Barclays Group functions spring week Review

The Barclays Spring Week into Functions was a very valuable experience. I learnt so much about the business, the functions and met amazing people who provided me with great advice as well as their personal stories which have contributed to the way I now look at things and how I approach opportunities.

The business took very good care of all the interns and ensured we were all comfortable. Everyone was provided with a canteen card which had been topped up with £7 everyday. As well as this, all employees were very approachable and easy to talk to. Considering Barclays is a huge organisation, we still got the opportunity to network and meet many MDs and other people in senior positions. As well as this, everyone had the opportunity to select which functions they wanted to shadow and we were all granted our first three choices. We also had an app which enabled us to get to know everyone on our stream as well as the organisers. this let us break the ice between us and get to know a little bit more about everyone before we met,

Everyone was allocated a buddy which we got to communicate with prior to the spring week. My buddy was amazing and really helpful with answering my questions and was also from the function I was most interested in. However, some of my other colleges did not receive a message from their buddies so they missed out . Furthermore, there were many graduate panels, networking sessions and shadowing experiences which gave us lot of tips, however I do feel we had a bit too much networking to do.

This experience gave me much more confidence in myself and my capabilities. It provided me with a deeper insight into the world of banking. We were expected to give a presentation at the end of the week as well as prepare for a interview which was very difficult to balance, however this enabled me to balance my time and organise myself which was great now looking back at it.

It was very structured and everyday was filled with different things which enabled us t get the most out of the week. We were given an app which enabled us to communicate with everyone else on the spring insight week as well as people we would meet, in addition to a timetable which would could actively see ad leave feedback on throughout the day which was great.

The atmosphere was nice as everyone was friendly. However I do feel as though it could have been more diverse in terms of who was on the stream. Many people had similar educational backgrounds and it was evident that 85% of the students were from well off backgrounds which may have given the a better opportunity to approach opportunities.

They invested much in terms of allowing us for our wishes to be fulfilled for shadowing, providing us with canteen money. They also gave us work presentations on how to present our presentations and how to effectivley make the most out of our networking opportunities.

The shadowing experiences gave an overview of how the department works. However I do feel that everyone work shadowing individual should be given a structure on how the shadowing experience should take place. For example, we should be made aware of all the different roles within the department to allow us to get an idea of which role we would best suit.

The culture is a massive thing in Barclays and we were constantly told about the culture which made it better as we got to understand how the business really works and their values which helped us decide if this would be a business that we would like to work for in the future or not.

The insights into each depsrtments were reallly good as we got to see how the function works and what things would happen on a day to day basis. However, many of the people who came to give us an insight carried out similar rols which didnt let us see how broad the function is how many different roles there are. But the insight sessions were packed with information. Some also had activities which allowed us to really experience what goes on and allowed us to think like someone from that oartiular function.

Everyone was paid £250 for the week long experience and we were paid this about a week later. Furthermore, those who had to travel from outside of London to Canary wharf prior to the week experience were reimbursed. People who lived far also were given the opportunity to live in a really nice apartment nearby which was great.

Yes, there were many opportunities. We had almost netweoing opportunites every single day which was cool. We met graduates who were once in our position. We also met people from all areas of the business. We had a networking event whch allowed us to meet literally everyone as well as other students from across the bank who were on different streams which was cool.

the opportunites were well organise and everyone was really friendly and approachable. people approached you as well as you being able to aprack everyone. however, the event was a large even, but the room it was taken place in was really small so there wasnt much room to move around in and you were kind of speaking over people which was a bit annoying.

Yes. Eveyone told us about other experinces they had during they time at barclays. theres many events that indivudlas organised, charity events which take place, a well as societies whch have beccome traditional and which are becoming very influential in changing the dynamics at Barclays such as the HeForShe whoch allows equality for women.

Yes. You gain such amazing experience which you would take away and use it in your day to day life. I learnt so much about barclays and met amazing people who had amazing stories which really motivated me to do better, especially as an ethnic minority. Also, being on this experience gives you the opportunity to be fast tracked onto the spring interniship.