Glasgow Spring Week Review

I really loved the Insight Week at Barclays, it was so interesting to learn so much about the use of technology within the bank and the opportunity to meet so many lovely people. I found it really valuable, it has completely changed my view on technology within a bank.

I felt like the company really valued all of us on the programme. They made such an effort to make us feel welcome, to help us to learn as much as possible during a relatively short period of time, and they were really invested in helping us to see whether Barclays was the place for us.

The HR team in particular, Anne-Marie and Rachel, were so wonderful and supportive throughout the week. You could tell that they really wanted all of us to get as much from it as possible, as well as having a really fun time. We had the opportunity to network with so many people and ask as many questions as possible to help guide us to the correct choice for us.

As this was an insight week, we were mainly focused on improving so called soft skills such as communication, leadership and teamwork, all of which are key skills. The information we received however, was genuinely invaluable, it has helped me so much when it comes to trying to decide where I want my career to go.

The insight week was very structured, we received a fully fleshed out agenda for each day and this schedule was followed really well. Administratively, all the different people were very well organised, moving between locations was made really easy and I would definitely say that the structure worked really well.

The atmosphere was absolutely the best thing about this insight week. The people on the programme were so lovely and we really did form friendships throughout this week. I think we're all sad to see it come to an end, we would love to have more time to spend with each other!

I felt that the company really invested in us, they were very focused on showing us as many aspects of the bank as possible and helping us to have the skills that we would need to succeed in our final interview.

This was definitely the key focus of the insight week. We met with loads of people working in different roles in order to understand what their daily lives entail.

This was another aim of the insight week, we heard from lots of people regarding their experience of the culture.

Every day had many interesting sessions that would help us to decide whether a particular area interested us.

As someone who was less than 1.5hrs away, one return trip to Glasgow was reimbursed. We were also paid for the week.

So many, this was one of the best parts of the week. We had a networking evening, a networking session with current graduates, work shadowing opportunities.

Really great, as mentioned above, there was the networking evening and a networking session organised with the grads.

This is one thing that perhaps I didn't find out too much about, however, there were so many opportunities to ask questions that you definitely could have asked.

Definitely, I have found it so fun and valuable and would absolutely recommend it to anyone who thinks there is a possibility they would be interested in tech in a finance company, or even if not, it may change their mind!