2017 – Braeden Santiago learned about human resources at an early age when attending his mom’s HR meetings and trainings instead of going to daycare. HR bored him, however, and these experiences convinced him to never go into business; he opted for medicine instead.

Fast-forward to the present day—Santiago, now an HR senior from Kaneohe, Hawaii, has completed two HR internships at Cisco and accepted a full-time job offer with Cisco as an HR professional.

While Santiago did complete medicine and research internships at Temple University and University of Pennsylvania, he ultimately realized that HR was in his blood. Shadowing his mom at a young age eventually led him to where he was meant to be.

“The most interesting part about HR is that you get to interact with people, but you’re not a social worker,” Santiago says. “It’s more about making sure people are doing the best work that they can, are motivated, and have the right skills and tool sets.”

Santiago was overwhelmed the first time he walked into Cisco’s international headquarters in San Francisco. The technology company has approximately 70,000 employees worldwide.

“I always tell students that when you’re in a big company, strive to build your network as much as you can,” Santiago says. “I went against the grain and asked for one-on-one time with our Chief People Officer, the head of HR who reports to the CEO.”

After graduation in April, Santiago will return to San Francisco and start full-time in a rotation program at Cisco. He will experience three nine-month rotations in different HR areas, such as compensation, HR acquisition, and HR business partner.

In the meantime, Santiago is spending a lot of his time this year as president of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), which is not just for HR majors but also for psychology and sociology majors who want to go into business.

“There are fifteen society leaders, and we make sure we cater to the students,” Santiago says. “We hope our efforts are helping the HR program become stronger as its own major and equipping students with the skills they need to be successful HR professionals.”

While Santiago is currently helping students in SHRM, he also hopes to help students back home in the future. An end goal he has is to give back to young people in Hawaii by taking what he’s learned and going back to the island to share skills and help future professionals prepare for their careers.

“My mom always said, ‘Never shame your last name because it has a brand, and it has a meaning,’” Santiago says. “What you do in your career will build the brand of your name and affect how you impact others.”