Get Down to Business with Cole Tashjian ’25

Describe what you’re doing this summer in your internship

I was a fixed income trading intern at Invesco. A majority of what I learned was from shadowing fixed income, foreign exchange, and alternatives traders. However, my projects revolved around providing analytics and insights to the team. Throughout the course of the internship, I developed an in-house app using Python, SQL Server, and Streamlit for FX trade analysis reporting and re-architected a dashboard for the global capital markets team to track trade efficiency and revenue generation. 

How did Oberlin shape or influence you to pursue this internship? 

The Oberlin Finance Club was instrumental in solidifying my interest in finance. Surrounding myself with like minded peers meant I could continue learning outside of the classroom through the clubs weekly meetings. Academically, Professor M. Udara Peiris has been an extremely valuable resource for me. His improvement of the financial economics curriculum and embracing of students' questions/thoughts has benefitted the school as a whole.

How does pursuing this internship align with your post-college life and career goals?

This past summer, I wanted a markets-based role. Invesco provided the opportunity to experience this with the backing and support of a great team. I have been able to leverage the experience into a full-time job offer I accepted as a Global Investment Banking Analyst at UBS in New York City upon graduation.

What business-related opportunities have you had at Oberlin that you’ve found to be unique or helpful? 

Outside of the extracurriculars and coursework I have completed, the Ashby Business Scholars Program was an important piece of my time at Oberlin. The program offered me the opportunity to go through intensive coursework surrounding finance topics for 4 months and culminated in meeting alums in the field in Cleveland, Boston, and New York City. The major takeaway from the program that I got was, all Obies are willing and happy to help one another. This provided me with further confidence to reach out to alums and learn about their careers paths/current roles.

Knowing that you’re interested in pursuing business/finance, what made you choose Oberlin to help you reach that goal? 

When applying to colleges, I knew that I wanted a liberal arts education. Oberlin provides the emphasis on the creative thinking, problem solving component of liberal arts whilst embracing alternative routes toward finance with specific Wall Street programs like the Ashby Business Scholars. This mix of liberal arts and finance focus played extremely well into my interests and attracted me to the college.

If you're interested in a summer internship, connect with the Career Exploration & Development team to learn more about exploring career interests, gaining real-world experience, and developing a professional network.