Customer Banking Solutions Intern Review

I'm currently on week 4 of 9 of my summer internship, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I have had the opportunity to work on my own projects, as well as work alongside my colleagues on existing projects. I have explored many different areas of the bank already, and I will continue to do so.

The team I am part of is very small, and so we all have a very good relationship. They are all really kind to me, and always say to not worry and ask questions when I don't understand something. One of my colleagues gave me a Recognition of Excellence last week for a piece of work I am doing for his project, so I feel very valued by my colleagues.

My Line Manager is very supportive. Although we are not always based in the same place, she always sends me check-up emails to ensure I am doing well. I also have regular contact with the Director in my team, and she also looks out for me, and invites me to meetings she thinks I may be interested in.

One of the things I'm most enjoying about being here is having proper work to do. I always have something to do, so I would say I am quite busy on a daily basis. I work on various different projects at one time, so it is varied and interesting work.

I have been given a lot of responsibility. On the group project I'm working on with my team I have been given my own section to do and run alone. I also have been given the task of creating a set of documents which will be circulated around my team, so I have a good amount of responsibility.

The skills I have learnt so far have been undeniably useful in so many ways - I have learnt time management, critical thinking, and how to properly engage with customers and devise solutions specifically tailored to their needs. I have learnt a lot about proper conduct at work, too, which will be very useful in future working environments.

The atmosphere is very friendly in my office. The floor is all hot-desking, so you quite often will sit next to new people and everyone is always very friendly and open to talking with you. it has quite a relaxed atmosphere, too, so it makes working seem less daunting here.

The internship is very well organised - I always have events from the Graduate Recruitment team in my calendar, and they make sure you have a wide range of experiences here. The first few training days were well organised, too, as we had many talks from people from different areas in the bank.

In the training week, we had various different training sessions, including but not limited to Financial Markets, Cyber Security etc. Furthermore, we also have a coding workshop coming up soon, so they are really ensuring that we have a solid base in various different areas of the bank that we could work in.

As a summer intern, there is a chance that I receive a graduate job offer after the internship, so there is a chance that I will be employed full-time by Barclays in the future. I would really like to be hired here, as I feel like the culture is so good for such a prestigious firm.

With regard to the social scene in Barclays, there is a WhatsApp group which some interns are a part of, but there are still many interns who are not a part of that. I am in the group myself, but I haven't yet met up with other interns outside of work.

During my internship, I haven't been living in London I have been commuting in every day. This makes it cheaper, but I still pay over £350 p/m on train fairs. The pubs around here are expensive, which is to be expected, but it's not as expensive as some areas in London.

I haven't been out at night yet in London, so I can't comment.

There are many activities you can get involved in. There are many different talks happening at various times of the day, and you can also join sports teams here. The Nuffield gym downstairs is £30 p/m, and so many employees go there after work as they have any different classes available.