Rating

8.1/10
  • 1. Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:
  • Day to day depends on the audit stage. The first month of the audit is spent walking through and understanding the subject matter whilst your peers scope. Second month you perform fieldwork where you test and interact with stakeholders to conclude on your test. The final month is reporting where you assist in landing any issues (if relevant) and conclude the audit.

    9/10

  • 2. Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
  • Yes. The main skills developed have been relating to soft skills, such as questioning and interacting with stakeholders, who are often 20+ years my senior whilst maintaining a good professional relationship where you can comfortable question them. Attention to detail is also a key skill learnt. Through testing, I have developed my skill of predicting where potential friction points could be. Lastly, documentation. I have gotten far more to the point and precise with documenting findings.

    10/10

  • 3. To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
  • Whilst the actual day-to-day work is brilliant. The background early careers experience has not been ideal. To their credit, it is all being fixed now with a brilliant new learning and development team, and for the cohort who joined last year they have had no problems. However, for the past 1.5 years, not much program progress has been made; therefore, not much can be commented on.

    5/10

  • 4. How well organised/structured is your programme?
  • As before, the actual day-to-day job has been brilliant, very well organised and structured. However, the background early careers experience has been far from ideal. Whilst it has now been fixed, and for any new joiners including last year’s cohort there have been no issues, the year of essentially no organisation has deducted from the experience.

    6/10

  • 5. How much support do you receive from your employer?
  • Plenty. Ever had any concerns? There are very approachable line managers who are happy to help and escalate. They are passionate and wanting to 'fight your corner'. Very flexible if you require time off or to work from home for appointments and such. Mental health support is also second to none.

    10/10

  • 6. How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
  • Plenty of support for the internally provided IIA Certificate. We were sent off to a country house for a week offsite, where we subsequently learnt and filled out two essays, where with the support given most people passed first time. I have not started the secondary qualifications so cannot comment.

    7/10

  • 7. How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
  • The internal training program helped a considerable amount. Work paper quality has increased thanks to a better understanding of the methodology and simple writing courses. The example scenarios at the end really helped solidify our understanding. However, by far the most useful was the use of actors, where they played difficult stakeholders and allowed us to work on our soft skills.

    8/10

  • 8. Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
  • I am part of the motorcycle club, where we meet, discuss bikes and go for rides out. In terms of networking, they have supported my involvement in various organisations, including funding membership to allow me to access these events, even if the organisation does not specifically tie into my roll.

    10/10

  • 9a. Would you recommend Barclays to a friend?
  • Yes


  • 9b. Why?
  • Great organisation with good values that are actually followed and resonate with everyone. Their attitude to flexible working is second to none, within 3 months of starting I could work from home (with the main blocker being access to the remote desktop), which from talking to others in different organisations is almost unheard of.


  • 10. What tips or advice would you give to others applying to Barclays?
  • Values, values and values! Find examples in your real life, whether school, work, extracurricular where you have demonstrated respect, integrity, service, excellence and stewardship. This shows real commitment and understanding and shows you are passionate and ready to slot right into the company. Apart from research into the role, allowing questions to be asked goes a long way.


Details

Higher Level Apprenticeship

Finance

Canary Wharf

May 2019


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