‘This is where I see myself in the future’

March 17-21 is National Co-operative Education Week. To mark the occasion, we present the success stories of three Concordia Co-op students.
 

Christina Christou: ‘You really have to think on your feet’

When Christina Christou, an undergraduate in finance at the John Molson School of Business (JMSB), reported for her first Co-op work term — a teller position at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) — she knew she’d made a good choice.

“I felt an immediate fit with the company's culture and employees,” she says. “I loved working at the branch level, and meeting with clients. When my first work term ended, I said to myself, this is where I see myself in the future. I definitely wanted to go back and strengthen that relationship.”

Concordia’s Institute for Co-operative Education has been offering experiential learning opportunities to students since 1980. Most Co-op programs require that students undertake three paid work terms with partner employers in the course of obtaining their degree.

There are currently more than 1,400 Concordia students enrolled in about 40 undergraduate (including four new ones) and four graduate programs across all four academic faculties.

Christou will return to RBC’s main Montreal branch in Place Ville Marie for a third and final work term this summer. By September, she expects to have completed the second part of her training to become a certified account manager.

“At the beginning it was kind of intimidating, because you’re actually meeting with clients,” Christou says of her early experiences training as an account manager at RBC. “You really have to think on your feet and try to help them as best as you can with their money. Fortunately, I had my mentor there to guide me in the right direction.”

When she completes the summer training program after graduation, Christou is eager to embark on the career path she has already mapped out for herself. “I see myself going back as an account manager, and then as a financial planner, and finally going into private banking.” (Private banking is wealth management for clients with sizable assets.)

When asked about Co-op by her fellow JMSB students, Christou says she invariably stresses how important it was for her. “Co-op gives you three opportunities to figure out what you want to do — what kind of work and what company you want to work for,” she says. “It absolutely bridges theory and practice.”