(see also Barclays Capital Graduate Schemes)
Barclays Capital (BarCap) is a global investment bank. It is the investment banking division of Barclays plc which has a balance sheet of over £1.2 trillion. Barclays Capital provides financing and risk management services to large companies, institutions and government clients. It is a primary dealer in U.S. Treasury securities and various European Government bonds.
Barclays Capital has offices in 29 countries and employs over 16,200 people worldwide.
Working hours at BarCap are good compared to those of other investmant banks. Most employees working weeks are 50 hours long.
WikiJob Forum - ask questions about your applications, interviews and assessment days at Barclays Capital, and other investment banks.
Like most investment banks, there are two main graduate roles you can apply for at BarCap:
BarCap employ about 400 graduates each year for Analyst positions in the following lines of service:
Compliance, Corporate Communications, Facilities Management, Finance, Global Financial Risk Management, Global Marketing, Human Resources, Investment Banking and Debt Capital Markets, Legal, Operational Risk Management, Operations, Quantitative Analytics, Research, Sales, Structuring, Technology, Trading and Wealth Management.
On the BarCap training programme, graduates are taught about financial markets, as well as the bank’s products, instruments and services. BarCap also encourages people to obtain appropriate professional qualifications.
The application deadline for Graduates is 15th November 2008 and for Interns 31st January 2009.
The Barclays Capital Quantitative Analytics group works closely with all business areas of the firm. The group propose solutions to pricing and risk issues and are responsible for the research, development and implementation of quantitative models across all Global Markets asset classes (Interest Rates, Equity, Foreign Exchange, Commodities, Emerging Markets and DCRM).
The group also ensures consistency across the businesses facilitating multi-asset and hybrid products. Located on the trading floors in London, Paris, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and New York, this group provides solutions for the whole of Barclays Capital globally.
Quantitative Analytics is an intensely mathematical role. Trainees are required to have a mathematical background (mathematics or physics to degree level). Logical thinking, problem solving, mathematical and programming are all essential skills. You may develop and maintain models and communicate with traders, for whom you provide quantitative support and you need the flexibility to work alone as well as in a team.
Employees in Quantitative Analysis may implement models in C++, VBA or interact with traders and structurers on pricing and risk management solutions.
Now see - Quantitative Analytics Interview Questions and Quantitative Analytics Application Process.
The BarCap application process for the Quantitative Analytics group is as follows:
For more information about the BarCap interview process for Quantitative Analytics see Qualitative Analytics Interview Questions.
Following the BarCap Quantitative Analytics application process, the interview process is as follows:
Day One
Day Two
Day One
The assessment centre starts at 12:00pm (lunch time) on a Friday and lasts for just over 24 hours. BarCap assessment centres are usually held at the Four Seasons hotel, Canary Wharf. There will be anywhere up to 100 candidates at your assessment centre.
There will be anywhere up to 75 BarCap employees assessing you and the other graduate candidates during the assessments. You will be heavily scrutinised and the assessments will be difficult.
The assessment centre will begin with several 'games', including something called 'Rollerball' and an in-tray type exercise. These will be followed by an orientation presentation on Barclays Capital.
At about seven o'clock you will have a dinner Barclay's employees, and are free to ask questions about the company, careers and working culture.
After dinner, you will be given a case study which you will be required to complete by 6:45am.
Day Two
Your interviews will start at 8:00am, after breakfast. In your first interview you will be asked to present the results of your case study before being asked further questions about your results, and questions about yourself. After this, you will have a second interview with technical questions about quantitative analytics, Barclays Capital and investment banking in general. You will also be asked questions about yourself and your CV and competency based questions, including your motivations for working at BarCap.
After your interviews you will be required to retake the numerical and verbal reasoning tests that you have previously taken online, to prove you did not cheat on the original tests.
Barclays Capital’s sales team provides coverage on rates, credit, foreign exchange, commodities (both precious metals and energy), and equity derivatives. The sales team build relationships clients, keeping them updated on international markets and new products. Clients vary and may include banks, asset managers, pension funds, hedge funds, central banks and insurance companies.
Salespeople are responsible for delivering the services of the firm to clients. They need to be good communicators and good at relationship builders. To work at BarCap they must also be highly numerate and have developed analytical skills.
Now see - Barclays Capital Sales: Interview Questions.
Following the online application and online aptitude tests, the BarCap interview process for graduate positions in Sales is as follows:
Barcap telephone interviews are competency based. You will be asked about yourself, your reasons for deciding to apply to Barcap and you motivations for a career in investment banking. The interview will last 20 - 30 minutes and you will have five minutes to ask questions of your own.
Previous candidates have been asked general questions such as:
Previous candidates have also been asked competency based questions such as:
In this division you would almost certainly begin your career with an IT group working closely with the ‘front office’.
Your role would be identifying, tracking and resolving IT issues, alongside talking with traders to implement quantitative models.
You could also be involved in improving the design and structure of databases which help to increase the speed and efficiency of the firm’s day-to-day operations.
Technology development processes at BarCap are, out of necessity, extremely fast. Production specifications, documentation, prototyping, etc are kept to a minimum.
BarCap offer full-time positions, 10-week summer internships and 4 - 12 month Industrial Placements to students and graduates who meet the firm's selection criteria.
Now see - Technology Interview Questions
The application process for the Technology Analyst division at Barclays Capital is as follows:
For information about the interview process wich follows, see Technology - Interview Questions.
Following the online application, the interview process for graduate positions in Technology at Barclays Capital consist of the following:
BarCap Telephone interviews are compentancy based and last roughly 15 - 35 minutes. Your interviewer will ask a lot of questions about you, your application and CV.
You will be asked about your motivations for joining BarCap and why you want to work in the particular division you have applied to, for example:
You will also be asked general competency questions, concerning issues like teamwork and communication, for example:
You will be emailed soon after your telephone interview with either a letter of rejection, or an invitation to an assessment centre.
Day one
Barclays Capital's graduate assessment centres are held over two days and take place in London. This is the final round of interviews for BarCap graduate schemes which start in September each year.
Candidates are invited to stay in a London hotel (usually somewhere near to Canary Wharf) entirely paid for by BarCap. You will be requried to check-in to this hotel in the afternoon on day one of the assessment centre. At 6:30pm there will be a drinks reception for candidates, supervised by several BarCap employees, including current graduate trainees from the specialism you have applied to and members of the HR team - your assessors. There will be about 25 - 35 other candidates at the assessment centre.
After the drinks reception you will enjoy a meal at the hotel. Candidates will sit with employees with approximately three Barcap employees and about six candidates per table. Ask sensible questions and try to find out what current employees think about the firm, their jobs and the general working culture at BarCap.
Day two
The second day of the BarCap assessment centre starts with breakfast at 7:30am. The interview proper starts at 8:30am, when the main candidate group will be divided into three small groups.
During the assessment day you will have two consecutive 30 minute interviews, followed later in the day by one further, slightly longer more technical interview.
Each of the first two interviews will be with one interviewer and will be a discussion about you, your application and your motivations for working at BarCap and in investment banking.
The final, third interview will be more technical. You should prepare for questions such as:
Some BarCap candidates however, are not asked any technical questions such as those above at all during their interviews.
You will each be given a one-page case study and have one hour to construct a 15-minute individual presentation from this. You will also be asked to write notes and create flipchart slides for your presentation. The information given to you will describe a company and the work they do. You will be asked to give some recommendations about how they could improve their business and the associated risks involved.
After the hour allowed for preparation you may be asked to give your presentation, or you may be involved in another activity and requried to give your presentation later in the day.
You will be asked to give your presentation of the case study to several BarCap assessors and other candidates, all of whom will be able to ask questions after you have finished speaking. Be prepared to stand up for yourself and decisions you made, even if they turn out to be wrong. It is more important that you can explain your thought processes and show that you can form well structured arguements, than necessarily coming to the correct conclusion.
You will be separated in to groups of about four people and be given a list of 20 urgent tasks to take care of. First of all you will be asked to individually decide which five tasks to deal with immediately. You will then be asked to select the most important five tasks to contend with as a group. You will then present this and justify your decisions to your BarCap assessors.
The list of urgent tasks includes:
It is important to stand up for your decisions and explain why you decided on your choices, even if it turns out that they are the wrong choices.
Candidates will be given a tour of Barclays Capital at the very end of the assessment day. You will be shown the trading floors and the department you have applied for (if this is anything other than trading).
At BarCap trading covers areas such as Bonds, Commodities, Credit Derivatives, Emerging Markets, Equity Derivatives, Fixed Incomes and Foreign Exchange. Traders buy and sell financial instruments and must quote 'bid and offer' prices to clients and counterparties upon request.
Traders work closely with sales and research teams. Traders need to be strong decision makers with highly developed analytical skills. Graduates at BarCap usually start out as Assistant Traders, monitoring breaking news and price fluctuations and providing analysis and trade ideas.
Now see - Applying to Barclays Capital Trading.
The application process for graduate positions within the Trading division at Barclays Capital is as follows:
For more information on the interview process for Trading at Barclays Capital see Trading - Barclays Capital Interview Questions.
Barclays Capital offer 10-week summer internships and 4 - 12 month Industrial Placements to students and graduates who meet the firm's selection criteria in almost all lines of service.
The assessment process for internships at Barclays Capital is as follows:
Also see - Graduate Schemes at Barclays Capital.