Customer Banking Solutions Summer Intern Review

It was quite enjoyable, I found working with the other interns as well as various members of my project group quite pleasant. Given the circumstances, there was a reasonable amount of work and a lot of virtual speaker events that made me appreciate the effort that went into organizing a virtual internship on very short notice. Although there was some stress related to IT issues, the virtual only nature etc. Barclays did everything they could to resolve these issues quickly.

I would say that I felt very valued by the interns that I worked with and by the recruitment team that were always looking out for us. At times the actual project work felt a bit more like a learning experience than something that would have a real impact. This was again mostly because everything was done virtually, and because the internship was cut short, neither of which Barclays could do anything about, but I would have been interested to contribute to some 'real work' even if it would have been a lot more routine/less high level.

Line manager and buddy support were hyped up quite a bit, however I found that the weekly meetings with my project leader ended up being the biggest source of support and guidance. I would say the support was a 10 but the guidance was a 4, hence the 7. Always very positive of whatever it was we were doing, but unless we had serious issues it was very much self-directed. I did not mind this too much, but could see it being an issue for some.

Not very. The first two weeks were quite slow due to IT issues (again, beyond Barclays' control) and when I did get online the project did not demand much time on a day to day basis after the initial research phase as much of the time spent was scheduling meetings/waiting for those meetings. The speaker events etc. started out quite interesting and technical, however towards the end became less frequent and more personal/about the career of the speaker, which could be hit or miss depending on if it was an area of interest for me. Large chunks of time were dedicated to self-directed learning, but these are relatively quick to accomplish.

I don't view this as a shortcoming so much as an unfortunate consequence of the virtual internship, but I can't say I was given any responsibility. I was responsible for a presentation, but as mentioned earlier this felt more like a learning opportunity than anything and would only have consequences for me and my partner if it was done poorly. But I don't see how you could effectively delegate meaningful responsibility to virtual interns, to be honest.

I think I developed a lot of skills that will be useful in the future, namely when it comes to communication. The virtual internship was a unique challenge in getting in touch with other people, networking, asking for help, collaborating and doing research, all without seeing another person face to face. Overcoming that challenge helped me improve my communication skills and become more confident. The more technical speaker events at the beginning of the internship as well as some of the self-directed learning resources also taught me valuable Excel and Python skills which will be helpful beyond my degree.

No office, but people were incredibly open and helpful whenever reached out to. I was surprised by how willing everyone was to take time out of their day to explain their role, give advice or just chat. It's a testament to the company's culture that despite the stress of current events, everyone was always upbeat, open and happy to share. I learned a lot from these meetings, and it is even part of the internship's goals to meet with Directors/MDs, so a great opportunity/excuse to meet someone you would otherwise never meet!

All things considered, very well. It was quite obvious to me that Barclays has an excellently organized internship program that relied heavily on in person events and meetings which was disrupted by current events. The fact that they managed to get everyone online, and committed to having the internship regardless, is a testament to their adaptability and organization. IT issues made this fall short of seamless, but it was impressively close and I'm sure that anyone who interns there will have an even smoother experience that I did.

Not really, but this was probably due to the fact that we were all working from home so we never had an opportunity to meet face to face. That makes it a lot more difficult to break the ice and hang out socially. That said, being at home with my family, I can't say that it's something that I particularly missed, and it's very much dependent on your group etc. it could easily have gone the other way.

I can't really speak to these aspects as I was working from home.