At the age of 20, Humberto Guzman had what many people dream. He had a stable, high-paying job as a trimmer operator at Canfor in Vanderhoof.
“But something told me that wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” he said. “It wasn’t a bad job. It just wasn’t for me.”
In 2016, Humberto’s girlfriend was heading to Prince George to study nursing at the College of New Caledonia. He decided to join at CNC but admitted he didn’t know what to study.
Since business runs in his family, who originally moved from Cuba when he was 12, Humberto decided to take CNC’s Business Management program.
“My mom had a taxi in Cuba and now she has a rental home there where tourists go and stay,” he said. “My Grandpa invested in all kinds of different businesses, helping them grow. I didn’t think I had any skills like that.”
But he was wrong. Humberto, now 22, completed his Associate Degree in Business Management with honors in April 2018.
Recommended by one of his instructors, he got a job immediately as a settlement worker at the Immigrant and Multicultural Services Society (IMSS), a non-profit that provides settlement and integration services to immigrants and refugees in Prince George and the surrounding area.
“I love what I do,” he said. “I love being able to help different people from all kinds of different places. Just to hear their stories and why they come to PG.”
Humberto wouldn’t have been able to get the job without his CNC education and without the connections he made there.
“My courses were great,” he said. “The instructors are really awesome. They made a huge difference for me.”
Many of CNC’s instructors have owned their own business and are really experienced in their fields. Because of that, Humberto said they were taught based on real life experience to learn what works in the real world.
“But it’s not just about everything you learn itself,” he said. “The people you meet at the College can open a lot of doors. I hadn’t even heard of IMSS before my instructor mentioned it to me.”
Next up, Humberto plans to transfer his CNC credits to UNBC, where he’ll complete a Bachelor’s in Business.
“I learned a lot at CNC and there’s so much more I can learn,” he said.
After that, he’s interested in moving to a bigger city like Vancouver, maybe running his own business – a restaurant.
“I love cooking food from different places,” Humberto said. “Cuban dishes will definitely be on the menu.”