Spring intern - operations Review

I completed my operations insight week at Barclays. It was a really good experience, but also quite intense and competitive. The week started off with presentations from different people in the firm and that theme ran through the entire week. We finished off with our group presentations, which we were given at the start of the week.

Surprisingly, I thought that during my week at Barclays, it felt like I was an employee. I can imagine some companies treating their spring interns as if they are worth less, but the culture at Barclays was great and even people who were not part of the spring week were there to answer any questions we had.

The whole point of completing this type of program is to get a deeper understanding of the company and the processes in the company. This can only be best understood when someone explains it, which was done very well. Not only did we get a good insight to the company, but every speaker and leader we had was happy to take any questions.

I think it was not so much that my skills developed that much? But I definitely gained more confidence. The program makes you throw yourself out there and not be a afraid of standing up and speaking in front of a new group of people. This is something that I will take with me.

The program was incredibly well structured. The schedule was packed for the week but things ran smoothly and even when there were issues with the Underground, which meant one speaker could not make it, that talk was substituted for another speaker. All in all it was well organised and I never felt like I did not know what to do.

It was competitive and quite intense, but also very enjoyable. The people I met during the week were very nice and I got along well with my group for my presentation, which helps a lot. There were about 25 of us, all with different personalities so there was a great mix of people.

The training exercises were all put in place to develop all of us. There was even an external personal development company that came in to teach us more about development and leadership. This really made me feel important and as though Barclays invested both money and time in me.

It did so very much, and that was my goal with the week, to get a deeper understanding of the culture and of gen day to day processes of the company and the different divisions we experienced. We also had work shadowing which obviously helped a lot in realising what the daily activities involve.

Yes, overall I thought the insight did what I hoped it would. From presentations to work shadowing, the people we heard from all presented the Barclays culture to be a great one, and that is something I felt as well.

Very much so, even from day one I felt like I could work in one of the divisions that presented. But it also made me realise that there are divisions I would not want to work with. You have to go in with an open mind and think about what you want.

I was paid £250 for the week, and as I live in London I did now need to be reimbursed for travel expenses.

Yes, there was an after work networking event in the middle of the week which was very helpful. This gave us a chance to speak to graduates and people from all over the company.

As said in the previous answer, the opportunities were good. We had networking events with graduates and other people from the firm. But make sure to ask questions all the time as the speakers are there to answer them.

This wa snot something they told us explicitly, but you could always get the answers by just asking. This is what the graduates helped us with at the networking event.

Yes, absolutely. This type of experience does not come around often and they are highly competitive, but I encourage people to apply and if they get in, it is a great experience not only to put on your CV but it truly develops you as well.