Brian Samson (00:00.818)
Okay, so you’ve been everywhere but Brazil. What are some of your favorite countries in Latin?
Ruben Santana (00:08.684)
Yeah, I spent the most time in Columbia. I spent a lot of time in Columbia, probably over about three years. I was probably there at least six months or more. Just being there for a month at a time, working with some of the folks that were there. Again, it was all technology based. I had a team that was working for me that all we did was travel around the world. And obviously that was my area of expertise. And so where I spent most of my time.
Brian Samson (00:37.241)
in Bogota.
Ruben Santana (00:38.798)
in Bogota and Colombia, also in Medellin and a couple of other places that we would have some regional meetings at. So very cool, very nice time spent there. Buenos Aires has been there probably two or three times in Buenos Aires. And again, all the different countries, those two were probably the ones I went to the most.
Brian Samson (00:58.738)
Give us a visual of Bogota and Medellin. What do you remember? Buildings, architecture, culture, people, food?
Ruben Santana (01:09.574)
So this goes back a number of years and Bogota back then was not a great place to go. Actually, I was the one of the few people that were allowed to go from the company I was working with just because of issues. I had to do a State Department interview and all of that and had all these warnings that they gave me. And everywhere we went, we had guards surrounding us that would take us in these limousines to different offices. It was a really extremely difficult.
different time than it is today in some of those countries. But yeah, it was interesting. mean, walking down the streets was fine. The food was amazing. The people were absolutely so much fun. Colombia, especially with, it just felt like there was always a party going on. There was always music in the background, whether you were at the grocery store or whether you were at a hardware store, it didn’t matter. It was just always very fun. And the people seemed, you know, they were very pleasant and very happy most of the time.
Brian Samson (02:07.58)
Yeah. Coming from a Puerto Rican family, how did you, you what did you think about Colombian culture and similarities and differences?
Ruben Santana (02:17.964)
Yeah, very similar, certainly in terms of music for sure. Very, very similar. Food wise, some differences, but not terribly different. But yeah, Puerto Rico is just another place that has a lot more American type culture instilled, where Colombia is very much more Latin culture for sure.
Brian Samson (02:41.434)
Yeah, yeah. And then you mentioned Buenos Aires. What was your first impression there?
Ruben Santana (02:46.274)
Yeah, I had a great buddy there that really loved, his name was, he might even hear this, his name was Dario Grossman. He was a person that his family had, I think immigrated from Germany. Wonderful person that took care of me really, really well while I was there. The food was amazing. The biggest thing that was something that was so different.
was the time of day that they were eating dinner, right? Sitting around eating dinner at 10.30, 11 o’clock at night, and then going to bed at an hour later was really something to get used to. But it was something that was enjoyable. Again, beautiful place, country, people, all of that.
Brian Samson (03:31.698)
Tell us more about the nature of the business that you were doing in Colombia and Argentina.
Ruben Santana (03:38.105)
So back then I was working in technology for the Coca-Cola company actually, and I had a team that all we did was support some of the regional and bottlers, some of the offices there. And so we were constantly going, helping them, solving some issues, mostly like, almost like project managers for some of the technology that Coke was releasing internally.
So was proprietary things, not necessarily things that we were getting out from the outside. But it was very interesting. It was a really, really great time to be working there. certainly running around Latin America as we were was a lot of fun and it was all first class. It was always great. But we also had to be very careful. We had to be very careful at all times. And we were taught what to do, what to say in case of trouble or anything like that.
never really had any trouble at all.
Brian Samson (04:37.042)
Can you give us some context on like team sizes and types of people that you were managing?
Ruben Santana (04:45.006)
Well, my team was about 10, 12 people that were about 12, I think, at the most. And all of us had different parts of the world that we were assigned to go work with and go support the offices in those areas. And then we worked within the regional offices that had their own IT teams. So they had a CIO, if you will, or a technology person along with the support staff.
and we would support them and meet with them and make sure their issues would be addressed, their concerns. And that’s what we did in every office that we went to. I was managing running that team, so I never really got my hands dirty. was really, I was the guy that just went around to make sure that everybody was doing what they needed to do to make the end client happen.
Brian Samson (05:33.926)
Yeah, I think that’s something I want to dive into a little bit more is that you could maybe give goals and objectives and problems to your team and they would solve it.
Ruben Santana (05:49.507)
Yeah, absolutely. They were going and we would sit in my office back in Atlanta. We would decide who was going. And remember, this is before you could just pick up a phone and call somebody, right? So this was an email, okay, we’ll see you next month. We’re gonna come down and visit you. And that was all besides email that you would talk through. I remember my first trip to Mexico, the,
Brian Samson (06:00.253)
Right.
Ruben Santana (06:16.814)
kind of CIO came to me and said, Ruben, they’re having a problem with the modem in Mexico City and it’s gonna take weeks before they get it. We can’t wait weeks. I need for you to get on a plane tomorrow or this week and go. And sure enough, I did. I went and went to Mexico City, brought them a modem that we had from Atlanta so that they can continue with some of the work that they were doing there. Met with them, met with the department, the IT department there.
was wonderful, great experiences. All of these are just great experiences working in Latin America with the people there.
Brian Samson (06:51.578)
Yeah, was Matrix, was that the first staffing type of world you were doing with Latin America?
Ruben Santana (07:00.556)
Yeah, was. That’s right. It was. That was the first time that a staffing company had asked me to consider being, at the time it was really considered being in Mexico. And it was a way of looking for alternatives to our recruiting engine that we had here in the States, lower cost model, if you will. we didn’t know where we were going to go.
We wound up in Monterrey, Mexico, which I spent two and a half years there building a team. We had about 25 people in Monterrey, Mexico, and it was great. It was a great experience, again, very, very enlightening in terms of the people, the food, just living there was really very, very interesting.
Brian Samson (07:49.03)
Yeah. Matrix, if I remember, they were already using India for RPO or sourcing.
Ruben Santana (07:57.047)
Yeah, we were doing some work in India and I think really the decision came down to, we don’t, well, it’s actually the decision that many clients today are making. Hey, know, that travel time going to India is really, really rough. And so let’s do something more near shore related that we can just jump on a phone and talk to you and you can come back home, you know.
every three weeks or two weeks, whenever it is. And it was an easy way of just doing business. And that was really the main thrust of it, is being able to do that. And there were other little areas where really being close to home made a big difference.
Brian Samson (08:40.135)
Yeah. Can you talk about maybe day zero in Monterey and like that first couple of months, what were your main objectives? What were you trying to do out there?
Ruben Santana (08:52.569)
Well, we established a partner who today is one of my best friends in Monterey, but we established a partner there in Monterey that helped me to recruit the people that we needed for it. And so I spent a lot of my time my first month in a hotel, just interviewing folks, interviewing recruiters. I don’t know how many I interviewed a lot. And, you know, picking a team that we felt would be good for the kind of work that we were going to be doing. was again, all technology recruiting. And yeah, it was at first a little bit
awkward getting around the city, but this person I’m speaking about, the partner that we were using, was so great. I mean, he made sure that I was okay getting across the street to go get something to eat or had food in my hotel room or I was always busy doing something. you know, after a while, it just became almost home. And, you know, I rented a car and I was getting around the city myself. I finally had some recommendations on where to live and found an apartment.
And just just got got around the city and it was it was just like going shopping on my own and yes I never had any issues though never had any issues in Monterey, Mexico It was a great place and then the place that I you know call almost my second home
Brian Samson (10:07.121)
Yeah. When you have friends who visit Monterey for the first time, are, what are things that you recommend they do?
Ruben Santana (10:17.391)
Well, definitely the food. The food is a biggest part of it. In Monterrey, people love eating meat. And so it’s a really big culture around meat. Carne asada is what they call it every Sunday with your family. If you can get mixed in with a family and really get a feel for what the family is. Because it’s a very close-knit family is what you see. People being together on the weekends, doing things together, eating together.
drinking beer together, all those things are really important and part of the life there. You hardworking individuals. But I think that was the biggest thing about Monterrey was just the food, the tacos are just incredible. And you know, there’s debates all over Mexico about where are the best tacos. And those of us that live in Monterrey felt like we had the better ones. And then of course, the other thing is soccer.
Brian Samson (11:06.887)
Thank
Ruben Santana (11:15.535)
A lot of life revolves around the two teams that are in Monterey, which are two elite teams that people cheered for and had a lot of camaraderie around as well.
Brian Samson (11:28.017)
Yeah, yeah. And you’re a baseball fan and there’s baseball there for people that don’t.
Ruben Santana (11:33.005)
Amazing, yeah, great. I can tell you it’s a very different experience going to a baseball game in Mexico than going to see our local team here in the US. A lot more fun. It’s music all the time, except when the only time there’s no music is when the pitch is being thrown. Other than that, there’s always music. And a lot of cheering from the fans. So it’s a different experience, but a fun
Brian Samson (11:58.504)
Yeah, that’s great. And then just a couple more here. Tell us more about the structure of the team that you had in Monterey. Did you have managers and how was work kind of thought through?
Ruben Santana (12:12.899)
Yeah, I had a couple of team leads. had an admin that also worked along with me. You we built out the space ourselves. I I spent every day working with a person that, you know, with colors, with cubicles, with computers, and we spent a long time trying to get that all outfitted. And it turned out beautiful. was amazing, amazing place. And then was just real people that had experience recruiting technology.
is what we were looking for. So that’s how the team was built. We were working with a number of different clients. And so we had some people focused on one client versus another client. So we did a lot of that as well. But it was a great, great, great experience for sure.
Brian Samson (13:00.605)
What can you tell us about your experience there that has made you so focused on that as your career now, as an ambassador for Latin America?
Ruben Santana (13:11.971)
Yeah, I think it’s really understanding the culture, understanding that there’s such a commitment to working and working, doing a good job and the work that you’re doing. Really, it’s been great. At Plug, it’s what we do. It’s helping people in Latin America find opportunities with US-based clients and all these things enhance their career, their careers, their ability to make money.
differently than just being local and getting paid perhaps in the local currency. So we’ve seen, we’ve helped a number of folks find great opportunities and they’ve done really, really well. And again, it’s the culture, it’s the people you’re dealing with. And we hear it from clients all the time. They’re just amazed at the kindness, the commitment to work, the commitment to being on time to work.
You know, just the complaining isn’t there that you might hear here in the US and it’s just a whole different different way and it’s really a it’s really a pleasure. It really is
Brian Samson (14:19.891)
And I guess last question, if you have any at the top of your head, like any anecdotes or stories that you want to share that might kind of illustrate your passion for this area.
Ruben Santana (14:33.615)
I mean.
Brian Samson (14:33.936)
And maybe not like plug today, like your time living there, I should say.
Ruben Santana (14:39.855)
Yeah, I think a lot of it stemmed from my childhood. I grew up in a home with two Puerto Rican parents. We spoke Spanish in the house. That was the culture I was raised around. And when I started to work in Latin America, I really understood better what the culture was like. And not much different than it is in Puerto Rico. But the people were just…
They were wonderful. They were so kind, so compassionate. It was just a great place to be. so it always, it always, there was always a burning desire, if you will, in me to want to get back, to want to be able to work there, to want to even be able to live there. So, so it’s always been a part of something that I’ve enjoyed. And, and today I’m enjoying it, you know, even more.
Brian Samson (15:35.38)
Awesome, cool. Great, okay, so I think that’s a wrap for this part, Tati. We can maybe.
