Corporate Banking Summer Analyst Review

Really enjoyed my team and work experience. Involved working on systems that I had never heard of before so I got to play around a lot with numbers. I was also taken along to a lot of meetings where I was often the most junior person in the room.

My colleagues were extremely nice and by my first week, I felt like a full member of the team. They are generally very open and are open to discussions other than work, which made the day a lot more pleasant.

My line manager sat right next to me, and regardless of how busy he was always made time to check-in with me once a week. Beyond that, I had support from members of the team who were more than happy to answer any question I had.

Not every day was busy but that was to be expected. My team in particular was in the final stages of launch a new product and so a lot of the work being doing was highly sensitive. Regardless, I was given chances to participate wherever I could.

I was given a fair amount of responsibility and freedom to participate in various tasks from update the team's website page, to create spreadsheets for future pitchbooks. However, I still made sure to run my work through with my line-manager.

The internship experience was highly valuable to me as it was directly relevant to my degree. I studied Accounting and Finance however I had little to no idea how that would translate to working in a Bank.

The first few days were highlighted by technology failures as most interns struggled to set up their computers. Also, there weren't a lot of opportunities to formally meet other interns as the only events organised by HR were for formal talks with Heads of businesses. This meant that a part from the interns on your floor, the likelihood of meeting interns from other businesses were extremely low.

I really look forward to joining the Corporate Banking graduate scheme. The Corporate Banking scheme this year is separate from other schemes so there is plenty of opportunity to explore the various roles in the business and potentially even specialize in a product area.

As I already lived in London I was not surprised by the general cost of eating out or getting drinks in Canary Wharf. My only concern was having to buy lunch every day as I grew tired of the available menus in the company's canteen. Other than that, Canary Wharf has a wonderful selection of bars and restaurants to visit. Every weekend was spent in a different venue.

I was offered twice the chance to host GSCE students around the bank for work experience. Along side that I got to attend networking events organised by communities within Barclays. Invitations to tag along were sent through daily newsletters and all you had to do was to sign up and show up on the day.