Spring Finance Intern Review

Everything was well-organised (accomodation, lunch, time tables). Although challenging, we had enough time to get to know other interns and grads.

We had designated networking time during which we could meet senior executives and graduates. Everyone was approachable and answered questions honestly. During work shadowings people were always happy to answer questions (even though they were quite busy). Accommodation provided, workshops, and time invested by employees showed that Barclays invested a lot of time/money in us.

We were given introductory presentations at the begining and a notebook with the most important information in it. HR people were always around to answer questions and we were given a concluding presentation at the end. We also had grads / HR employees' email address to ask any questions after the programme.

We learnt what Barclays expects us to know and which skills will be useful for our prospective roles. We also had special training in general / transferable skills which will come in handy in future jobs.

We were given a time table at the beginning. It was always clear where we had to be at what time.

It was challenging and demanding. However, we also had enough time to talk to each other. Students from outside London stayed in the same apartment blocks and could meet up in the evenings.

We had various workshops during the spring week. Once Barclays even had an outside consultancy coming in to train us. Locations for networking events were great. We also had discussions / presentations specifically for our business area.

We talked to many grads / senior execs and they were generally quite frank about workload / culture. We also had work shadowing sessions to observe the culture directly.

Culture is a big thing for Barclays at the moment and we were given thorough training in their new values. Employees are currently also undergoing this training and it was good to see that these values were relevant to jobs.

I would have liked to see a bit more about different jobs with Barclays. The business is very big and diverse and I don't feel I have seen all of the aspects yet. Having said that I have gained a good first undertanding of the major areas.

We were reimbursed for travel to and from London and had an allowance to cover our expenses during the week.

There were various opportunities to network with employees. They were generally well-organised and there was about one employee for two interns. (although that depends on the division) People were friendly and seemed to enjoy talking to us. The locations for these events were amazing.

There wasn't a session specifically on this but employees mentioned it during the networking event.

For someone who wants to go into banking this is a good first step. Also helps in establishing a network at Barclays.