Equity Intern Review

I extremely enjoyed my time within Barclays Capital Markets in Equity Derivatives. It gave me an opportunity to be immersed in work experience and take concepts at university and try to apply them to real life situations. I believe this is the best way to really understand what jobs are all about.

It was somewhat difficult to feel valued by colleagues as an intern in an environment which is very pressurised and result driven. My manager and his team expected me to interact and reach out to them with questions and they would happily answer them.

My manager at the beginning of the internship began by testing my knowledge and interests to see which areas would be best to expose me to. The project set to present at the end I was able to draw upon guidance from colleagues across divisions so I had the adequate support required throughout and could network easily.

As the work was both project and case study but also shadowing I had to plan my time efficiently in order to make sure I was covering and understanding the Equity Derivatives division. I would try to also manage my time to network amongst colleagues to see the full picture of how capital markets work and interact with each other as I think it is extremely important to know this.

I believe as an intern the responsibility given is difficult but it was very close to what a graduate would be doing on a day to day basis which I enjoyed. At the end of the programme being able to present my research and discuss with managing directors was an exciting opportunity to have as a university student.

I feel I was able to implement university concepts actively in the environment and see how whats in the text book happens in real life. I believe it has really given me the drive to move into this field but also put into perspective the complexity of global markets and how reading a textbook is similar and at times extremely contrasting to that of what happens in real time.

The office environment being in an open plan layout was extremely lively and interactive. It was also engaging to be in contact with different departments and have the opportunity to meet people. At times I can see it getting difficult with many people in a single area there is little space for any privacy.

The HR department were the overall coordinators and they provided us with a schedule at the beginning of the week to the team and group work that we would be doing and then simply our individual work too. Everything ran as smoothly as could be!

There was a combination of both online elearning, project case study and on the job which I believe was extremely useful. What I found quite unique Barclays arranged for directors across all divisions of the bank to talk to us. As all of us were still deciding which area would be most suitable I felt this was really unique and a great opportunity to understand and reach out to other divisions.

I was successful and received an offer to join the division next year.

The internship was such a great opportunity to meet new and similarly like minded people across all of the country and also abroad. I really thought the opportunity to collaborate and mix with them during the team work exercises was such an exciting and interesting task.

Unfortunately being in Central London the cost of travel to and from and also socialising was fairly expensive but this was expected and the company takes this in mind with compensation.

There were many pubs, bars and clubs and the interns and some of the workers would gather at least once a week to go out after work for a few drinks. I found this a great chance to get to know people and relax outside of the working environment.

Unfortunately we didn't get the opportunity to take part in the extra curricular activities. However, Barclays organised a corporate volunteer event for all the interns to be involved in helping to build a new garden in the local community which I felt was a great way to ease into the internship.