While Nichole Rohrbaugh wanted to attend BYU as long as she could remember, she never imagined she would graduate with a degree in human resource management and find herself working for one of the world’s largest companies.
As a young girl growing up in Utah with five siblings, Rohrbaugh loved spending time with her family, and with a legacy of bleeding BYU blue, she’d always had the goal to attend the school. However, as she got older, she realized attending BYU would provide a lot more than just a chance to follow the family path. “I was impressed by the caliber of character I saw in Cougar grads. I knew BYU would be the most challenging option and that was attractive to me,” says Rohrbaugh. “I like to push myself by going after the more difficult options; they’re often more rewarding and keep life interesting.
When Rohrbaugh started her freshman year in 2012, she knew she wanted to have a career focused on helping others. She planned on pursuing a career in the medical field until she returned from serving a proselyting mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ukraine. “I loved serving,” says Rohrbaugh. “My eyes were opened to see the power of coaching, training, and developing others. I felt fulfilled by helping others recognize and reach their potential.”
Upon returning to BYU, Rohrbaugh began exploring what BYU Marriott offered. “The structure of business culture mixed with the creative potential to have a positive impact appealed to me,” she says. She attended an event hosted by the BYU Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and was instantly intrigued.
“People think I’m joking, but when the student leader began talking about being a strategic partner to business by implementing best practices throughout the talent life cycle, I got the chills,” says Rohrbaugh. “The chance to work with individuals and solve real business problems was exciting to me.” Rohrbaugh joined BYU’s SHRM chapter that night.
Attending that event lead Rohrbaugh to apply for the human resources management program at BYU Marriott. “Human resources was the perfect combination of my desire to help others and create real change in organizations,” she says.
After being accepted into the HRM program and getting more involved with the SHRM, Rohrbaugh had the opportunity to participate in case competitions and make lifelong friends. “Every student should find the club or society for their program and get involved,” she says. “You’ll find your tribe. Some of the friendships started in my very first case competition at BYU are my closest friends to this day.”
One of these close friends is 2018 BYU Marriott HR alum Braedon Santiago, who served with Rohrbaugh on the SHRM presidency. “I’ve always appreciated Nichole’s opinions and insights,” he says. “She lives the values that BYU teaches students. Her level of professionalism and service will make her an amazing business leader.”
Rohrbaugh worked with teams at BYU Marriott to take home awards at almost every case competition she participated in, including the SHRM national competition and the Purdue International Case Competition.
Since she graduated from BYU Marriott in 2018, Rohrbaugh has been working full-time in the human resources department at Amazon’s Indianapolis, Indiana, where she interned as a student. “When I joined Amazon, I jumped in with both feet,” she says. “I feel strongly about owning my career and not letting fear stop me from taking on new things.”
“I’m passionate about Amazon’s mission to be the earth’s most customer centric company,” says Rohrbaugh. This passion has driven her career forward, as she was recently promoted from a senior human resources assistant in Indianapolis to become an HR business partner for Amazon’s first Salt Lake City site, even though she’s only been with the company for a short time.
Rohrbaugh says she’s grateful to be moving back to Salt Lake City for her new position so she can be she can be closer to her family, Utah’s legendary ski slopes, and her true-blue Cougar roots.
_
Writer: Anne Wallace
