“You learn from every single part of life.”

— Nick Farnell

When Nick Farnell looks back on his career, there isn’t one perfect plan that explains how he became a professor, program coordinator and educator.

Instead, there were conversations over coffee, unexpected career pivots, internships that didn’t go according to plan and a willingness to say yes to opportunities that weren’t always obvious.

“Sometimes those unexpected conversations take you in places that you never would have thought, and those can be incredibly valuable,” says Farnell.

Today, Nick is the Program Coordinator for Business Analytics at Niagara College and continues to teach Digital Communication at the University of Guelph-Humber.

But long before standing at the front of a classroom, he was sitting in one at Humber trying to figure out where he fit in.

Finding his place through student leadership

Nick’s leadership journey began while studying industrial design at Humber College. Wanting to make a difference beyond the classroom, he became involved with the Humber Students’ Federation, eventually serving as a Student President.

Rather than seeing the opportunity as something that looks good on a résumé, he viewed this as an opportunity to learn how organizations worked from the inside. The experiences he was immersed in that involved budgeting, advocacy, governance and decision-making helped him immensely and are still skills he uses every day.

Looking back, he says student leadership gave him something even more valuable than experience: confidence.

“It sounds cheesy, but like the entire experience was so meaningful for me,” he reflects. “Being in conversations with other people, learning from them, them asking me real questions. I don’t think I could pin it down to one specific scenario.”

His experience with HSF would become the foundation for everything that followed.

A career on curiosity

After graduation, Nick stayed connected to Humber in a multitude of ways — working in digital communications, becoming a community manager for HSF, serving as an operations manager at Humber, and eventually teaching at the University of Guelph-Humber. Each role offered a different perspective on supporting students.

Looking at Nick’s résumé today, it might appear carefully planned. But he says the reality looked very different.

“I did a lot more on the digital communication side. I’ve shifted a lot more to the data analysis side,”  he explained, noting that many of those transitions came from simply following what interested him. 

For him, curiosity is a career strategy.

The internship that changed everything

One of the defining moments of Nick’s professional journey happened before he had even graduated.

As part of his program, he accepted an internship in Vancouver, moving across the country to work for a small company despite knowing almost no one there.

Just three weeks later, the company went bankrupt.

“So here I am, [on the] complete opposite side of the country, no money, not getting paid, and had to complete an internship. And I didn’t like it because to graduate from the program, I needed to finish an internship,” he recalled.

For many, this would have been the end of the story. But not for Nick.

Before starting the internship, Nick had spent time inviting professionals in Vancouver out for coffee chats to learn more about the industry. Those conversations unexpectedly became his safety net.

When the internship collapsed, one of those connections welcomed him into their company, allowing him to complete his placement.

“That ended up completely saving me because one of the people that I had coffee with, I reached out to them and said, ‘Okay, the internship that I’m doing, they just went bankrupt. Any chance you can help me out?’” Farnell recalls.

Changes in technology

As someone who teaches business analytics, Nick spends much of his day helping students understand emerging technology.

Yet when asked what gives candidates an advantage in today’s hiring landscape, he doesn’t immediately mention technical skills.

“I really truly think that the importance of those human connections is more important now than it ever has been…” Farnell emphasised, “… To me, that means being maybe a little bit more vulnerable or not being as worried about being vulnerable.”  

Whether it’s networking over coffee, asking thoughtful questions or simply staying curious, Nick believes authentic conversations continue to create opportunities that even the many advanced algorithms can’t replicate.

Even when reviewing candidates, he isn’t looking for perfection. He looks for their curiosity.

“…even if it’s [projects] not 100% finished, just showing that curiosity and that kind of continual improvement or always looking for something that they’re working on.”

Learning from people around you

While Nick has held leadership positions throughout his career, he credits much of his own growth to the people who invested in him.

Without hesitation, he names IGNITE’s Chief Executive Officer Ercole D. Perrone as one of the biggest influences on his leadership style.

“He really helped me with kind of the structures of how to work through a position like this as a student leader,” he confessed. “He always had students in mind at the end. So really doing things for the right reasons, even when it was challenging to do so.”

It’s a relationship that reminds Nick of another lesson student leadership taught him: the people you meet today often become the people who shape your future.

Message to students

For students wondering whether to apply for that leadership role, attend that networking event or take on a challenge that feels intimidating, Nick offers simple advice.

Try anyway.

“If you try it and it doesn’t work out, you’re still at the same level, right? ”

He feels that post-secondary is a supportive and safer environment to take risks. And when it does not work out, learning from those mistakes is the most powerful thing you can do. 

Social media and LinkedIn may be changing how careers are found, but they don’t replace kindness, curiosity or meaningful relationships.

“Technology is important, but it’s not the be-all and end-all,” Farnell says. “Build those relationships and try to leave things better than when you got there… and give a little bit more than you take.”

For Nick, those principles have guided every step of his journey and continue to shape the advice he shares with every new classroom of students.

Feature photo by IGNITE

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