Meet our people

Video transcript

“Hi, my name’s Gemma. I went to Oxford University where I studied chemistry, and I’m on the Retail and Business Banking Leadership Programme.

My business area is responsible for lots of different things, from initial customer insights, to designing products, to working out how you’re going to distribute them – this means working closely with Distribution Operations. We also see what our customers think right at the end of the day, and then it’s back to the beginning again.

During my rotations, I have been exposed to lots of different things, I started out in the branch network where I became a Line Manager pretty quickly – then I went to look at the area of performance in other branches, which is a whole different challenge. I’m now working in the Headqauters in Canary Wharf, where I look after TCF – Treating Customers Fairly. I have lots of stakeholder management where I go out to their business and see what’s going on.

I think the main area where I’ve developed in is my negotiation and stakeholder management. When you work here, you have meetings all the time, and sometimes you have to get people to do things that you want them to do – whereas previously at university, it was just accepted that this is what you’ll do. So that’s been a real area of development for me.

I think Barclays has got a great history, and is really well respected on the British high street – but it’s also got an innovative culture, and it’s always the first to try different things. So why wouldn’t you want to work for them? They’re a great company.

You’ve also got so many support networks here. You’ve got all of the other graduates who you joined with – then with every placement you do, you’ve got a whole new support network that you build up. The people here are always willing to help you out and make time for you.

I think if I was going to sell my scheme to anyone, I would say it’s the whole variety of things that you can do which make it special. For example, last week I had a meeting with Vince Cable, wrote some communications tables for the whole network, and put together a report for the FSA. You also meet a lot of great people, who are always willing to sit down, take the time to tell you what they’re up to, and see if there’s something you can get involved in.

I think my highlight so far with Barclays was when I worked on a project with the other graduates, then got to present it to Barnaby Davis, the head of our branch network. That was really exciting and a big achievement.”

Video transcript

“Hi there, I’m Luke, and I’m on the Retail and Business Banking Graduate Programme here at Barclays. I studied at the University of Nottingham, doing geography, business and the environment, graduating in 2009.

I currently work as a Large Multinational Segment Manager in Global Commercial Payments in Barclaycard. Essentially we’re responsible for looking after our top one hundred business clients or generally those clients turning over more than £100,000,000 per year. We try to make sure that they hit their target growth aspect, as well as turning over as much money as they can on our Barclaycard products and solutions.

During my rotations programme, I’ve been exposed to strategic planning – I’ve had to meet customer demands and drive our customer agenda. I’ve been exposed to reporting up to a senior level, and have done some really in depth analysis. Really, one of the main reasons I chose these specific rotations is because of the wide variety of things they exposed me to.
During the programme, I really sorted out aspects of work I find difficult. I’ve tried to focus on those to develop my social skills across the board, including my analytical skills, influencing skills and stakeholder management.

I chose to work for Barclays because of the number of different opportunities that I would be exposed to. I didn’t want to go down one particular career path at this point – I wanted to experience as many different avenues and as different areas of work as I could, and Barclays has given me this opportunity. While I’ve been on the scheme, I’ve tried a variety of different roles, and I’m looking forward to trying the rest.

If I had to sell the programme to a graduate, I would really sell the wide variety of opportunities. I’ve been given every chance to develop both professionally and personally, which has been the greatest aspect of the programme for me so far.”