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- Year Of Graduation: 2021
- College/University: Dayananda Sagar / Conestoga College
- Major: Business Administration, Marketing
What do you do for a living? Can you share what a typical day at work looks like? Do you enjoy what you do?
I just quit my job. I was working as a delivery associate with Amazon, but I felt like it was just the same loop over and over, and I was just paying my bills and wasn’t really going anywhere with my career.
I’m starting a role with a fintech company next month, though. I just finished interviews with them for a sales administrative role. It’s mostly educating customers on the products and services and then pitching them the right financial products based on their needs. Since I intend to start a business of my own in the future, sales is an integral skill to have. If you want to be a successful business owner or you want to start something of your own, you have to have that salesperson within yourself.
Can you tell me about your experience finding a job after graduation? Are you happy with where your journey has led you so far?
Honestly, I was really confused. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know if I should just hop back into a master’s program or try to apply for jobs. Luckily enough, fast forward a couple of months, we had some companies come in for interviews and I just decided to randomly sit for one. I looked at the salary numbers, and I was like, “Okay, this looks good. Let me take a shot.” I was able to get the job and I joined them for around six to seven months. It was basically an inside sales job. So you would just sit down and you would talk to students. It was basically a mentoring thing because what you essentially were doing was selling courses to the students.
I honestly loved the job. I was able to talk to people and give them an assessment of what they wanted to do and kind of bridge the gap between where they are and where they want to be in the future. That’s something I really enjoyed. Fast forward, I moved to Canada 7 months after doing my job there, and decided to higher education.
Why did you choose your undergrad major? Do you feel your time spent in college was valuable? Why or why not?
I come from a very small town in Kashmir, and people just aren’t as aware of the things that you can do in life. I’m lucky to be in Canada right now where there’s ample things you can do. I first wanted to start with engineering, not necessarily civil engineering, but I ended up taking civil as the safer career pathway. After my first year, I realized this wasn’t something I wanted to continue doing. There were a lot of different technical things to focus on, and I’m more of a person who would like to talk to people and form relationships. Engineering in general is just the complete opposite of that.
There’ve been a couple of people who have been good mentors for me, and I’ve always talked to them when I’ve kind of hit a rock bottom. They basically asked me if I’d ever given business administration any thought, because it involves talking to people and building relationships. So I literally sat down and searched for hours on the internet, like compiling all my qualities and personality traits. We didn’t have ChatGPT back then to do it for us. I spent a while thinking what felt right for me, and what was something I would actually love to do. I think business really just stood out to me.
I also intend to start a travel company in Kashmir in the future, because it’s just so beautiful. It’s been called paradise on earth by many poets. I want to give people a truly authentic Kashmiri experience. I want to share it with everyone else. I think being well versed in business really aligns with this goal of mine.
What does purpose mean to you? Do you think you’re living a purpose-driven life?
If you have something you love, that you’re passionate about, for me that’s purpose. I love to travel. I love the fact that I’m from Kashmir, such a beautiful place. I feel like I should be able to invite people to come and share in that beauty. That would give me a lot of purpose.
What’s your biggest struggle right now? What led to it, and how are you moving forward?
Being away from family is always hard and it’s been like a couple of years and counting since I’ve been home. It’s been difficult, but I guess at the end of the day, this is something I chose for myself. I think what keeps me going is knowing I’m pushing myself, you know, I’m outside of my comfort zone. I’m trying new things and exploring new opportunities.
What do you want to spend more time working on, either personally or professionally? What’s stopping you?
I’d really like to work on the business idea of mine. I’m trying to get a domain. I’m searching for different names and what would be the ideal fit for the mission and vision of the company. I’m starting this from scratch, like from zero, because my family all comes from the service sector and no one has in-depth business knowledge or know-how of the processes. And on top of that, I’m in a new country. That presents a different layer of challenges too, and rules and things. There’s a lot to learn on top of balancing it with my everyday life.
How do you define being a successful person?
Success to me is just being able to do what you love, you know. For me, that’s starting my business and sharing my culture with the world. I want to be comfortable, of course, too. I hope to be able to connect with people through this venture and showcase what I truly love and enjoy. I think success is different for everyone though. Money could be important for some, but others might care more about family or passion. It’s a personal choice.
If we traveled three years into the future of your life, what do you want to achieve? What would you hope has changed?
I would say three years down the line I would want to be able to have my business operation up and running. I’d like to have the travel packages set up, and tour groups coordinated. Hopefully I would have customers by that point as well.
What’s the biggest lesson or piece of advice you wish you’d known earlier?
Be persistent in your efforts. I know it can be disappointing sometimes, and I know it can take a long time for any payoff. That makes people think negatively and feel less optimistic, but difficult times never last. They just help you reform into a stronger individual.
Connect With Muiz:
- LinkedIn: @MoZagar
- Instagram: @Muiz_Zagar
- Instagram: @Muizonthemove
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