Barclays Front Office Spring Programme Review

Met many like minded people and made some great new friends, as well as learning a huge amount about the industry and its potential as a future career path. Really enjoyed spending time inside an investment bank in Canary Wharf and it was inspirational to see all the other workers commuting every day.

Barclays made it feel like they really valued their interns and were keen for them to do well and progress to both the summer internship and then the graduate programme. We were treated professionally and given plenty of freedom and responsibility whilst remaining within the structured and organised week's timetable.

During the week Barclays paired us up with a 'buddy' who contacted us before the week and met with us during the week too. This support was nice as we had a contact both before the week and during, as well as someone to ask questions to after the week had finished. There was also a huge number of opportunities to ask questions and network with a vast range of current employees and recent graduates.

We worked with several case studies throughout the week in both markets and banking and this helped improved team working and presentation skills. There was also a talk on persuasive speaking and a group presentation at the end of the week to deploy these newly learnt skills. We also completed a strengths questionnaire prior to the week and spent time analysing the results to find out more about our realised and unrealised strengths and how to minimise our weaknesses.

We received a timetable for the week before the start via an app and this was stuck too fairly well, although occasionally ran over leaving less time for other aspects such as group work. It would have been nice if some of the sessions had been longer and some had been shorter than they were but this may simply be personal preference. Generally the week was slightly more markets-based than banking-based, but this suited me.

The atmosphere at the spring week was generally relaxed and people were fairly chilled. There were plenty of jokes yet it felt professional throughout the week. As the week went on people became more comfortable with one another and the assessors which made the end of the week more lively. Overall it was a good level.

It was clear that Barclays was really keen for us to do well and progress through the ranks to both the summer internship and then the graduate programme. As such, they were keen to invest time, money and food(!) into us in order to persuade us to join them and return in future. In my interview I felt they really wanted me to be good enough to join their team and so were keen to develop us as much as possible in the week we were there.

I felt I learnt a huge amount about what it would be actually like to work at Barclays full time, both in terms of what the different roles entailed and what the culture and people working within the organisation were like. This was really helpful in helping me decide if it was something I wanted to pursue in future and whether I could imagine myself being part of the bank in my future career.

Barclays repeated their values to us many times throughout the week and it was actually possible to see these in practice as the week progressed. This was then very useful for answering why I had chosen Barclays over other banks in the interview at the end of the week and is something I believe makes them stand out from the other banks.

The week helped narrow down the areas I am interested in working in in the future from anything in the bank to just two or three areas (trading/research), and helped me definitely rule out a few options too. This is invaluable and now means I only have to read more about two or three different areas in order to decide which area I think would be best suited to my skillset.

Everyone on the week received £250 and expenses to get to London for the start of the week and to leave at the end of the week, but transport during the week was not refunded (easily covered by the £250).

On the first day there was a two hour networking session with high-ranking business workers and throughout the week there were many question and answer sessions and informal lunch time networking session that gave you the chance to talk to employees and ask questions. I was even contacted by graduates from my university to meet up for lunch and a chat.

There were lots of sessions packed into a short space of time so there were not any specific social events for meeting people on the week but there was time to get to know people during the day at the breakfast , lunch and during case studies and project work. The only specific formal networking session with employees was on the first day but this didn't prevent you from seeking out people to talk to throughout the rest of the week.

The long hours of the banking world mean that there is not so much that employees do outside of work time but there was a networking session on the Monday that showcased some projects that the company supports for some workers to go and help in primary schools or work with 3D printers and other new technology. A couple of the employees talked about going to the gym but for many of them work was their life!

Overall the week was highly successful in giving me a greater understanding of all the roles and what goes on inside a bank. I got to meet some great fellow students as well as networking with graduates who will be able to answer any questions I have in future. If I receive an offer for the summer internship next year it would save me a huge amount of time in applications this coming Autumn too.