Summer Intern Review

The 6 week experience was a really enjoyable and rewarding experience. The whole 6 weeks was packed full with events put on for us interns such as training and insight events, but at the same time we had the time to work with our assigned teams on a real life project to get a greater understanding and learn about working at the Bank. We also had the chance to meet with and speak to various senior colleagues to gain valuable insight from them.

During the whole time I felt really valued, there was a lot of effort put into welcoming us to the firm in the right way and making sure that we had plenty of points of contact for any issues encountered. In terms of the team I worked with specifically they were incredibly welcoming and happy to help me and answer any questions I had whilst working with them or about anything else that I came across during my time at the firm.

At the start we were given various different colleagues who were different points of call for us to get guidance and support. For me the most useful were my Line Manage and my buddie, I had daily catch up calls with them where they'd help me and give me specific tasks related to the audit we were working on to make sure that I got the most out of my experience. They were also really happy for me to ask any questions I had at any point in the internship.

Through the wide range of training we received there were plenty of skills I learnt or developed that will help me in life beyond the internship. These go from technical knowledge around the financial sector, to training around excel but also more generic skills like soft skills learnt from various sessions but also then the real life opportunity to put these skills to test when for example speaking to senior colleagues within the firm or even just for day to day interactions with team members.

I think there was a clear structure for the internship, whilst it may have differed depending on the team each intern was working in, I found that across the 6 weeks I built up from having lots of time spent on training to develop my skills to having more and more opportunities to help out with my team and complete discrete tasks that I was set. I think the expectations were also made pretty clear about how the internship would progress.

The overall atmosphere was hugely positive. From the first day and our induction sessions with all of the interns in our area there was a really positive feel and it seemed like a really welcoming place. This was emphasised by the team I was working with, all of them were really friendly and welcoming and happy to have a meeting with me to give me some advice and just let me learn more generally from their experiences in the firm. Even the more senior colleagues were really positive and welcoming in the calls we had as interns with them.

We had large amounts of personal training and development sessions throughout the time spent as an intern. This ranged from skills that were very specific to my role but also to more general skills around the financial sector and then also other skills such as soft skills that will be really helpful in many different areas of life going forward. This training continued right up to the end of the internship showing that there was an emphasis on personal development even towards the end.

I found that it gave me a really good insight into what it would be like to have a full time roll within the firm, I was able to be involved in real tasks and witness genuine meetings to get a much better understanding of the day to day workings within the department. Whilst it was virtual due to the time so was everyone else so it maybe gave a different version of the day to day workings of the team but still it was worthwile

I think the company culture was something that was reference a lot throughout the time I spent at the firm. Right from the start we were made to consider and reflect upon the values and company culture and those values have underpinned all that we've done and something we've had to reflect upon more as we've got towards the end of the experience. I think also all the people at the firm have demonstrated the culture to show that the culture is more than just words on a page

It has been extremely helpful, going into the internship I thought it seemed like an interesting department but did not really know the day to day work that it would involve but thanks to this experience I have been able to understand it much more and now I feel that I am well informed to make a decision of my future as I feel I would love to start my career in this department at Barclays if given the chance.

We were paid a good amount for the time we spent at the firm

We had plenty of opportunities to be in talks from very senior colleagues and to ask questions and learn from them. We also had various chances to speak in smaller groups with senior colleagues and as well as this were encouraged to go out and set up meetings with other senior staff members who we wanted to find out more from. All the people I reached out to were really receptive and happy to speak to me.

In terms of social opportunities due to the virtual nature of the internship there was limited scope for what we were able to do. As interns within our department we set up calls to get to know each other but there were not many organised chances to socialise but to be fair I don't know how successful these would have been given they were online. IN terms of networking there were chances to have exposure to senior colleagues and set up meetings with many different colleagues from different areas.

Again due to the virtual nature of the internship there was a limit to how much of this we could see. We were given talks on certain groups that we could get involved with if we were to join full time but I think we did not see all of the opportunities due to the fact that everything had to be completed online so potentially this could be something that you would see more of if you were in the office

I would definitely recommend this experience to a friend as I believe it has been a really positive experience, it has given me a much better understanding of the function but also of the bank as a whole and has helped me to find out the type of place it is to work and that it is somewhere I could see myself working in the future. It has also taught be various skills that I'll use in various areas of life going forward