Front Office - Spring Analyst Review

The entire placement was fantastic and the team did a good job of keeping a balance between making the work challenging and insightful, but also very enjoyable.

During the placement, we had opportunities to meet many people who were in very senior positions and they seemed genuinely interested in getting to know us. The Barclays culture is one of support and encouragement, I certainly felt like the company was interested in more than just my academics.

A lot. As the team reiterated constantly throughout the week, there are no stupid questions on this programme. As a student from a non-finance background it was slightly intimiditaing at first when others were asking in-depth economics/finance questions, but if you're willing to learn and don't let it deter you, all the support you could ever want is more than available to help you understand and learn as much as possible.

Many of the interpersonal, time management and team working skills I learned on this program would be useful to anyone looking for a professional career. I am in no doubt they will stand me in good stead and provide a good platform for me to continue improving myself.

The insight was very structured, well ordered and easy to follow. Regardless of what area you're interested in, you'll have a chance to learn about it.

The work was hard and the hours long, but if you want a banking career you should expect that. The people around you are what makes it all worth while and the Barclays staff are well aware of this. They all are very supportive, encouraging and accepting towards you. Many senior professionals are also very open to conversations with you and giving out their emails. You don't feel like a "lowly intern", they treat you as almost an equal and want to help you learn and develop.

Very heavily, as I mentioned many senior professionals took time out of their busy schedules to speak with us. Not only that but the guy I workshadowed was so welcoming and helped us understand what he did in every way. We certainlyly didn't feel like a burden even though the company was putting so much time into our development.

Having had the opportunity to not only speak with people who already work at Barclays, but to shadow and see them in their workplace, I feel my understanding of what a full time role would be like has improved immensely. The way the week is structured also helps you to really experience what IB hours are like.

Everyone who spoke to us was constantly reiterating what a lovely culture Barclays has as a place to work. They were absolutely right, the thing that really helped me understand what the culture was like was experiencing it for myself. Everyone was so friendly and very open to questions, it felt like a wonderful place to work.

Very valuable. The level of detail that the content goes into will really help you understand what a career in IB is like, to extent that would be hard to find elsewhere. Not only that but the opportunity to ask questions and discuss with bankers what the job is like proves invaluable as well.

I received a one off £250 payment at the end of the week to cover expenses and then given further reimbursement of travel costs.

Yes, many and varied opportunities. On the first night there was a specified networking session with bankers. There were also two lunches specifically dedicated to networking. Aside from the allocated events and times, you're constantly in contact with professionals from all areas who are very open and willing to talk to you. In truth you're almost always networking in some form.

The events were good. It would have been nice if there could have been a better spread of professionals in terms of the fields and areas they work in, but that's no ones fault and down to availability. Other than that they were well organised and gave plenty of time for you to talk with the people who had volunteered their time.

I did by asking my buddy (which anyone could do) but there was not a lot about this covered in the scheduled content. Would have been good if this had been mentioned to everyone, but again not a big problem as plenty of chances to ask individuals about that sort of thing.

No doubt, a brilliant opportunity which I thoroughly enjoyed.