08 | College and Career in Canada - with Nachiket Bhatia

Nachiket Bhatia | Sales Director, Sterling Capital

Nachiket graduated from Mount Allison University in Canada, concentrating in Economics, Business and Anthropology. He knew from the get go that he wanted to get into the financial healthcare industry. After exploring different opportunities, Nachiket is now working at Sterling Capital, a cutting edge healthcare tech firm that espouses everything he was working towards.

Nachiket and Arjun discuss the differences between Canadian and US higher education, the opportunities that are available to a student in Canada, and Nachiket’s own journey in going after the job he wanted.

Episode Takeaways

Decision to Study Abroad

Nachiket always knew he wanted a small liberal arts college, where the largest class size would be 40 students. So he chose Mount Allison University in Canada. This is the learning environment that best suited him. A few friends from high school attended with him and this helped him adjust and stay close to his roots. His 2 younger brothers also attended Mount Allison.

Education

He studied economics and finance at Mount Allison. Though small liberal arts colleges might not have state of the art equipment for some STEM fields, the professors were all from well reputed universities such as Harvard and Yale and were always very generous with their time. The Mount Allison Alumni group is also very active.

Canadian Job Market

A disadvantage of a liberal arts college is that it does not have as many resources to help students find a job. Nachiket knew early on that he wanted to get into the financial healthcare industry but finding a job took a lot of tries and rejections. He applied to almost 250 jobs and only heard back for interviews from a handful. Now he leads a large team across continents and he meets many people who are scared about the job market because of COVID-19 but he does believe that it all works out in the end. Canada has less job opportunities compared to the US but the competition for the jobs is also much lower. The economy thrives on immigrants and students and you can work in most jobs for 3 years without any visa issues before applying for a PR. Canada has a lot of opportunities in the finance sector and jobs have really good labour laws, better hours and better healthcare with the same salary as compared to the US.

Building a Resume

Nachiket worked as a research assistant every summer in college, where he worked on publications for environmental economics. He was also a teacher’s assistant for 7 courses in his third year and enjoyed teaching and public speaking. He wanted to focus on building a resume before applying for a masters degree.

Professional Journey

He worked in a traditional finance banking job until he made the move to tech start ups and working to scale up companies around 4 years ago. He worked with companies such as KPMG and Lush. He has just started working at a cutting edge healthcare tech firm in the last few months.

Strengths

Smooth talker, Empathetic, Ambitious

High School Experience

Nachiket studied in Rishi Valley, and he believes the school instilled in him a lot of his core values, such as how to stay grounded and live life simply. He moved to The Shri Ram School Aravali and made some great friends, few of whom also studied at Mount Allison with him.

Learning From a Failure

“Don't let it get you down and don’t think you’re stupid. The later in life it happens the harder it hits you. Don't doubt your instinct to survive.”

Future of Education

“There is so much ambiguity for students in university. It's hard to take a step back and be rational. Many companies are moving completely online. The future is going to be more virtual. It's going to get people to communicate more efficiently. Practice these new modes of learning, and adapt because that is what will set you apart in the job market.”