Barclays Front Office spring week Review

I greatly enjoyed this placement- it acted as an opportunity to get an insight into and multiple perspectives on, multiple different divisions within Barclays. This assisted with me choosing a division that most suited my skills and interests to interview on at the end of the week. Multiple different people from different positions within the company spoke to us and the values that Barclays holds were exhibited throughout the insight.

The firm was very inclusive of people from all backgrounds- mine being non-finance, which I was under the impression would hinder my understanding but everything was thoroughly and eloquently explained to me and my knowledge has greatly improved. The fact that senior members from within Barclays spoke to us throughout the placement emphasizes the importance they place on recruitment.

A huge amount of support and guidance was offered throughout the programme- I did not feel intimidated about asking anyone for advice, and people were very willing to thoroughly explain their roles within the bank. It was also explained that should we have any further questions it would be possible to contact people in campus recruitment or any contacts you had made during the programme to ask for advice.

Coming from a non-finance degree, I have learnt a huge amount from this programme, that will assist with not only my interest in the financial industry, but many of the skills I have developed can be applied to my degree form now on. I will definitely be able to apply the skills I learnt to a wide range of ventures.

As soon as we arrived we were provided with a detailed timetable of all the events occurring that week. Markets ad banking were explained separately on different days which aided understanding and also assisted with deciding which division to interview within on the Friday assessment day. There was never a session that I felt was not necessary or not relevant.

The atmosphere within Barclays is excellent- everyone is so positive about their jobs and the environment in which they work. I felt at ease during the insight due to all of the assistance and guidance I received. Barclays key values are definitely exhibited within their workplace and made the whole experience really enjoyable.

I felt that every session developed my prior knowledge in some way. There was an opportunity to work shadow a member of the structuring team (which was a division I had chosen prior to the programme) in groups of two, which was particularly insightful, and I was grateful that individuals had given up their time to explain their roles to us.

The work shadowing was particularly useful, as we sat at a member of the structuring team's desk and observed the work he was undertaking while it was explained to us. Multiple individuals spoke to us throughout the week period and each gave a useful insight into how their roles vary and what skills are needed for them.

Throughout the week, Barclays values were explained to us and were displayed by people who gave up their time to speak to us. Just being able to see panels interact with each other gave us an understanding of how colleagues interact on a daily basis. Everyone who I spoke to on the placement genuinely wanted to help me get the most out of the experience.

This insight was incredibly useful in assisting with deciding my future career path, and has definitely enlightened me to all of the different career opportunities within Barclays alone. I now know divisions which require traits that I possess that I can look into for the future, whilst also having gained an understanding of particular divisions that I may not be as confident in.

I was provided with a one off payment for this experience which I also have used to reimburse my travel costs. I was only travelling within London, so did not apply for my expenses to be reimbursed, but this was an option that had been given to me should I have needed it.

Every day there was at least one opportunity to network and meet Barclays employees, whether that be over lunch or at an evening event. At these networking lunches there were around 7-10 employees who would interact with everyone so that there were many opportunities to meet many different individuals with many different roles.

The networking opportunities were very useful- I met a wide range of different people who had many different roles within Barclays who were all really friendly and approachable. Many of them kindly offered their contact details to me so I know now I could contact them should I have any more questions.

Over the networking lunches not only were employees work lives discussed, but also their own hobbies and interests outside of the workplace. For instance one employee was talking to us about how he is going on a ski trip with his team, and also how he maintained a work- life balance.

I definitely would recommend this insight to a friend- I have learnt so much and developed many of my skills over the past week, which will be useful in the long and short term. The atmosphere at Barclays could not be more inclusive and I have greatly enjoyed the experience.