Hailing from Henan, China, Jialin Luo is a third year international commerce student with a major in Finance. Jialin completed her first co-op semester with Manulife Financial and is currently with Bank of Montreal for her second co-op placement. Although the thought of adapting to a new country, culture and language in three short years is a daunting task for anyone, Jialin has worked to constantly stay involved through career events and case competitions. Jialin is aiming to complete all three of her co-op placements in Canada.

“Language still is a big challenge for me. Whenever clients spoke with slang, I had difficulty trying to keep the conversation going. I am sure this will become less challenging as I get more experience and practice. I know that there are so many things that I cannot learn from school or books, which can only be gained through personal life experiences.

I would highly recommend that international students stay in Canada for their co-op, because you can really learn from the work you do. I improved my professional knowledge and a variety of skills from all of my work experiences.”