Corporate Banking Analyst/Intern Review

The environment and people that work here are extremely supportive and friendly, and really try to make you feel as welcome as possible. The team I was placed in, I was not particularly interested in, however, I was given the opportunity to meet with as many people as possible from different business segments, so I had a better idea of what I would want to go into after I graduate.

Everyone at Barclays is super friendly and really try to make you feel at home. Most colleagues are happy to have informal catch-ups for you to learn more about their roles and also get any kind of career advice as well. In my opinion, my catch-up meetings were the most valuable part of my internship as I got to ask questions to many senior members in the bank that would not otherwise be available to me.

In terms of support, my manager provided a lot. I think I was the first person they had ever managed, so it was just as much of a learning curve for them as it was for me. I think that the only qualm I have is that they could have set me a more structured work programme from day one.

The worst thing about my internship is unfortunately, a lot of the time I was left extremely bored. I think a lot of the tasks my manager set for me, she grossly over-estimated the amount of time it would take me to complete it, and when asking for more work, I would get multiple small tasks, which I would be done within an hour and left with no work to do again. Overall, this did not detract from my entire experience, as I could see that the work my team was doing was extremely interesting, and if I did decide to continue on the graduate scheme, I knew I would get much more responsibility and a larger workload. This could have been improved by setting a piece of work at the beginning that would constantly need updating, to do in the time when I was not occupied with day-to-day tasks. Overall, speaking to other interns, this was not the experience they had - I think I was just slightly unlucky with the team/manager I got placed with.

I was given a significant amount of responsibility considering the fact that I am an intern. I think in a lot of very technical roles (which is what my team was), it is difficult to delegate because it is so complicated to come in as a new employee and learn everything. However, my manager set out a good learning plan for me to overcome this problem, and I felt that within the tasks I was set, I had a lot of autonomy.

I think basic professionalism skills are always vital for the future, and as this internship was my first foray into the corporate world, this is something that I will always value. Further to this, some technical skills were learned but not a lot, due to it being difficult to find time to teach me in such a short period (9 weeks).

The general atmosphere was relaxed and friendly - no one expected you to stay past 5.30 or get there ridiculously early. Even though interns are not permitted to work at home, it was good to see that almost everyone on the team works from home at least one day at week.

I think the organisation could be improved by giving us a more clear chance to choose which department to go into during our 9 weeks. This question was asked right at the beginning of the programme, with a drop-down list of team names (which meant nothing to me at the time, as I did not know the structure of the bank!). I think it would be better to send a document through with a brief description of the different teams and then allocate to interns after asking us what we would like to do.

I would be over the moon if I came back as a graduate on the Barclays scheme - I think I was unlucky with the team I was placed in due to a lack of interest, however there are many sections on the graduate rotation that look appealing. Barclays seems like a great place to work for in the future - with many opportunities for career progression.

Obviously London is the most expensive city to live in. Trying to find an apartment/room to rent for nine weeks was proving near to impossible at a low cost, as prices are already high, but then further increase when you are looking at a short-term rental. To keep costs down, many interns lived with friends or family and commuted in every day. My commute was just over an hour (this is very typical for London), but I opted for this than trying to find a very expensive apartment in Canary Wharf, as it saved me a great deal of money.