Summer Operations Analyst Review

My internship provided me with great opportunities to network with valuable contacts and gain skills which will aid me throughout my career upon graduating from university.

My colleagues trusted me to do jobs within the team and valued my output which fed into the overall project.

My line manager thoroughly supported me throughout my ten-week internship and ensured that he had a weekly catch up with me to ensure that I was on target to achieve my objectives.

Since my work was largely dependent on other stakeholders throughout the business, my workload varied tremendously throughout the internship. At times I would be extremely busy with competing deadlines, whilst at other times I didn't have as much to do.

I was given some responsibility but not a lot. Mainly minor things such as booking meeting rooms for seminars and presentations.

Learned valuable time management and prioritisation skills as a result of my placement. Additionally, thorough use of Excel extensively enhanced my ability with MS Office packages.

There was a good atmosphere within my team, however, as my team was only 5-6 individuals within a larger office, the overall environment within our office was largely quiet. This was mainly because the whole office was made up of sub-groups, therefore the groups rarely interacted with one another. However, Barclays organised events throughout the latter half of my internship, geared towards raising money for charity, which improved the atmosphere in the office, albeit not on my floor.

The internship was very well organised, from the initial training, to events throughout the internship.

We were given extensive e-learning topics to complete prior to beginning our internship. Also, the company invested in a 3 day training programme in London previous to beginning our internship, which was a great experience. This provided a solid grounding in financial markets training (similar to our e-learning), and allowed us the opportunity to network with other interns, mainly those working in London. Throughout the ten-week internship, we had four learning sessions which lasted for one hour, and were geared specifically at Operations related topics, rather than the general financial markets courses we covered in the our pre-internship training.

Received a graduate job offer on completion of my internship and it appears that the Glasgow campus of Barclays will continue to grow in the future, with middle office roles moving out from the high-cost centre in London.

There was practically no social scene amongst fellow interns. We met up for coffee once or twice, but outwith this did practically nothing. The only social events amongst the interns was the mid-term social organised by Barclays and the final day of work where we all went out. Outwith this, there was no social scene.

The cost of living and socialising in Glasgow is relatively cheap, certainly much cheaper than London.

The nightlife in Glasgow is brilliant, with plenty of bars, pubs and clubs in the city centre. Most are a couple of minutes walk from the office and easy to get to after work.

Not many. Didn't participate in much outside of work, as the opportunities to do so never really presented itself, other than drinks with my team on 1 or 2 occasions.