Easy assessment centre but very poorly organised. AC consisted of only 2 interviews. Each interview was 30 mins behavioural questions and 15 mins technical. You will be told that this is final round - IT IS NOT
I applied online. I interviewed at Barclays (Londres, Inglaterra)
Interview
SHL test very difficult 24 questions in 30 mins however each question needs around 3-5 mins to formulate a response. Got rejected instantly. Probably prepare better as my lack of preparation is what most likely caused this however questions and nothing to of with marketing mainly maths and reasoning
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
calculate ratios/spot the difference/percentage change
I couldn't even apply to this scheme, their website kept failing to refresh throughout the whole period of September-November stating that it was due to open. I emailed Barclays this, and they forwarded my email to the correct team BUT took around a week to get back and within that time the website magically refreshed to state they were closed for applications. They reiterated this to me, and also got my name wrong in one of the emails, highly professional right?
I took this complaint further with Barclays and was directed to speak with Recruitment and in all, that phone call was one of the biggest disappointments I expected from such a large company. This gentleman really showcased false empathy in this situation, and proceeded to say despite closing the scheme, they closed it earlier anyway due to filling the scheme with candidates that are already interning at the company! So let's be honest, I was not wrong when I stated something was fishy with their recruitment process and their terrible website interface. In fact, when it came to scheduling this call, he randomly called me without any prior warning and then stated that he would be very busy due to assessments but he will call me when 'he has a free moment'. Again, I find this behaviour highly unprofessional from companies like this who like to use their big 'name' as a scapegoat for treating candidates with little courtesy, due to having 'so many applications'. As if candidates are not busy with their own lives either, I made this clear that I had commitments and he called me at a time that was inconvenient for me, so I stated I want to set an actual time to speak.
Judging from this experience and the call I had, I found it to be so unprofessional and just full of pointless excuses that big companies use to cover up their misdeeds. To anyone on here, I would hugely recommend not applying to Barclays because they clearly do not value candidate time. You can also tell this from the fact they do not reply to the negative reviews on here, showing that they don't take this feedback seriously. I know I am completely put off this company, and have no problem voicing it here or anywhere else, but be warned.
Thanks for taking the time to write a review.
I would really like to apologise that the website was unresponsive and that you did not feel that you got a professional response from the team. This has been fed back to our early careers team as delivering a professional and engaging candidate experience is very important to us.
I would like to take the opportunity to let you know how we manage our early careers opportunities.
We do fill some of our graduate opportunities from out intern programme however we also have opportunities for new colleagues to join us. Any vacancies that are advertised externally are open for new candidates to apply for and are only advertised once our offers to our interns are complete.
We do get high volumes of candidates for our early careers opportunities and that does mean that we have to close applications earlier than we anticipated in 2019. This is done to ensure we are able to deliver a great candidate experience to those that have applied.
I hope you have secured another great opportunity and would like to think that you may consider us again in your career decisions