Consistently performing above expectations is often a recipe for success. For Chandler Bush, rising above what is expected seems to be instinctive. This natural ability has resulted in accomplishments throughout his career, including earning his current job as a design strategist at Adobe. The BYU Marriott School of Business 2016 human resource management (HRM) graduate credits BYU Marriott for helping him achieve success in his young career.
Bush spent his first two years at BYU trying to determine what to study, before an invite to join the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) led him to pursue a degree in human resources. He felt drawn to the world of human resources because he wanted to continue teaching and helping people after completing a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Cusco, Peru.
On his mission, he had several opportunities to help those in need, including when he provided interpretation services for visiting surgeons who were providing medical care for Peruvian children as part of Smile Network International, a U.S. based nonprofit. Seeing the impact that helping people can have inspired Bush to pursue a career that allowed him to continue serving others.
Being a member of SHRM also helped Bush see human resources as an exciting way to collaborate with others. As vice president of talent acquisition for the group, Bush was eager to help BYU students outside of the HRM program understand the exciting side of human resources. His personal zeal, as well as enthusiasm from his fellow officers, helped fuel club recruitment efforts that saw the BYU SHRM chapter grow from sixteen to 194 paying members in eight months.
To further reinforce the idea that human resources is fun, the chapter held a well-meaning activity where chapter members humorously threw darts at Toby Flenderson, the much-detested human resource representative from the TV show The Office as a symbol of tearing down boring human resources environments. “The world views human resources as Toby from The Office, where it’s boring and dull, and he’s totally the ‘bad’ guy. As officers for SHRM, we wanted to show students that that dull portrayal is not what HR is like. Human resources can be rewarding and fun,” Bush says.
While still pursuing his degree, Bush brought his enthusiasm for HR to the workplace when he completed a summer internship with Southwest Airlines before his senior year. At Southwest, Bush initially began as part of the team that oversaw the culture and skills training for every employee in the company. After standing out in that position, he was tasked with creating and leading the implementation of a new set of companywide trainings focused on leadership, diversity, and other technical skills.
Bush says the skills he learned at BYU Marriott prepared him for such an elevated role. “The leadership experience that I gained from my time at BYU Marriott and being a member of SHRM prepared me to feel comfortable being in front of people communicating, and I think the team that hired me was surprised,” says Bush. “My supervisors said, ‘You’ve been helping develop these trainings and we’ve never done this before, but we don’t see why you couldn’t just train employees yourself.’” The new trainings were so successful that Bush was asked to record and publish them to Southwest’s employee database so future employees could learn from him even after his time with the airline was over.
After graduating from BYU Marriott, Bush continued his success as a graduate student and eventually back in the workplace. While earning an MBA at the University of Utah, he was a part of a first-place team that participated in the Adobe Analytics Challenge, a competition where teams of students were tasked with improving the online experience for T-Mobile customers. The first-place finish meant he and other members of his team earned interviews with Adobe for internships. Bush landed the internship and did so well in his temporary role that he was eventually offered a full-time position to be a design strategist.
Bush says having a strong vision was imperative to his success in going above expectations, a characteristic that BYU Marriott instilled in him. “The vision of BYU Marriott and its community of smart and talented people is set high and elevated my own vision,” he says. “Working with my professors and fellow students was inspiring and helped me know you can reach higher and do anything you want. Staying in touch with my cohort has pushed me and elevated me to get to where I am today.”
Even in the midst of all of his success, Bush remains grounded and focused on what drew him to human resources in the first place, which is helping people. To further reach his vision, he hopes to start a nonprofit in the future to empower small businesses in third world countries. “Helping others is an eye-opening experience, which has led me to want to focus on altruistic initiatives throughout my life,” Bush says.
Writer: Mike Miller
