Trade and Working Capital Operations Review

On a day to day basis I work with my team to operate change and optimisation amongst wider business teams, for instance implementing robotics in a team to increase automation. Alongside my current role, my role is slowly transforming to be more related to my sponsored degree of data science. So I will start to focus on working with more data.

Yes I have learnt many new skills, whether that be learning how to interact with colleagues in an online environment, utilizing all the technology to my greatest advantage, and of course business skills. I am learning the fundamentals of banking which sets me in great sted for a variety of future roles.

At first I was apprehensive about this career route, my heart was always set on University, but now I am so grateful I chose it. I love every bit of it, and honestly I am getting the best of both world, of University and Work life. The best part for me is being able to socialize with other apprentices in my cohort.

My programme is very well organised. Right from the start we work with the early careers team that help us settle in, in what is know as an induction period. From then on we have regular catch ups with our talent coach, they check that we are dealing with the study / work balance well and are there to answer any questions.

I receive so much support, my team are absolutely lovely, and they are all very understanding that not only am I working full time but i am also studying for a degree full time. I have weekly 121s with my line manager and also weekly team catchups which is a great time to just chat in general.

My training provider are very supportive, I have z peer mentor from the cohort above and my own personal tutor, both of these I can liaise with and ask all the questions I have. We have 6 weeks of block releases, during that time we study every single day and attend online lectures, in this time they prepare us for our coursework.

My qualification really enhances my ability to perform my role, whether that be simple tasks like editing a data sheet in excel or whether it be analysing some data or doing some programming for my team. My degree has also taught me how to self reflect and I apply that to my work every day.

At the moment I have never been in to the office, as I am working from home due to covid. But I know there are social activities that I would be able to participate in, in normality. I have taken part in professional networking events online which have been a great experience.

Yes

I would recommend Barclays to a friend because I love it. My colleagues are great, so friendly, the work is fast paced and enjoyable and the degree (data science) is so useful an applicable to the real world. The future career prospects at Barclays are great as well, I'm looking forward to what my future holds with them.

I would advise you to really be yourself, and also be honest about your strengths and weaknesses, being able to accept and openly talk about them shows a greater strength and ability than just faking being good at something. If you have strengths have examples of scenarios to back them up.