Spring Week Intern Review

The Spring Insight Programme was an enjoyable experience overall. It was admittedly quite tiring and I felt somewhat drained upon completion, but it was very fast-paced and exciting and I learned a lot. It was especially great to get exposure to different areas of the bank. I would definitely recommend it to anyone considering a career in Finance.

All the employees I spoke to at Barclays were very friendly, kind and generous with their time. There genuinely seems to be a culture where people take interest in and care about each other. Networking events provided an excellent opportunity to get to know people from different areas of the bank and those I emailed were very receptive and open to meeting for coffee etc.

As mentioned previously, everyone I spoke to was very open and warm. People were more than willing to offer advice on how to make the most of the spring week/how to choose a division, and HR gave good advice from the outset on how to make the most of the spring week.

I want to pursue a career in finance, so the more in-depth knowledge and understanding of different areas of investment banks that I gained through the week will undoubtedly prove valuable to me in my career. The extent to which it will directly impact my Economics studies is somewhat debatable, but I would definitely say it heightened my appreciation for the limitations of my subject.

It was very well structured. We had a schedule of the events from the very start of the week, with some team building exercises the first day, markets the second day, investment banking the third day, and an assessment centre on the final day. It's possible that a few of the speakers may have been different to what was planned, but overall it flowed seamlessly.

There was a very vibrant and friendly atmosphere throughout the week. Both the other participants of the scheme and the employees that we spoke with were very outgoing and confident, and there was very much a sense of camaraderie. This was enhanced by the team building exercise, and very much felt like a part of Barclays' culture.

They made an effort to provide us with general skills which would be useful in any career. For example, we had an insightful exercise to develop our persuasive speaking skills, which we were then to apply as part of our assessment centre. I found value in the tips provided and will try to apply them in other aspects of my life.

People often spoke about their role and in some of the talks we got a rundown of a 'day in the life' for juniors in different roles. We also did some work shadowing and case studies representative of different roles, but as we did not actually do work useful for the bank, it's difficult to fully grasp.

It was very helpful. Ultimately Barclays culture is the primary reason I intend to accept my internship offer with them; through speaking to the people in the firm and watching the way in which they interact with others, I got a genuine sense that people enjoy their work, that they like the people they work with and treat each other with kindness.

We had ample insight into various areas of the bank, with talks/exercises on Structuring, Trading, Sales, Trade Capture, Equity Research, M&A and Risk Solutions Group. We also had the opportunity to work shadow someone from the division which we were interested in, which gave us time to ask more detailed questions and see the day to day work.

We received £250 as well as reimbursed travel and accommodation expenses.

Yes, there were numerous networking events throughout the week

They were excellent - the events were numerous and varies.

Yes - we received talks from various diversity groups and the activities they organised.

Absolutely! It was a very enjoyable experience and enabled me to meet a diverse group of intelligent, driven people from various universities. It was very useful in deciding on my future career path, and it also provided the opportunity to practice public speaking, interview technique and convert to an internship.