HR Operations Summer Analyst Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Barclays. I have not only enjoyed the work that I have been involved in but also the company culture, values and people. You get a really strong sense of the RISES values throughout the offices and within all of the work you are getting involved in and being a part of.

I have felt greatly valued throughout the internship - I have been given a great deal of responsibility and high levels of trust have been put in me and this is something I have greatly enjoyed. Often there can be preconceptions about interns being tasked with coffee runs and small jobs but I have felt relaly appreciated and valued by my team.

I have had a fantastic support network during my time here. Not only has my team been great but I have also been given a graduate buddy and a senior mentor to spend time with. Everyone has been extremely helpful in suggesting people that I may find useful to meet and in providing other general support and answering any questions I may have.

I have been very busy during my time here which is something I have really enjoyed about the internship. I have been busy with a variety of tasks and I have never had a boring day! Everyone is so willing to make time for you so if you do have a quieter day planned it is very easy to organise networking with people and meetings with anyone who has a role you may be interested in hearing about.

High levels of responsibility have been given to me during the 9 weeks - particularly as members on my team have been away for some of the summer! I have really enjoyed this as being given small, irrelevant tasks was something I was worried about.

During the nine weeks I my business skills have developed greatly and these will be useful with anything I do in the future. My confidence and interpersonal skills have also developed greatly.

The atmosphere has been wondering in the office. My team have been a great support professionally and are always willing and ready to help with anything. My team were also great fun and I really bonded with them - they made me laugh and made me look forward to coming in to work every day!

The placement has been fairly well organised. However, there were issues with IT in the first week and this was the case for everyone - this is definitely something that needs improving! There have also been some events that we have only been made aware of the day before which makes it difficult to fit things in.

The company allocated mandatory training to each intern which was an opportunity to learn about the firm and its policies. As well as this there were many non compulsory resources we could easily access and get involved with, providing a great learning opporutnity. Furthermore, colleagues and individuals working in different areas are more than happy to make you aware of different learning opportunities available - there really is a strong sense that the company want to invest in, and help you learn what you would like to!

Future prospects of employment within this organisation are fantastic and extremely appealing. The company offers such a great opportunity to move around and get involved in a variety of different roles which is extremely exciting. Having spoken to individuals on the graduate scheme, it seems like a great scheme and a wonderful thing to do. If offered the graduate scheme I will definitely accept!

The social scene was good amongst fellow interns - we had a weekly regular drinks meet up as well as other things throughout the week. The intern recruitment team did not organise many things themselves with the exception of a couple of formal networking events in the first couple of weeks and an end of internship party.

London has a reputation of being super expensive however it was not as expensive as I thought it would be. Within Canary Wharf things are expensive but living in other areas of London is fine! The company also provided a generous accommodation allowance which made living costs much more manageable!

The nightlife has been great - it is London after all! There are so many different places to visit and go to - there is something to suit everyone and place to visit for a variety of budgets. Exploring London and finding lots of great places to go has been a definite highlight of the internship.

There were not many opportunities organised by the company itself. However, citizenship and volunteering is greatly encouraged so myself and another intern spent half a day volunteering which we thoroughly enjoyed. I know other individuals have got involved in a football team and other activities that were made aware to them by their team.