Barclays Front Office Spring Week Review

The insight was very enjoyable. The week was very well organized and gave us a great opportunity to learn and network. A great part was the experience on the trading floor. We were given the opportunity to shadow trading and sales on the trading floor. This was very rewarding. We also had several case studies that developed our understanding in and engaging way.

Everyone at the firm was always open to help. There was a clear effort to ensure everything ran smoothly.

We were allocated a buddy for the week. This was helpful as they provided guidance before the week began. The recruitment team was also very quick at replying to emails.

Due to my engineering background, what I learned specific to banking isn't relevant. However, we had various sessions dedicated to public speaking and persuasion, which are extremely helpful in any industry or course. We also had a skills session that was aimed at understanding how we can tailor our abilities when working in teams.

Very well structured. Our time was never wasted. We were always busy. The days were clearly split between banking and markets. We were given our schedule for the week on the first day. All events were perfectly on time and many times we had to cut discussions short because we had other people coming to speak to us.

All the other spring weekers were very moticated and excited. This made conversations and discussions very interersting and engaging.

All sessions were aimed to teach us something new. We were given significant opportunities to build our understanding of the industry. We also had several opportunities to network, either in private group sessions or over lunch and drinks. We spoke to many senior employees who willingly took the time to speak to us and share their insight.

On the markets side, I think the shadowing experience was the most helpful to understand what a full-time role would look like. I would love to have had the same chance on the Banking side, however, due to client privacy reasons that were not possible. We had, however, in-depth case studies in M&A and worked with current M&A analysts which provided a better understanding of the job. ' Overall we gained a very good understanding of what each department does.

The Barclays culture is one of the very first things that stand out. The Barclays values are mentioned to us every day, but they are also clear from our interaction with employees. When asked, "why Barclays", nearly every employee mentions the culture. This was clear from the very senior roles to the recently hired analysts.

We gained a very good understanding of the roles and departments. To some, it became really clear what they wanted early on. But many others enjoyed so many different departments that it makes choosing a career path quite difficult. The presentations are in-depth and always aimed at giving us as much insight as possible. The case studies are aimed at giving us a hands-on experience with the roles. All content was very valuable.

We are paid 250 GBP to cover any costs.

We had plenty of opportunities to meet other employees in the firm. We had networking drinks, but also networking over every lunch. During specific sessions we were also given the chance to speak with current employees and ask them any questions we had. We met senior employees as well as very young employees.

The networking opportunities were very helpful. All employees had a genuine interest in answering our questions and speaking about their roles. They were also mostly avaialble to follow up with us after the networking sessions. Networking events also branched away form simple questions and answers, to enganging discussions about various topics.

The week was focused on the job itself but we still had some opportunities to understand what is done besides work. We had a diversity panel speak about the opportunities to get involved in different initiaitves. During networking sessions we also gained a better understanding of what employees can do or get involved with outside of work.

100%