Barclays reviews

The leadership and influence of Bob Diamond has been key to Barcap being where it is today, and to the respect it has earned in the sector. During my interactions with other units, I have come across several senior managers who appear to have taken inspiration from him, and have driven performance of their teams. Therefore, the major upside is probably being able to work and get experience from certainly the best of British IB’s, and one of the best globally. Provided you are in the right team or business unit, this place is generally a true meritocracy. There are many MD’s who are still years away from hitting 40. At the same time, there are several high profile senior MD’s and global heads who were let go, when they failed to continue to deliver. It certainly is hard work, but having been there for nearly three years, I have never come across anybody saying it is a sweatshop. You have freedom to manage your work. The culture is fairly relaxed; and there is great drive and support to recruit, retain and develop talent (something Diamond never fails to reiterate in his quarterly updates); and promote charitable activities. Women’s networks are very active, and there are several female MD’s; however, their ratio is far from being 1:1. Staff benefits such as pensions and health insurance are reasonably generous (from my UK experience), and I doubt are available at similar levels at some of the American banks.

The responsibility given is really good, as well as support to develop in terms of additional knowledge (very important when starting out in the career) and guidance. Merit counts, and if you can show that you can handle added responsibility, then the respect obtained is satisfying. Also very supportive when it comes to maintaining a work- personal life balance. Work needs to be done, but it's not done with a slave-driving attitude.