HR Intern Review

I enjoyed the internship overall. It was challenging at times due to not having a high work load at the beginning but as the work load increased so did my enjoyment. The people are lovely and the work is varied, challenging and interesting. People were always willing to help and I learned so many valuable skills and built my knowledge.

It was varied. I felt very valued by a few people in my team and especially a couple who I was working on projects with. However, there were other members of my team who I feel didn't value me. Despite this I felt supported by everyone and people were happy to help if asked.

My manager was very senior in the organisation and therefore was constantly busy. Whenever I asked for help or guidance she was happy to give it and I learned a lot as she was very knowledgeable. It was sometimes a struggle however, to get time with her as she was so busy. The support system offered by Barclays in terms of mentors and buddies is fantastic.

It really varied. Some fays were extremely busy with deadlines, meetings and a full calendar. Other days though were extremely empty, this tended to happen after meeting a deadline for a project and then waiting for the next piece of work. There were always things to be getting on with though like arranging meeting with colleagues and networking or attending Intern learning sessions.

Not as much as I thought I would have. Much of the work I did was simple administrative tasks and at the beginning of the internship had no interaction with stakeholders. However, it greatly improved towards the end of the internship with colleagues giving me more responsibility and allowing more independent work.

I have learned so much on my internship. I have learned people skills and how to network, both skills that are vital to my any future career environment I may work in. I have learned how to better use excel, outlook and PowerPoint. My presenting skills have also improved which is helpful for both the completion of my degree but also its boosted my confidence.

Very positive. People are motivated to do their job and as such there is a positive and motivated atmosphere. The majority of people are excited about new joiners and many people make an effort to find out more about you. People were friendly and respectful to everyone around them in the office.

It was very well organised. It was clear that a lot of preparation had gone into getting things ready for the interns. There were multiple learning sessions set up to enable interns to find out about various areas in HR from senior colleagues. There has been guidance and the recruitment team have been in contact throughout and provided good review processes.

Barclays seemed very serious in terms of developing talent. They put on a variety of learning sessions with senior speakers as well as encouraging us to attend talks to learn more about the business. Barclays invest a lot of resources into the intern programme and as such it felt as though they cared a lot about your personal development.

The future employment prospects are brilliant. There are opportunities to move around within the organisation and learn and develop so many different skillsets. There are opportunities for international travel and for working abroad. It seems like an exciting place to work and somewhere where they look after their colleagues at every stage of life.

All the interns on my programme were lovely and everybody got on extremely well with people occasionally meeting up for drinks. Colleagues went out for drinks a couple of times but not a lot. There was one team building day with the entirety of the team. I expected there to be a bit more socialising.

The internship was in London so extremely expensive. Accommodation is expensive as is travel and expenses. Socialising had the potential to be really expensive but there were also places to go that were cheaper and more affordable. This may have hindered socialising in some regard but it just meant people found other places to go.

Nightlife in London is good and varied. Very busy on a Friday and Saturday night. There are a variety of places to suit everybody and there will definitely be somewhere you enjoy. The only downside is that it is very expensive and this may hinder a persons ability to go out.

There didn't really seem to be any activities outside of work. There was a gym in the building with classes but this was about it. People didn't really seem to take part in activities outside of work hours and if they did they weren't talked about or well advertised within the organisation.