Advocating for Himself

PROVO, Utah – Apr 24, 2020 – Most BYU Marriott graduates go through weeks of rigorous recruiting before landing a job, but Clark Anderson, a 2016 BYU Marriott human resources management (HRM) graduate, recruited himself into his current job as a virtual partner account manager at Cisco.

Even before recruiting himself into a career move at Cisco, Anderson had a pattern of reaching his goals. "I grew up in a small town in Idaho, and I worked hard to get to BYU,” says Anderson. “I received a scholarship, and I worked my tail off to graduate magna cum laude.” Anderson’s personal and professional journeys have both been characterized by this drive to succeed and by a desire to build meaningful relationships with people. The most meaningful relationships that he’s built have been with his wife, Amber, and his son, Nolan.

Because of his desire to build personal and professional relationships, Anderson was drawn to the BYU Marriott HRM program as a student. “I chose to major in HR because I wanted to work with people,” says Anderson. “I wanted to use my interpersonal skills in my career.”

Anderson’s time in the HRM program at BYU Marriott translated into a job at Cisco right after his graduation. "There's no way I could have landed my job at Cisco without BYU Marriott’s network,” Anderson says. “These types of opportunities are attributed to the school's brand as well as to its alumni.”

Anderson shares that Cisco recruits BYU Marriott graduates because other alumni have succeeded at the company and opened the door for people like him to find work. “When Cisco recruits for HR, they recruit from schools such as Cornell, Berkeley, Michigan State—and BYU Marriott,” says Clark. “BYU has also become one of the company’s core schools for HR.”

After Anderson was recruited by Cisco, he rotated through different HR positions in the company during his first few years. At one point, he was working as a recruiter and was assigned the task of filling a virtual partner account manager position.

As Anderson learned more about this position, he felt that he could be successful in that job. He had originally planned to build a career as a recruiter, but he saw that the virtual partner account manager position offered him an opportunity to build longer-lasting relationships with clients instead of short-term friendships with job candidates.

In order to get the job, and in a strange twist of events, Anderson presented himself as a candidate to the hiring manager. “I had to advocate for myself,” says Clark. “I was talking to this hiring manager helping find candidates, and then I said, ‘What do you think about me? I want this job.’ I built up a case about how I could help and what transferable skills I had.” Anderson was given the job, and he has enjoyed building relationships with Cisco partners as part of his work ever since.

Many of Anderson’s skills relate to his ability to create meaningful conversation and positive relationships. “I think oftentimes we take for granted the ability to listen. We take for granted the ability to empathize with people or the ability to follow up,” he says.

Those abilities have helped Anderson throughout his professional life. "You can have a career and get into a lot of different industries through your soft skills, and they bring incredible value,” says Anderson. “That's something I think is fascinating.”

“I'm able to help Cisco partners,” he continues. “They help me, and we become friends.” Anderson’s current position allows him to interact with coworkers and friends on a daily basis and use his interpersonal skills to achieve company goals.

Beyond opportunities to interact with others, Anderson, who now lives with his family in Highland, Utah, is also grateful that his career has given him the opportunity to evolve and change the type of work that he’s doing. “One of the great luxuries of having a business degree is the ability to transition between options,” he says. “I was in HR, and I'm now in sales. I’ve found that trying different elements of business has made me a more well-rounded person.”