4th year Economics major
Most recent co-op job: Digital Media & Marketing Intern – Beatnik
Making your job fit your passion
Farhan Hussain
Fourth-year economics student Farhan Hussain is passionate about storytelling, in all its forms. As a new co-op student, he wondered how that interest might manifest itself in the economics-related jobs he was applying for.
“When I first got my position, I was hoping for a dynamic work experience that would enable me to try different things,” said Farhan of his first co-op job.
This turned out to be exactly the case.
For the position Farhan had taken a chance on relocating to a remote area, moving to a small town in Northern British Columbia to work as an economic development assistant for the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako. Working in a small regional government turned out to his favour, allowing him to act as somewhat of a jack-of-all-trades and shape his own work experience.
When opportunities to work with digital media presented themselves—such as the creation of a tourism video for the region—Farhan’s supervisor was happy to pass them along, knowing that he was passionate about using media to tell stories.
“Taking on initiatives that are beyond your role and going the extra mile is something I would recommend to all students,” he said. “You are going to have tasks that you have to do every day, but if there is something that you are really passionate about—don’t feel shy to pitch an idea about it.”
While it is important to shape your co-op job to your interests, Farhan stresses that there is also something to be learned from experiences that do not click.
“Co-op gives you a lot of options to find out what you are good at and what you like, but also—very importantly—find out what you don’t enjoy and what you are not interested in,” said Farhan.
After the job in Bulkley-Nechako, Farhan went on to hold positions as a digital media assistant for the UBC International Student Initiative, and as a digital media and marketing intern at Beatnik. Throughout his years at UBC the co-op program has been an underlying thread, uniting academic studies and workplace experience.
“I’ve been in university almost five years,” said Farhan, “and if I had to pick one thing that was the most fun and the most quintessential factor of my own personal and professional development, it was the co-op program.”
Visit Farhan’s website for examples of his film and photography work.
