Holly Cohen

Current Employer/Organisation Name

RBC Capital Markets

What have you been doing since leaving Exeter, and what are you doing now?

Since finishing my Economics course at Exeter I completed a Summer Internship on the Trading Floor at an Investment Bank in London for 10 weeks between June and August 2024. This was a rotational program where you spend time on three different desks. After the internship I was offered a full time position on the Credit Sales desk at RBC where I have been working full time since November 2024.

Why did you choose this career? And what do you enjoy most about your work?

Whilst studying for A Levels I attended a work experience event at Morgan Stanley which introduced me to the different careers in Investment Banking. One of the areas I learnt about was Sales and Trading and during that program I got to see a trading floor for the first time. It was captivated by such an exciting, busy, and motivating work environment that I set my hopes on a job in Sales and Trading from then on. I would still say to this day one of the things I enjoy most about my role is being in such a buzzy and motivating environment everyday with people who work hard and push me to do the same. Everyday on a trading floor is different as the work you do is completely dependent on what is happening in the markets at that time. This means the work is not very repetitive by nature and you never really stop learning, which is another thing I love about it!

Please tell us if you were a member of any societies, groups or sports clubs?

I was in the Cheerleading Society whilst at Exeter.

What did you enjoy most about your programme and what was the biggest highlight?

I really enjoyed the flexibility of the course, the fact that there were so many combinations of modules available and I took advantage of that by integrating some Finance and Business modules into the Economics core modules.

What did you most enjoy about studying here?

I loved my time at Exeter for a lot of reasons. I gained a lot of independence being away from home, met some of my closest friends and learnt a lot about myself during my time at university.

Why did you choose to study at Exeter?

It is a highly ranked university with really good career prospects that are well recognised in the business world. For me personally, I really wanted to go to a campus university and to live away from London for a few years (which is where I grew up). Exeter offered both of these things and when I came to look around during A Levels I really liked the atmosphere and facilities

What skills and experiences have been most useful for your career?

Economics is a really good course for demonstrating that you have an interest in the financial world and the challenging nature of the degree proves that you are able to take on a difficult level of knowledge to a high standard. I think this is why it has allowed me to apply for the roles in Investment Banking that I wanted to.

What advice would you give to a current student who wishes to pursue your career?

The early you start working towards the goal of a career in finance/investment banking, the better. It is a very competitive industry and the more experiences, spring weeks and summer internships you can get under your belt, the better. Unfortunately it isn’t really a role you can get into once you have graduated as a lot of the grad positions are filled out of internships during 2nd or 3rd year of university so the early you can make sure your apply for these, the better.

What are your plans for the future?

I want to keep adding value to my team, growing within the bank and finding out what my niche is in my role. My plan is to keep working hard on improving my skill set and being open to opportunities when they arise within the team and in the future.