Summer Sales Analyst Review

Overall, a very positive experience, and my first real work experience. It was tough, especially in the final weeks as I was given new projects to complete even in the final week! However, this is much better than being left to your own devices and struggling to find meaningful work - and I was very happy to accept my job offer at the end.

Everyone is very supportive and happy to take time out of their day to explain something. The meet an MD/Director initiative is especially valuable.

There is sometimes the impression that in a banking internship, you become a minion to some frustrated analyst and don't really get to communicate with 'important' people... This is definitely not the case at Barcap, and there is credence to the claim of a 'flat hierarchy'.

For the majority of the placement the workload was challenging but fair - it is the sort of placement where it is up to you to optimise your workload; either by helping others with their tasks if you don't have much to do, or by communicating with people to let them know that your plate is too full to take on further projects or commitments.

I never felt 'in over my head', however I was working on projects with various teams and was doing meaningful work.

Improving my knowledge of Excel will certainly help with my final year dissertation, but more importantly, the internship has confirmed my interest in the industry and I look forward to starting on the grad programme next year.

Not the sort of raucous trading floor you imagine after seeing Wall Street and similar accounts of the financial industry, but nowhere really is anymore. There is somewhat of a buzz, however the time I spent there the markets were relatively quiet. I imagine it is quite exciting when economic conditions in general aren't so poor!

Very good - the HR people know what they are doing and you are always in the loop - from the application process to the offer communication at the end. There were some good events set up through the summer which provided a much-appreciated opportunity to catch up with other interns.

Good training week - as effective as a one-week crash course in banking can be.

The firm seems to have a strong commitment to hiring and retaining new talent.

So-so. During the week, I usually went straight home from work because I was tired, but there were drinks at the same place every Friday. The HR-organised events were a good way of keeping in touch with people.

Depends entirely on your preferences -- I was living in an affordable place in Bow, because it is on the DLR so it took me 20 minutes to get to work. However the social life was basically zero -- it was okay living there for the summer, but I plan to move somewhere a bit more exciting when I start the grad scheme. Lunch in C Wharf is always rather pricey (£6-8 minimum), but there is a wide variety of choice and it is all pretty good quality.

Fine for drinks after work; plenty of pubs and bars.

Somewhat -- it's only 10 weeks so you can't expect too much in the way of after-work activities. I will be more interested in looking into this when I start full time.