Making the Most of Every Opportunity
By Shauna Cruz
DoM human resources manager Shauna Cruz is an invaluable resource to staff and faculty on HR policies, procedures and practice.
Exactly six years ago, as an entry-level human resources administrator in the Department of Medicine, I remember reading a staff job description that stated, “This position will design a CRISPR-Cas9 strategy to mutate the p53 locus in the human genome.” I laughed – a nervous reaction I’ve had all my life, when I feel I am in over my head or am put in an uncomfortable or unknown situation. Granted, I wasn’t applying to this job, but as an HR “professional,” it was my responsibility to classify and compensate that role correctly. This was something that I hadn’t done before. My manager put me into a stretch assignment having the utmost confidence I could take the next steps in my HR career journey, meanwhile my own confidence was wavering as I attempted to read through the job information form (JIF). It took me a good amount of time to review it, because all the while I was jotting down questions for the PI who submitted the JIF: I was googling “what does ‘ligation recombination’ and ‘in situ hybridization’ mean.” With the guidance of a senior HR manager, I was able to get past the science and hone in on what I needed to do to successfully classify the job. From that moment on, I decided that I was going to make every effort to say “yes” to each task that was set before me, shutting down imaginary feelings of incompetence.
That career experience took me back to my sophomore year of college here at Stanford. It was the first and last time I took a genetics class with the hopes of being pre-med. It was that same feeling of being in over my head in that first lecture, wondering if I belonged at this prestigious institution where there were very few other students who shared my background or who looked like me. Back in the mid-90’s, the percentage of Native American students within the student population was less than 2%, and I’m sure fewer than that were first-generation college attendees. It was another time that I had to push back those thoughts that told me “you don’t belong here” to remember that I had parents – a father who immigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines when he was 10 years old and worked the graveyard shift at a naval shipyard for over 20 years – and a mother, who lived on an Indian Reservation in New Mexico until the age of 18 when she left in search of her own career opportunities outside of the only world she knew – who were models of resolve that guided me. Despite the ups and downs of college life, I did graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Stanford University.
I have always appreciated that Stanford offered meaningful possibilities to me both as a student and now as an employee. In turn, with my role in the Department of Medicine, I also get to encourage my colleagues to look out for those chances to take the next steps in their own careers. It doesn’t necessarily mean a promotion, and when I reflect on where I was six years ago, it would not have done me (nor the department) any good to place me in a role that I was not yet fit to occupy. However, seizing developmental opportunities like stretch assignments was paramount to ultimately getting me to where I wanted to be today in my professional career.
Developmental opportunities can look like a lot of different things, and not just those directly related to your profession. For example, you may have received an e-mail or Slack message from your HR Administrator encouraging you to use your STAP funds before the fiscal year ends. Perhaps you are a new manager and you need training on Exercising Influence – it would be remiss of me not to encourage you to use this free money and enroll in the next session. Maybe you are just beginning your career and want professional guidance on how to best utilize your skillset and interests: Stanford offers personalized career development assistance that is reimbursable via STAP funds.
Another opportunity came to our employees when the Department of Medicine hosted its first Inclusion Week in 2020. I was excited about how our faculty and staff embraced diversity as vital to the fabric of our community and how the event became a catalyst for our employees to create and participate in numerous other DEI events going forward. Inclusion Week made way for an active DEI Slack channel (#dom-staff-inclusion), which is a medium for celebrating the diversity of our employees and growing awareness by sharing resources, stories, and events.
In my first year of co-leading the DOM Leadership Development Program for Non-Academic Staff with Audrey Austrie-Holmes (Residency & Educational Programs) in 2020, we added Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) as an essential knowledge area of leadership to the program curriculum, and have invited many guest speakers from the University, School and Department in the realm of DEI to speak on their career journeys. It has truly been a pleasure to guide our aspiring leaders in our department and help them navigate their own career journeys in medicine. As I reflect on this incredible summer of welcoming a record number of staff and faculty into our Department, I am excited again about my role in human resources because it pushes me to continue to learn and understand the needs of our managers, our faculty, and our staff. It would be ineffectual on my part to be in the business of People without wanting to see our employees succeed and make the most of every opportunity available to them.
DoM Leadership Development Program for Non-Academic Staff Leaders (from left to right): Karina Delgado-Carrasco, Audrey Audrey Austrie-Holmes, Shauna Cruz, and Cecile Bonini.
"Growing up in a family of 7, it was unusual for anyone in our family to singularly take the spotlight, but we learned that the spotlight is shared with those who have carried the work and responsibilities with you."
- - Shauna Cruz
Lastly, it’s been an honor to share my perspective for Women in Medicine Month 2023. Growing up in a family of 7, it was unusual for anyone in our family to singularly take the spotlight, but we learned that the spotlight is shared with those who have carried the work and responsibilities with you. I bring the same values into my professional life and won’t miss this opportunity to highlight the work of everyone on the DOM Human Resources team. This is the group that may not always be in the spotlight, but can be counted on to serve our over 1800 faculty and staff with diligence and thoughtfulness day in and day out. Today, I shine the spotlight on my colleagues: Cecile Bonini, Malynda Dorsey, Lorena Uribe, Alayet Tesfaye, Noah Hiken, Sherry Estrada, Terri Calloway, Marissa Salgado, Jaewan Son, Alexis Salas, Kevin Tran, Deitria Chapman, Bonnie Lam, Anna Callan and Juli Carey.
Coming Up
- Amity Eliaz, MD, is a second-year resident and rising star in our Stanford Medicine Residency Program.
