Summer Analyst Review

This internship was really good, I would highly recommend anyone who is considering a career in banking or just wants an insight, to apply for a summer internship. The Barclays programme was well structured, engaging and (surprisingly) fun! It is such a friendly yet hardworking environment that I can really see myself being in.

It felt really satisfying producing work for live transactions - the work you did during your internship could potentially contribute to a multi-billion sterling deal!

This varied from person to person, but mostly the feedback and guidance was good, although working independently and not being constantly spoon fed is a good skill to have to succeed in this industry.

My working hours range from 0800-1730 to 0715-0200. Some days are incredibly busy and you are working for long periods of time and really interesting work, but then on other days you don't have much to do at all. I much preferred the busier days, as time just flew by and I genuinely enjoyed what I did. This cyclical pattern of workflow is representative of the industry so it is in a way expected.

Initially you are guided through what is required of you, but as you progress deeper into the programme you gradually pick up more and more responsibilities. This can be a bit daunting, but there is a real sense of accomplishment once you produce something meaningful that might be presented to a client, or may be distributed internally to 100+ people.

You learn A LOT in terms of professional, accounting, modelling and financial skills. These are transferable anywhere and make you a much more employable and knowledgeable person.

My #1 piece of advice for anyone doing an internship is to be sociable. I was initially a bit nervous/shy, but as soon as I started to make more of an effort, the workplace become so much more fun. You are surrounded by great people and most of them are genuinely really good fun to be around. There is a lot of 'banter' thrown around!

The organisation was great. We had a range of events/sessions organised by HR throughout the internship, and I felt that we were well taken care of. Although a few more social events would have been nice....

The firm invests a huge amount of time and money in you. Not only do they pay you, they give you access to many applications/software (that cost a fortune!) and you have access to all the facilities.

Working hear would be a dream come true. It is such a great place to work: you are doing challenging and interesting work on a daily basis; the people are a lot of fun; the work/life balance is good; there are a plethora of perks from working in IB.

Unreal scenes. Very friendly crowd, went out regularly - these are the kind of people that you would definitely want to spend time with.

If you work in Canary Wharf, it's not exactly cheap... Although if you venture off in LDN central then you can definitely find some nice an inexpensive places.

Absolutely brilliant.

Barclays has a range of sporting clubs and other 'societies' to get involved with. There also a huge emphasis on charity work. Plenty of opportunities to do stuff outside of work.