Spring Intern Review

I enjoyed the insight as I found it very informative and left Barclays with a much greater understanding of what I need to do to secure the Front Office career that I am striving for. However, I found the week very intense and a lot more knowledge was needed for some of the sessions than I knew was needed for the programme. I felt that when a few people asked or spoke about certain technical terms, it was assumed that the whole room had this knowledge, when not all of us did. This made the experience slightly less enjoyable for me as I sometimes felt inferior and not as intelligent as other people, but I will take this as a positive and try to learn a lot more about Investment banking when the insight week is over.

I did feel valued during the insight week as we were praised for how well we had done to get onto this placement, and informed about how Barclays are investing in us. Our opinions were listened to and we received feedback which showed that we were all considered.

I received a lot of guidance and support during the insight week and feel that I have a much greater idea of my future career plans because of it. We were constantly helped by the employees and were respected which allowed the experience to be beneficial, and I feel that we were genuinely listened to and helped to allow us to improve.

I feel that I now know modules to add to my degree to allow me to have a greater understanding in finance and learn more directly about Investment banking. I have learnt a lot about the career paths of employees at Barclays and this had given me guidance for the future. I will work hard to secure myself a summer internship and I now know more about how to do this.

The insight was very well structured with clear sessions/talks/shadowing set out to us at the beginning of the week so we were always well informed.

Everybody was keen to learn yet this would sometimes create a very competitive and sometimes hostile environment. However, at most times, people were very friendly and I feel that I have made life long contacts through this programme. The recruiter staff were especially helpful and informative throughout the week which allowed a more happy and comfortable atmosphere. I was very impressed by how understanding and helpful workers who came to networking events and those we shadowed were and am very grateful for this.

I felt that they invested greatly in me and all of us here on the programme. The programme was intense but this was beneficial as it trained us and gave us an insight into the high pressured environment.

In terms of pressure and activities such as role play and simulations of real life job roles, I felt that I felt more about what a full time role at Barclays would be like. However, even through work shadowing, I feel that you can never fully understand day to day tasks of a full time role at an Investment Bank until you do those and because of not understanding all of the terms and not working with clients.

Through speaking directly with many workers, I believe I have a very good insight of the company's culture and how workers feel when at work. Through being informed of the company's values, I understand a lot about how their culture has changed to increased their values and put them at the forefront of their jobs at Barclays.

I found the content very clear and informative. Yet I feel that I need to research some terms that I do not quite understand at this stage in order to have a certain decision on my future career path.

I was happy to be reimbursed for my travel and expenses.

Yes. Networking was a very large part of the week and it was great to meet and gain contacts in fields that I am most interested in.

They were very enjoyable.

I didn't feel I was informed in this apart from client meetings and going to the gym/socialising.

Yes.