Summer Intern - Operations Review

Although I was only there for 8 weeks I was given real responsibility and was able to add value. I was given my own project to work on that was about 8 weeks worth of work and this really gave structure to my internship. On top of this all interns were put into a group to work on a project before presenting to a 'Dragon's Den' style panel. I was skeptical about this at first but it turned out to be my favourite part of the internship!

I felt very valued by the other interns in my group and by my line manager and other senior colleagues. Although I was working on something completely separate from the rest of my team they would still ask me to help with Excel etc, and valued me in that sense. Senior management also gave a lot of time to the interns for one-to-ones.

I was lucky. My Line Manager was great. She gave me the perfect amount of responsibility, and although she was always there if I needed help, it was clear that I was expected to go off and think about problems and try to solve them on my own first. HR was also very helpful and supportive if you needed them.

Having my own project meant that I worked at my own pace. There were times towards the end of the internship where I was low on work, I could have found more if absolutely necessary.

The project I worked on was implemented the week after I left, so I know that I added value to the company. Trusting me to implement the project was a lot of responsibility.

I definitely learned a lot about where I want to go in terms of my career, about corporate banking itself, and where I want to go within Barclays Corporate. I also have enough experience to be able to breeze through any graduate recruitment assessment centre answering the usual competency questions. Securing a graduate position in the company has made me really focus on my studies in my final year and make sure I get the 2:1 I need to go back next year!

In my part of the office itself there wasn't a great amount of enthusiasm. People seemed reasonably happy, but they didn't seem to love their job. But I think that comes with territory in Ops. However, all the graduates we met were enthusiastic and I am convinced the senior members of staff genuinely love their job.

The organisation was fantastic. From the assessment centre, where I got a call back the following day to say i was successful to the end of the internship. There were social and networking events organised throughout the internship and the Dragon's Den event was very well organised. We had a mid-term and final appraisal and were told on the last day of the internship whether or not we had secured a graduate position.

We had a whole week of training in the first week and were given presentation training by a famous actor regularly to prepare us for the Dragon's Den presentation. We also had regular breakfast/lunch meetings with some of the most senior people in all of Barclays. Helping us to learn about Barc Capital, Wealth and Retail. I felt the company completely invested in a fantastic internship. I cannot wait to return next year.

If I get a 2:1 this year I start with them next September.

Interns went out as a large group at least once a week. We payed football regularly and a dragon boat racing day was organised which was so much fun.

Canary Wharf is one of the more expensive parts of London, but is also a very nice place to work.

I'm quite happy to go to bars which there are plenty of in canary Wharf. However, it is general quite quiet and we would head to Shoreditch or Bank to go on a night out.

Events were organised on the internship. For non-interns there are football and netball leagues.