Barclays Front Office Spring Week Review

It was a lot of fun and greatly exceeded my expectations. I don't come from a finance background so I learned a lot and found that the technical teaching was pitched really well. I had so many opportunities to network and ask endless questions and I felt like each day was structured really well.

Yes, the company went to great lengths to make sure I had free accommodation, was fed every day and really well looked after. Many senior employees to took time out of their busy schedules to come and speak to us and current employees were happy for us to shadow them and answer all their questions.

I received lots of guidance throughout the week on all aspects ranging from interview advice to choosing a division - we were asked to choose between banking and markets for our Friday interview and I was struggling to make a choice as I found both divisions so interesting. All the employees I spoke to were really keen to give me helpful guidance and advice so that I could make an informed decision.

As my degree is unrelated to finance, the technical knowledge we learned probably won't be very useful. However, our lecture on "How to speak persuasively" and our debating work has really improved my public speaking & presenting skills and I would feel more confident using these skills in the future.

For me, this was the insight week's greatest strength. We had a clear and structured timetable sent to us well in advance of our start date and each day complemented the other nicely. The initial day was an overview and welcome whilst the second day we focused on markets; the third day was spent reviewing the banking side and the fourth day involved work shadowing and preparation for our debate work and interview on the final day. As a big fan of organisation, I was very impressed.

It was not intense as I was expecting and both staff and spring weekers were all very friendly. Team building exercises strategically organised on the very first day helped the spring weekers to relax and get to know each other and the whole week was a lot of fun.

Greatly - they arranged for many various speakers to come and speak to us to teach develop our industry and firm knowledge as well as helping us with out public speaking skills, interview skills, debate skills and identifying our realised and unrealised strengths with a CAPP test.

Whilst the firm did their best to give us an insight into what a full time role would be like, such as through markets work shadowing and networking with current employees, unfortunately they were limited on the banking side due to the sensitive nature of the client information.

The great amount of networking was incredibly helpful in allowing us to pick the brains of current employees and gain an understanding of the company culture and lifestyles from the points of view of people in a variety of different roles.

I came to this insight week with very little knowledge of the world of banking and finance and I left with an offer for the summer internship and excited for the opportunity to have a future with Barclays!

I was paid £250 flat for the 5 days and was provided with free accommodation in Stratford as well as reimbursement for my travel to and from London.

Yes, every day involved networking opportunities with people in all divisions and at all levels of seniority. I gained some valuable contacts who were very keen to offer my help and guidance.

Excellent - we had networking expos, networking lunches, Q&A sessions, work shadowing etc. every day.

Yes - we learned about the employee networks that organise many events outside of work such as skiing holidays, volunteering, social events, charity work etc.

Definitely!