HR Analyst Review

I really enjoyed my internship with Barclays because it was insightful and the culture of Barclays is welcoming and supportive. I felt like I was a part of the team and could not have asked for better colleagues! The internship gave me a great grounding in understanding the bank and their values.

I really felt valued by my colleagues, and this was seen from the onset- everyone was really supportive and wanted to ensure that i do my best. I was also very valued by my line manager who ensure that i was always pushing myself and creating work to the best standard, which helped me develop as a person.

My line manager went above and beyond in helping me do well on this internship. We kept up constant communication and i felt that i can approach her if i had any questions or wanted advice on how to improve my performance, or general advice on any project that i was working on.

It was mixed, at the beginning i was very busy meeting people and getting started on the project and settling in. In the middle of my internship when i started to settle in, the workload decreased slightly but then the last 2 weeks have been very busy, especially to prepare and close up projects that i have been working on.

i was given the responsibility of owning an entire project during my placement, however it is understandable that not full ownership is given, but i found that it was a perfect balance as i was able to take on more responsibility if i asked for it. however, most of the time we supported on projects rather than being responsible for them.

It definitely helped me understand what it takes to stay motivated and to be very efficient and productive during the day. the best skill that i will take away is expanding my curiosity and being more externally aware. it also taught me how to bring solutions to the table rather than just spotting problems

It really depends on the floor that you work on, as i see that some floors are the typical office based culture that you can imagine, however other floors are more laid back and casual- this can be see in the style of social areas they have e.g. sofas, and the dress style of colleagues vary on different floors.

The placement was very well organised and we attended at least one intern event a week, but mostly these we sessions based on discussing areas of the function we are in with a direct or managing director. there was only approx 2 networking sessions which i was surprised about and hoped there would be more. however, the learning sessions were very useful.

The employment prospects are immense and there is a lot of opportunity to progress, it is well known that students can progress from spring week, to summer intern and then be offered a graduate scheme. I found that i personally do want to work for Barclays in the future and one of the main reasons why is down to the prospects of career progression.

Canary wharf is a very expensive area, and generally london itself, however this came as no surprise and we planned for it to be the case. the thing that shocked me the most is that many of us didn't actually consider the deductions from tax and national insurance when planning our budget, hence we actually had less leftover even when we budgeted due to these deductions. however if you are smart with your money it is possible to not spent too much.

In london it is the perfect place to be for nightlife, but around canary wharf specifically there is not too much especially if you are on a budget. We tended to go for drinks in canary wharf as it had many places close to the office, and if we wanted to go on nights out, we went to shoreditch or camden.