Customer Banking Solutions Intern at Barclays UK Review

I really enjoyed the virtual experience and it surpassed the hopes I had for an online internship, when I was initially disappointed to not be doing it in Canary Wharf. Everyone at Barclays made me feel really involved and those who ran the internship made sure that we always had plenty to do. The only shame is the lack of human contact, however that was to be expected and is clearly something outside of all of our controls.

I felt really valued during this time. Aside from the internship work we were set, other colleagues genuinely asked for our point of view on things and set us additional work. It was nice to see that they did really appreciate the potential we had. Furthermore, we were encouraged to reach out to employees throughout the business who's area was something of interest to us- when doing this not one person turned us down regardless of how senior their position was.

I received a lot of support during this experience. Initially there were some complications with my line manager being away, but another line manager stepped up to the plate in the meantime and really made me and my peers feel as if we had someone to lean back on. Then when my line manager returned it was fab because we essentially had two people there giving us plenty of support. The only issue was that due to the virtual nature it was sometimes hard to gain guidance for our project over emails- to have been able to talk to people more frequently face to face may have aided this.

I think the skills I've picked up with assist me massively in the future. This is the first internship I've done and through the last 6 weeks I have learnt a huge amount, not only about how an internship works, but about varying sectors of a bank and the niche roles that people work in. Shadowing calls I have picked up so much information regarding business etiquette and how things are run. The insight I have gained will benefit me hugely in a business environment in the future.

I think it was very well structured. We were sent email invitations to events which when we accepted would enter our calendar so we could very easily see what we were doing when. Individual development sessions that were spread out across the 6 weeks were excellent in reflecting on our own self development and a line manager ensured that we stuck to our set objectives and seized all available opportunities that we were given. Furthermore, being allocated greater stretches of 'group work' time allowed us to be flexible with completing our tasks which was a great help when working from home.

The general atmosphere was very positive during my experience. Both employees and interns had a feeling of excitement. I think I was very lucky that my project group, the peers who I spent most of my time with, were a great bunch of people and because of that there was never a bad atmosphere. Barclays colleagues were also upbeat and cheery whenever we would encounter them and on the whole I can scarcely remember any negativity.

Barclays invested in me through a number of ways. Having access to the Learning Lab not only provided insight into the culture of Barclays and the extent to which they invest in their colleagues, but also gave me the opportunity to try this out for myself. We also had 4 set sessions where we were spoken to about our own self development and provided with a guide to refer back to and study in our own time. Therefore I would say they invested in us greatly.

The virtual experience allowed me to understand what it would be like to have a full time role within Barclays up until a certain extent. It gave me brilliant insight into the working roles and career paths that Barclays employees have, however as this was only virtual I naturally wont have understood this fully as it wasn't within an office context. Yet for what it was I think I got a good idea of what it would be like.

I feel that I really understand the company culture. Never before have I seen a company so intertwined with its values.

It was very valuable as I now understand an area of financial services that previously I had very limited insight on.

We were actively encouraged to go and contact people from within the business who we felt we wanted to speak to. There was also a speaker series where our recruitment team interviewed people from senior positions and we were able to understand more about who they are the career path that they took.

Social event opportunities were essentially non- existent, apart from one quiz, however I don't think that's a criticism on the internship as it was virtual and 9-5 should be for work whilst we would have socialized outside of these hours.

Yes we learnt lots about the different networks that you can join and what goes on in them!

Yes I would definitely recommend this virtual experience to a friend. It was more than I could have hoped for and I am so glad that I did it.