Barclays Group Functions Spring Week Review

Incredibly useful experience which allowed me to really understand a lot more about the different roles and whether the financial services is right for me. Lots of good activities and helpful sessions, however being able to meet people in the different areas was the best part of the Group Functions Spring Week (purely due to the fact it allowed me to completely gauge what working in that role entails).

I think the emphasis on retaining talent meant that although i was only there for a week it felt like it was just as much about Barclays trying to appeal to me as it was me trying to impress them. Obviously not doing any formal work meant i didn't feel completely valued, however that was not the point of the Spring Programme. Everyone was very friendly and happy to converse with me.

The ability to talk to a lot of graduates and being paired up with one prior to starting made it very easy to get any questions i had answered. Not really any complaints about guidance at all. It was clear they really wanted us to make sure we made the right choice about our future and you could feel that in all conversations. It would have been useful to have been able to have met my buddy during the week and that meeting to have been timetabled in, although i do understand the logistics of this.

It will help me when deciding on certain modules I take, knowing that basic programming skills in a certain language could help me do certain tasks was very useful. I think also some of the soft skills from the networking events and presentation will help me in my career. Equally interview skills improve a lot by purely having more practice. So in all a lot of what we did would help me in my future.

Very well structured, the double dutch app made having our schedule before our first day very useful, easy to know exactly where to be at all times. I was slightly worried i wouldn't know where to go when i arrived on the first day but it was clearly laid out and this allowed me to settle in very quickly. One slight issue was structure was having to sign into the other building for the different security pass, it meant I lost a fair bit of work shadowing time on all three work shadowing sessions.

Really very positive, great to be around like minded individuals, there is always a worry that it will feel competitive however that generally wasn't the case. All staff were friendly and respectful (as the values say they should be) and this made sure we all were comfortable and I'm sure this would entice a lot of people to want to work for Barclays. However it was clear we were in a business environment and had to be aware of that.

There were sessions on interview skills, presentation skills, and networking skills which were all very useful and gave a lot of insight. Besides this the spotlight sessions which allowed us to fully understand a lot of the bank were very useful, I suppose they invested quite a lot in us considering it was only a Spring Week as a lot of senior management took time to talk and help us.

Unless I was to do actually work for the whole week I don't think they could have done a better job in this respect. Meeting grads and work shadowing them meant I could hear and see what they did everyday and fully grasp the tasks they were given. One to one talks were very useful as it was more likely you would get very clear honest answers, they are less likely to say something just to please the room.

Since the recent issues Barclays have had it is very clear that the 'Barclays Values' are integral in the recruitment process. Every person I spoke to seemed to hold these values and from what I can tell they are fully engrained throughout the bank. Equally seeing people at work and how relaxed most areas of the bank seemed to be gave a good idea of what the culture is like.

I was paid a decent amount, however travel costs did take a large chunk out of that.

Completely, to anyone interested in the financial services, obviously as group functions are involved across the bank it made the experience help us understand a very large number of the different aspects of the bank. I always left with a smile on my face which really says a lot in all honesty and enjoyed the week thoroughly. Barclays application was also a lot easier than most and as it had to be done during uni term time meant that I spent a lot more time per task of the application than for the other institutions (as there were fewer tasks).