Why have you chosen to apply to this particular role and why at Barclays?Barclays recruits graduates into four business areas:

Investment banking
Global markets
Business functions
Personal and corporate banking
The business area
There’s a description of the four divisions in the business areas section of the bank’s website. Read the one for your chosen division, but, as some descriptions are light on detail, it’s essential your research doesn’t stop there.

Barclays Early Careers & Graduates channel on YouTube is a useful source of information. It features short videos in which potential and current graduate and student hires at Barclays discuss aspects of their chosen business area and role.

If you have done a summer internship or spring week with Barclays, or met recruiters or employers on campus, reflect on the information about the business that you obtained before you begin your application. Making notes would be useful at this stage.

The graduate programme
Each graduate programme fits into one of the four business areas above. For instance, technology, finance, treasury and compliance roles come under business functions. It’s important that you familiarise yourself with Barclays’ business structure to get a better understanding of how you’d fit into the business if you were taken on.

The business areas section of the website includes descriptions of the sub-divisions that graduates are hired into. Read the one that applies to you and check out any additional information, such as the graduate interviews. The material naturally has an air of ‘Barclays is a wonderful place to work’, but you should focus on the facts about the scheme that support your application, such as:

typical projects that people in the department work on the skills and competencies you need to succeed in the role the day-to-day requirements of the job who you’d be working with – colleagues, clients and otherwise the training and development opportunities
Apply your knowledge
The application process for full-time graduate schemes at Barclays typically includes an online application form, online tests, telephone interview and an assessment centre comprising interviews, a group exercise and a presentation. Throughout most of it, you'll need to demonstrate that you fully understand your chosen business area and role.

Application form
Having a good understanding of your chosen business area and graduate scheme will help you to answer questions on the application form, such as: ‘Why have you chosen to apply to this particular role and why at Barclays?’ and ‘Describe a recent development in the banking industry. What implications might this development have for the division to which you have applied?’

With the first question, you could mention any of the five bullet points above to explain why you have chosen the particular graduate scheme. Perhaps you’re keen to work with colleagues across the business and clients throughout the financial sector, so a sales role within the global markets division is ideal.

Bear in mind the first question is really asking two things: why the role and why Barclays? To answer the latter part, you’ll have to also think about and establish why you want to work for Barclays over other banks that offer a similar opportunity. Our guidance on tackling common approaches to this question will help you with this.

Interviews
You will be asked questions similar to those above during your face-to-face interview. A past applicant to Barclays’ compliance graduate scheme said he was asked: ‘Why would you suit this role more than other candidates?’ He said he found this question difficult because he didn’t know the other candidates’ strengths.

To answer these types of questions, you need to understand the role and business area – not the other candidates. Think about the different aspects of the graduate programme (see the five bullet points above) and explain why you think you have got the right attitude, qualifications and skills to do the job.

If you’re applying for the compliance scheme, for instance, you could discuss Barclays’ five core values and explain that you possess the skills and competencies to encourage and help employees work to Barclays’ values, framework and goals. Underpin your response with a unique example of when you’ve displayed the referenced qualities at university, work or elsewhere.

Assessment centre
If you make it to the assessment day, you’ll take part in a group exercise that typically resembles an on-the-job scenario. Assessors will judge you against Barclays’ core skills requirements, which include an ability to work under pressure, meet deadlines, solve problems and work within a team, as well as the more specific requirements of the graduate scheme.

This is where you have to demonstrate what you have learned about your chosen role and business area. Being familiar with the required skills set is great, as you’ll know which competencies to exhibit on the day. While being aware of the typical projects that people in the department work on may enable you to anticipate, and prepare for, the type of exercise that you’ll be given.

If you have applied for Barclays’ wealth and investment managem