BA Economics, 2014

What work are you doing now?

I work for Venture Kamloops, the Economic Development arm for the City of Kamloops. I was born in Williams Lake, so Kamloops is right in the middle of everything in BC for me.

What other positions have you held since graduating?

I worked for community and economic development organizations in Prince George, North Vancouver, plus a little bit of remote research and contract work here and there.

How did your degree lead to these activities?

My degree has contributed to my career in many ways, but #1 is that I was able to complete a full Socio-Economic Report for the Prince George YMCA. It was part of a course on the Economy of Northern BC with Dr. Paul Bowles. It allowed me to take my degree for a “test drive” very early on in my education. Not enough Bachelor of Arts course work is hands-on and this project helped develop my passion for what I do today. It helped me prove my talent to potential employers with transferable skills and tangible experience.

In addition to the program requirements, I was an academic tutor through the UNBC First Nations Centre, part of the Economics Club executive, and a Statistics Lab Instructor as an undergrad. My degree allowed me to give back to others interested in economics, and other students in the UNBC community. It also forced me to take on more leadership qualities, step out of my comfort zone, and prove myself.

Lastly, having faculty with international links was huge. Honestly, I chose UNBC only because the instructors were from very diverse backgrounds, and came from places like Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Iran, the United Kingdom, and Eastern Canada. I owe so much to Dr. Jalil Safaei, Dr. Fiona MacPhail, Dr. Baotai Wang, Dr. Paul Bowles, and of course, Dr. Amarjit Bhullar. It wouldn’t be worth attending if not for what they do inside and outside the classroom for UNBC and students. With instructors like this, you’re in great hands at UNBC.

How do you use the knowledge acquired through the degree in your job/schooling?

Economics is I think, at its best, really about cause-and-effect relationships. It’s such a versatile discipline. Economics requires you to harness creativity and teamwork in every way, plus it’s a lot of fun too. The skills you develop studying Economics will lead you to identify problems big and small in the world and have a toolkit to solve a lot of them too.

Why would you recommend the Economics program at UNBC to potential students?

Most importantly, I would recommend the Economics program because if you are at UNBC you will have a pathway to employment in any city you want, not limited to just Prince George. Attending UNBC allowed me to move up to better opportunities outside of Prince George. I did not expect that to be the case when I graduated in 2014. So, I would really encourage all UNBC students to consider opportunities anywhere. The rest of the world needs more UNBC grads.

When I decided to study Economics at UNBC I always assumed that I would only be able to work in Prince George, because perhaps the university was perceived as a regional institution. To my surprise, the most success I’ve had in my career and interested employers have been in cities larger than 100,000 population. All students at UNBC need to have higher awareness that attending UNBC will allow them to pursue and compete for amazing jobs anywhere in Canada and the world. This is the best ROI a University degree can have. You won’t just take it with you wherever you go, a UNBC degree will take you where you want to go.