Marketing Summer Intern Review

The 9 weeks I spent interning at Barclays were very enjoyable as well as rich in learning experiences. The programme was thoroughly planned by HR, with many learning sessions and networking events, aimed to expose us to a wide variety of roles and opportunities in the business. My team and Line Manager were very supportive, friendly, and mindful to provide detailed feedback on my work.

One of the things I enjoyed most at Barclays was its warm and friendly culture. My colleagues really valued my contribution to the project I was working on and always gave me credit for the progress achieved. Both junior and senior colleagues were more than willing to meet up with interns, share their experiences and provide honest advice on our own career paths. I was impressed by how they always managed to find time for catching up with me and how they asked for and listened to my opinion, always treating me as an equal.

The balance between guidance and independence was perfect. During my first week, my manager helped me immerse myself into the project, introduced me to all the people I would be working with and explained my upcoming tasks. Afterwards, I was given full responsibility for my schedule: I was working at the pace I chose, and reporting as often as I felt the need to do so. For me, this worked really well: I was motivated to work hard and do my best, and at the same time I was not afraid to ask for advice when I needed it. One minor challenge was that my team was based in a different location than mine, and sometimes reaching out was slightly more difficult. However my Manager and I developed a great professional relationship despite my working remotely.

During my internship, I worked on a single on-going project. This meant I sometimes had a large volume of work, especially halfway through my internship, when I was familiar enough with my tasks and the processes to follow and thus reached a peak of productivity and efficiency. This was great, as I was motivated to complete my project by the end of the programme. My last couple of weeks were less busy and so I no longer needed to stay overtime. It is important to highlight that there was no micromanagement in the office: as long as you get your work done, no one would check how early you come or how late you leave.

I was given the lead on a project, which was rather unique among the interns and so I am very grateful for the opportunity. Knowing that I am responsible for the successful delivery of this project definitely enhanced my motivation, and managing communications between different stakeholders was a challenge that I welcomed and enjoyed. Not only did I get to set up good professional relationships across my business area, but I also got a more realistic taste of what a full-time job here entails.

I would definitely feel more confident now in a professional environment, especially in such a big firm as Barclays. Although my internship here was not directly related to the field I study at University, I feel that my greatest takeaways are project management, campaign delivery and stakeholder communications - all of which are definitely transferable so I feel this experience really set me up for future success.

As per my previous comments, the atmosphere was great, and everyone sought to make us feel welcome and appreciated. I was assigned a buddy and a mentor, who both invested a lot of time in me and were always keen to provide advice throughout the programme. The wider team also organised social events, which were great fun as well as a perfect opportunity to get to know my colleagues outside the office.

We had a couple of days of initial training, then many learning sessions and networking events throughout the whole 9 weeks. HR also scheduled meetings between interns and senior managers whom we probably would not have approached otherwise. Unfortunately some of these meetings were rescheduled with a really short notice, and then it became difficult for me to manage conflicting appointments. Sometimes I had to prioritise project-related activities over interns-only sessions, but I am aware that diary-management is one of the skills we are expected to pick up here. Both my manager and my HR contact were understanding when I explained this situation to them. Overall I feel that these sessions added a lot of value to the programme, introducing us to various people and helping us interns build connections with each other.

There are many things that Barclays did to invest in our personal development: we had trainings and insights into entrepreneurship, citizenship, FinTech and innovation, diversity and inclusion in the workplace etc. Barclays is great at offering opportunities for its employees and as interns, we had the chance to experience this first-hand.

Barclays is definitely a place I would thrive in. I was very happy with the culture, the work-life balance, the opportunities for internal mobility, and the people in my team. Moreover, new joiners in the Graduate Scheme have an opportunity to rotate across four different teams - which is very appealing to me as I would love to explore different roles before settling for one.

Every intern was assigned to a different team, so we did not get to work together too much. However, we would often meet during the lunch break and we also interacted during the trainings and networking events. Hence we ended up developing a really good group dynamic, and I am sure we will keep in contact.

London always tends to be quite expensive and I did spent more that I would have liked on food and transport. But having a subsidised canteen and gym at worked really helped.

I do not know anything about the nightlife in the area I worked - I lived 40 minutes away by bus so I tended to explore the pubs/clubs closer to my accommodation rather than my workplace.

There were many opportunities for socialising and volunteering that one could take on together with colleagues from all over the Bank. Barclays has several Networks focused on citizenship and activism, as well as many clubs that join together people with the same hobbies. There are also several programmes focused on health and wellbeing, including sporting clubs.