Intern Review

I really enjoyed the opportunities that have been given to me during my time at the internship. Even though I interned in Human Resources, I was encouraged to meet up with senior individuals all across Barclays to get a good introduction to the company and properly see if this is the company I can see myself working at in the future.

Being an intern can be quite difficult in larger companies. I found that often my managers would be busy and that interns are not necessarily everyone's number 1 priority (which is completely acceptable as I could see how busy they are!). The people I worked closer with were all so friendly and helpful - it could just get quite difficult when contacting those outside my department.

The most difficult thing about the job is that I was thrown in the deep end from the start as I wasn't given any direct objectives or a final product I should be working towards. That being said, even though it was daunting at first, it has been a good learning experience allowing me to grow independent.

I was never too busy on a daily basis. Some days were stressful, but altogether I found myself having a good 5 hours per day of having nothing to do. This was a definite downside of not being given any direct objectives to be working towards, which was a bit of a shame.

I was trusted with information from the start and given a good insight into the type of work that the company has been doing. However in the projects I was leading myself, even though i was given a lot of responsibility in the sense of finding my own work, I wasn't given valuable responsibility.

I study something which does not relate to the internship I have completed. However, there were some transferable skills, particularly soft skills that will be useful in interacting with fellow students. There were no hard skills like Excel or word that I could transfer to my education, which I would have been happy about.

I was based on a different floor to the rest of the interns in my department, and I was also based on a floor where a lot of different departments work in a large space. The area is hot desking which meant sitting next to new people every day and not having direct contact to the team.

The introduction and communication through the graduate recruitment team was done well. I feel like there was however no accountability when managers/ our team did not do what they were instructed to (in terms of intern guidance and mentoring) . I would have like more guidance and structure during the internship, not just before and after.

The company does have good resources but I feel like not enough was done to bring this to the attention of the interns. There was a lot of mandatory training included which was insightful, but not really helpful in personal development or training. The company does invest a lot in its permanent employees however from what I have seen.

The company itself has great future employment prospects and it was explained to us from the start that moving jobs within the company can be easily done. Even though I am not sure I want to remain in the department I interned in, I think I will be interested in joining a different department within Barclays.

The other interns were all lovely. They made coming into work a lot more exciting and it was fun to have a great social scene among us. There were weekly catch ups and after work drinks, which made living in London a lot more fun. There were even some social events with coworkers.

London and particularly Canary Wharf is a very expensive area. Going for drinks after work seems to be THE thing to do whilst working here, but it's not all that fun when you're leaving £20 at the bar each time you go. Probably would've been better to buy bottles at a supermarket.

London has so much on offer. You will always find someone going out in the evening, whether it is clubbing or sports activities, etc. There are loads of opportunities around the city and clubbing is lovely, albeit quite pricey. Definitely a good place for socializing altogether, and a great place for students.

There were not that many opportunities to get involved in outside of work. Some of my colleagues went to the gym below the building, but even though this was subsidized it was still quite pricey for a student. Not really much else to get involved in other than going for a drink.