Tax Review

I did enjoy the variety of the work I was given, as they ranged from qualitative to quantitative, and I also got the chance to go through law case studies as well. I was lucky enough to do some work for Barcap where I could go work in the Barcap office as well as the main headquarter which gave me alot of exposure to different working cultures and variety in my environment.

I wasn't just given "useless" work so I was contributing alot to the team, which I was reminded of, that made me feel very appreciated and valued. I was also included in several seminars and studied alongside my collleagues. Many were friendly and supportive, especially some of the graduates who made alot of effort to include us and to answer our questions etc.

I was always told that it was fine to ask questions and I was encouraged to so that I knew what I was doing. At some point I felt that I was asking too much but my line manager assured me that it was a good thing and they were very willing to help. For alot of the work I was given, the manager always explained the background and then gave me the instructions instead of just leaving me to it, which helped my understanding alot. Additionally if I needed more information or needed access to something, people were always willing to take time out to help me to get access to these resources.

I always had work to do, so it was never a case of boredom. Usually I have a longer, bigger work to do throughout the week, and then I would have little tasks from different people inbetween. I had a project from the beginning to the end, but during the internship I was doing work for different people, so whenever there were some free time I just went back to the project.

I had alot of responsibility with the Intranet work I had, where I was expected to rewrite the content for different aspects of tax on the intranet for other people in the organisation to use. I also had to do alot of spreadsheet work for certain projects from the beginning to the end, and to make sure the numbers match etc, and then sent off to other divisions or HMRC. Some of the work I did were quite important and part of work that are required for compliance issues.

From the courses and seminars I went on, I gained alot of information which increased my understanding of the sector alot. More so than I would have gained by myself through the internet. I also got to know some basic parts related to different areas of tax and the compliance issues required for a big organisation like Barclays. These are, again, things which I had to experience personally in practical instead of learning from books/internet etc. Apart from these I believe I gained more soft skills in how to act in a professional environment and interactions with a variety of people from all levels of management.

In the beginning when I arrived it was during the busy tax season so people were working quite hard. However the general atmosphere was still one of comfortableness. Most people worked hard throughout the day but took breaks every now and then and have coffee/tea/chat to colleagues etc, but the breaks aren't long. During some periods people can become more stressed as more work comes in, but the genereal atmosphere is relatively relaxed. I think tax is one of the areas which has busy and relaxed periods so it depends.

There was a clear structure to the internship, and we were told of the events that would be on throughout the internship, when we will have our review and what it all mean etc. There was a good mixture of eduational and fun activities.

I had access to go to all of the seminars, as well as being signed up for an externally taught whole day course, along with all the other permanent employees. Luckily I also went onto a team building exercise early on in the internship with the people in my tax team which was fun!

As a company, Barclays offers a tremendous amount of opportunities because it is so big and offers so many different services. There are alot opportunities for qualifications and training, and because it is so big, the opportunities for work are vast and long term.

There were many social events organised for all of the interns so people got to know each other very well. For the interns based in Canary Wharf, we organised daily lunches. Several people also organised social gathering outside of the internship structure.

Canary Wharf isn't the cheapest area to eat and socialise in, but there are quite a few nice bars and restaurants as well as a huge shopping cenre around. However it is easy to get on the tube or the DLR to get to central too.

There are a few nice places around in the evenings to sit and eat and socialise. There is a huge and very nice Wetherspoon where drinks etc are relatively quite cheap.

There were quite a few activities organised by the HR during the internship that was outside of work. For example, teaching in a primary school, dragon boating, meeting the executive members etc.