Intern Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Barclays and I feel I have learnt so much and understand so much more compared to when I first started. The internal case study presented the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge built up over the past 9 weeks and the 45 minute pitch provided a great opportunity to show my logic and understanding of the topic.

Overall I have had a fantastic 7 weeks, the team I have worked with have been incredibly supportive and helpful and I have thoroughly enjoyed working with them. Numerous members of the team were willing to take time out off their day to teach us about their role within the team and teach the interns a different aspect of modelling.

As mentioned previously, different member of the team took time out of their day to teach us different modelling techniques which was particularly helpfully. My line manager was also particularly supportive, staffing me accordingly and able to provide extra, exciting projects on request. This really aided my development and skills during my nine weeks at Barclays.

Clearly the amount of work was highly dependent on the business needs, with workload varying significantly week to week. Another element to consider is the announcement of "Brexit" effecting workload significantly at the start of the internship. Overall I feel my line manage did a good job to staff all interns as efficiently as possible and for the majority of the internship I was keep busy and engaged.

One of the significant positives of working with Barclays during this summer was the level of responsibility I was given during my internship. I was able to work closely with Analyst and Associates, with some oversight from Vice Presidents / Directors / Managing Directors on live deals and pitches and make meaningful and useful contributions to the project.

Working in such a high pressure environment, receiving numerous requests of varying complexity from different sources meant had to manage my time as efficiently as possible. It also required me to use my strong communication and team-working skills in order to complete the job as efficiently and productively as possible.

It was very relaxed and everyone was very friendly, though obviously stressful at times.

The internship was extremely well set up with a variety of training schemes and networking event set up by HR. HR also set up a fantastic new scheme called meet the MD, where each intern was allowed to reach out to up to four different Managing Directors and spend 30 minutes discussing the internship, industry and firm with them.

As mentioned previously, different member of the team took time out of their day to teach us different modelling techniques which was particularly helpfully. The company also set up a three day training scheme at the start of the internship which provided basic training for modelling techniques. This was particularly useful for myself, coming from a non finance background.

At the end of the internship every intern is told if they have an offer for a graduate position.

The graduates recently organised a summer event for all the interns, with HR organising additional event to allow fellow networking.

Clearly the cost of living and socialising will depend highly on personal choices, in where you live and how often you eat/drink out. The average rent, per month, ranges from £600 - £1200, depending how close you live to the office and what sort of facility you require. Eating and drinking out is all dependent on personal choice with meals/drinks ranging from £20 - £100 / night.

In Canary Wharf there are numerous bar/pubs, but not many/any clubs. Interns commonly went to Shoreditch.

Most of the time I was working, therefore limited chance to get involved in activities outside of work.