Summer Intern - Finance Review

I thoroughly enjoyed the internship. I was given the opportunity to complete meaningful work that was obviously helping my team and the business. The satisfaction from working on these tasks was great and the support available was equally just as good. I came into the sector with very little background knowledge but this didn't hold me back and actually meant I learnt a great deal.

As the weeks went on I began to feel more and more valued by my colleagues. As I learned and developed I could be trusted to complete larger tasks to a high standard. My colleagues were happy to spend time explaining things to me and then know that I would be able to deliver what they were looking for. All in all I think we were a pretty good team.

From day one the support and guidance I was given were excellent. My prior knowledge was poor and this was taken into account but not allowed to hinder the internship. I was set achieveable objectives and was seated driectly next to my manager which enabled a good level of support and guidance. This support wasn't only provided by my direct manager but also by fellow colleagues and managers from other teams which enabled a good rounding of guidance on both the day-to-day job and career options.

The level of activity was fairly slow to begin with as I was getting to grips with the role, meeting people and gaining background knowledge. However, I was in a busy team at the quarter end and this was a quite steep increase in activity, which was very enjoyable. The level tailed off for a few days after that before picking up again as my other piece of work accelerated. Overall a perfect balance of busy and quiet days.

I was given responsobility for a few calcualtions that were going to be published in the results document which was quite a lot for a new intern. I was also give responsibility for a large project implementing new software and training. This was entirley planned and executed by me and therefore was quite a substantial amount of responsibility.

The skills I developed are unlikely to be directly transferable to my degree due to the lafrge differences between disciplines. However, as this is the career I aim to enter after graduating the whole wummer will prove incredibly useful. The skills were quite technical in nature, hence this opinion. I have also developed good communication and organisation skills though which I am sure will benefit me in my career and my studies.

The atmosphere was obviously very focussed, people are motivated and care about the work they were doing and that is clear to everyone. However, people also do have fun. In my team in particualr everyone is very social and quite happy to talk to you and are interested to find out more aboyut what everyone is doing. There is a good atmosphere of respect and people trying to be helpful which is all really great to see.

The internship itself was well organised. There was a blip at the start of the programme in that the information we recieved about the first few days wasd recieved very late and not in consistent means of communication. Other than that the structure has been clearly explained. There was an obious structure as to what, who and whyen things were happening which was very useful for organising work.

In the first couple of weeks there were some specific training days put on for the new interns. These were, for me at least, very useful. I had very little prior knowledge and this enabled me to be at a level that enabled me to engage in the work going on. After this the training was very much team led and team focussed with l;earning specifics of the role, this was much smalleer scale and therefore very tailerd to my needs.

Very appealng - I enjoyed working at Barclays, I enjoyed the work I was doing and I think the general atnmosphere and values of the colleagues fit really well with me. I think their gradaute scheme is a rwally good opportunity to find oput more about certain areas of the organisation and then decide what intyerests you the most. The opportunity to gain a professional qualification is also really attarctive and a great perk of the job.

There was a good social scene amongst the interns in out intake. There were a few events specifically for interns which was a great chance to gtet to know more about your peers. Within the colleagues in my team there was a really good social scene varying from sports evening to a casual drink. These social activities were by far the best way to get to know my colleagues and they were good to see that people really do get along.

The cost of living was quite expensive compared to what I'm used to but this was expected and wasn't unaffordable due to the pay I was receiving. The social events could be quite pricey due to the costs of drinks etc but again not unaffordable which enabled me to join in. Transport was a good price so that was a positive.

There was several opportunites to get involved in citizenship types activities. These ranged from a day at a charity upcycling centre with other graduates and interns to a citizenship challenge over a number of weeks. These were encouraged but not compulasry and it was good to see that Barclays actively encourages its employees to get involved in things outside of work.