Summer Intern Review

I really enjoyed my virtual experience working with Barclays. Originally the internship was meant to be based in London and to be done in person, however due to Covid it had to switch to a virtual internship. Despite the short time to change the internship to a virtual nature, Barclays were successfully able to incorporate all the training we would normally get in person to online through things like WebEx. Barclays made sure that we weren't just focusing on working within our teams either but also allowed us to get involved in other projects, e.g. charity work, resulting in a very enjoyable experience.

During my virtual internship at Barclays, I felt like a valued member of not only my team but also wider Barclays in general. I was not given mediocre and not valuable tasks, rather I was often given the ability to lead different projects, helping me feel like a valued member of Barclays. My team always encouraged me to ask questions and were always happy to give me constructive feedback on any work I had completed, which I could see would have a long term impact for some of Barclays customers.

I was able to get in contact with several of the senior leadership team and they were all willing to spare an hour out of their days in order to answer any questions that I had, along with giving me really helpful advice that I will be able to take into my future career. Also if I ever had any issues or questions my team were willing to set aside time out of their day to support me and help me through anything that I needed help on. Overall I felt that I received more than enough guidance and support throughout my internship.

By far and away the most valuable thing I gained from the internship were the skills it has taught me. I have been able to develop my organisational and time management skills more than ever, which will be extremely valuable to me as I begin my final year studies at university. I have also been able to improve my networking skills and presentation skills, which will be very valuable to me both after I finish my degree and during my working life.

The internship was well structured. There was a mix of both training throughout the week and time dedicated to our teams where they were able to set us tasks to do, or shadow them. The only drawback sometimes was that the training was often one after the other, e.g. we had back to back training about financial markets, which was quite difficult to follow all the way through due to its complexity. However, overall there was a really good structure to the internship and I never felt like I had nothing to do!

Overall, the general atmosphere of the virtual internship was excellent, and I find it really hard to find any faults with it. Everyone who I spoke to was very friendly and supportive, and if I needed anything I knew that they would set time aside for me anytime I needed it. The internship promoted a learning environment which is unrivalled to any experience you may be able to gain elsewhere. The atmosphere of the internship really drove home the importance of the Barclays values and promoted them heavily throughout my time.

Barclays heavily invested in my personal training and development throughout my time. They included trainings all throughout my time at Barclays, across a range of different areas and topics, whether that was improving my technical knowledge on subjects, or improving some of my soft skills. There was a clear drive from Barclays to make sure we were reaching our full potential during our time with them, which I found really helpful as I can take this training into my final year at university

The virtual internship really helped me get a better understanding of what life would be like working full time at Barclays. For 6 weeks I was treated as an equal member of the team where I had to perform daily and weekly duties, the same as I would if I was a full time employee. I was also given previews as to what the graduate scheme entailed so I could understand more what I would do if I were successful to get onto the scheme

I was able to gain a much greater understanding of the culture that Barclays promotes throughout my internship. Not only was I able to see the Barclays values in action every day through things like my teams interactions with one another, but also the ready availability of the senior management team, which helped me understand Barclays culture that it promotes through its values. Overall I was able to understand the culture of Barclays is exactly what it's values represent which is excellent!

The content that I learned throughout my internship at Barclays will be invaluable for me in deciding my future career path. Through this experience I have been able to experience what it is like not only working in the service line I chose, but also what it is like in working in a major financial institution within financial services. This experience is incredibly valuable as it has let me come to an informed decision as to whether or not this area is the right are for my long term career plans

I was paid a pro rata salary of what my position would normally be in the company, which was a really great as I would have done the job for free just because of the amount of invaluable experience it has given me! I was also given a relocation payment for any travel or accommodation that I might have needed (as originally the internship was meant to be in person but converted to virtual, and even then they let us keep it!)

There were loads of opportunities to network and meet other employees who were working at Barclays. I was able to network and talk to Barclays employees across all of the different functions, whether they were in Asia, Europe or America. I was also given the opportunity to have talks from different areas across the business as part of our training, which acted as a great source for networking as we were able to talk to these people and have initial contact with them through the programme!

There was a decent number of social opportunities available to us in order to not only get to know the other interns within our functions and other areas, but also social opportunities to network with members of your team not in a working environment. As the internship changed to a virtual one there were not necessarily loads of these opportunities and they may have varied by team, but my team often had a social event once a week where we would get together for lunch virtually and not discuss work

I was given loads of information about different activities I could get involved in that weren't necessarily part of my job description. I was given the opportunity to participate in charity work throughout my time at Barclays, along with the ability to patriciate in different groups across a whole range of functions in developing new ways that Barclays could try and make a long term sustainable impact on things like local enterprises, and the green initiative.

I absolutely would recommend my virtual internship with Barclays to a friend. The experience that I have been able to gather throughout my internship has proved invaluable to me, along with the outstanding advice that I have been able to receive off of senior managers, along with my team. This experience and advice is something that I will be able to take forward with me in my long career and so for that reason alone, if the opportunity to do this internship is there I would highly recommend it!