Insight day at Barclays: Opening my eyes to potential post-graduation options

Posted on by Alice Whittaker

A group of people network and talk in a modern office space with wooden shelving, plants and large windows.

My name is Alice Whittaker and I am a second-year student studying History. I am in Grizedale College, and I am currently a Careers Ambassador at Lancaster. In my free time, I enjoy baking and travelling. In this blog, I will provide an account of the insight day I attended at Barclays in Chester with GROW Your Future. I will then reflect on the day and what it taught me as well as its impact on my career options post-graduation.

I initially found out about the insight day from GROW Your Future’s Instagram @LU_GrowYourFuture. Barclays had been a company I had known about previously, but I wanted to learn more as they have many branches throughout the UK. As a second year I wanted to look at more of the options available to me when I graduate Lancaster.

Firstly, we had multiple talks from the Barclays staff where they answered any initial questions we had as well as introduced us to the two graduate programmes they offered and in what sectors. We then had the opportunity to network with graduates there and ask them any questions we had. Before we left, we then got a brief tour of the Barclays campus, which exceeded my expectations and even included a tennis court and a gym for workers.

The day taught me many things such as the variety of programmes they offer at graduation, and after attending I now aim to apply for their explorer graduate programme that they offer when making applications from September. Barclays was a company I knew of, but I now know I would love to work there as it seems like a great place to work and with values that would make it a company I would love to work for.

One of the most useful parts of the day was networking with graduates. This was something I hadn’t done previously but increased my confidence. Even though this specific branch was technology focused, many of the graduates were willing to discuss with me options that were more relevant to me such as HR. I would really recommend attending these insight days as I would never have known about their graduate options and how nice the work environment was.

If you are interested in attending an Insight Day in the future, please complete this expression of interest form - https://lancasteruni.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_38Xyt0kCEm7Xg6a

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