Barclays Capital Interview Questions & Reviews

Interviewed Dec 2010 in London, England (United Kingdom) (took 4 weeks)

Applying on-line and on-line tests as for any other bank.

Went to the AC at a hotel in London. The day went on quite smoothly, started with a group case where we received a lot of material (video, analyst reports etc). For non-business or non-finance students, I would recommend to review some key concepts in accounting, valuation (not really DCF models but multiples) and industry analysis. During the group discussion, two representatives (typically VPs) will study your performance and grade you. I think these grades can help you especially if you do not receive an offer directly from one of the teams you are meeting with in the afternoon - I heard a friend of mine who got an offer that way, i.e. from a team he did not meet at all but who reviewed his overall performance during the day.

My general tips for the case discussion/presentation preparation are:
 - Be positive and supporting,
 - Be active during the entire discussion,
 - Tell the others what you are particularly good at and focus on those parts,
 - Be sure to have a good structure for the case presentation.
Might sound simple, but looking back, these were the essential points.

After the discussion, you are supposed to present, once again for employees. Be sure to take on one part and be relaxed while presenting. From my group, I was the only one who got an offer in the end and I was not too surprised as three of the others got extremely nervous while presenting and the last one, who had outstanding presentation skills, lacked terminology (typical History student, I guess).

During lunch, you have time to mingle with employees.

During the afternoon, all candidates have 2-10 interviews with teams (Associates, VPs or Directors). Don't get sad if you have few - just make sure to show a lot of energy, passion and dedication (e.g. when talking about previous experiences, be clear that you really liked what you were doing, because that really shows dedication which is key in IBD!). A guy from my school went there and had 10 interviews (impressive CV), but did not get any offers at all while a friend of mine had 2 interviews and received an offer. Also, you can get last-minute interviews over the course of the day.

After the AC, you submit what teams you would prefer to intern work by ranking them 1-3. The assessors do the same and in the end HR matches these together. In my case, we got a perfect fit, where I chose the team I liked the most and they chose the candidate they liked the most!