This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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The Role
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The Company
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The Culture
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
It was a great insight into careers in this field. The internship gave me a fantastic opportunity to speak to senior people throughout the company to find out more about what it is like working in the industry and working at Barclays.
My colleagues were always willing to help me, and gave frequent thanks for and feedback on the work I was producing, letting me know how it was assisting the team's projects.
My line manager was very busy constantly, so asking for assistance felt slightly intimidating. However, the graduates particularly were always willing to help, as were other members of the team.
I was frequently very busy, but part of this was learning to balance my workload. When I voiced to my line manager that I had too much on my plate, she spoke to the relevant parties to ensure that my workload was manageable.
We were responsible for our own individual work, as well as contributing to existing projects. Our individual projects were small parts of the team's work but we could see how they fitted in and contributed to the company's overall efforts.
The skills I learnt were quite specific to the job, so will assist me in careers in this field (though the will not particularly help my degree studies).
The Company
The team were all very nice but there was not a lot of socialising or joking.
The internship is very structured. Each intern has personal goals and objectives, and frequent one-to-ones with their line manager to ensure they are on track.
Our pre-internship training involved a day of personal development. During the internship, other members of the team were constantly willing to give us advice on personal conduct in the workplace. Our mid-term appraisal gave us objectives to work towards after assessing our performance so far.
Flexi Time
Subsidised Canteen
Sports and Social Club
Company Car
Subsidised/Company Gym
National Travel
International Travel
Financial Bonus
Company Parties/Events
Staff Sales/Staff Shop
Above 25 days holiday
Working from home
Healthcare from home
Healthcare/Dental
Travel loan
I was offered a place on their graduate team, as were the others on my placement. It seems that a high number of interns are offered grad placement places.
The Culture
There were not many organised events for interns to attend. There were two different internship schemes (the summer internship and FLDP), and the FLDP interns appeared to have a stronger intern social scene.
It was extremely expensive to live and work in London. I paid high rent for a house that was not very nice. The added cost of buying lunch most days, and travel, ate into my wages a lot.
The placement was in Canary Wharf, so there was not much night life nearby apart from the après work bars.
There were some opportunities, such as clubs and networking groups, but interns are mostly left to independently browse the intranet for these.
Details
Internship (1 Month+)
London
September 2014