I applied through a staffing agency. The process took 5 weeks. I interviewed at Barclays (Londres, Inglaterra) in Feb 2010
Interview
Fisrt contact was via a headhunter, got an interview within 1 a week, that was successful, was called back within a week for hybrid panel interview 4 people, 2 individual and one double. Had to wait for an additional 2 weeks for a call back. Going in for final round in a week and a bit.
I sat at campus interviews, the process was structured and there were 2 rounds and both were CV and HR based. They were heavily focused on why I wanted to be in private banking .
I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Barclays (Londres, Inglaterra) in Apr 2012
Interview
Initial application on Internet - fine provided you do your homework, including on the psychometric testing. Then a telephone interview - again fine, with questions such as "why infancial services' why private banking; why Barclays Wealth"? Then onto a face-to-face interview with 2 private bankers asking much the same - trying to get to know you as a candidate, as well as testing out a bit of technical knowledge. The clincher is the Assessment Day, if you get that far. This is a 1/2 day comprising written psychometric tests, 2 x face-to-face interviews, a client role play and the presentation of a business plan. It is hard graft and will contain a mix of technical and competency based questions. All of it was friendly though, and done very professionally. It was all done very efficiently up to this point as well. Hiring decisions are normally made after this phase but in my case I was asked for a further interview and things stalled. I was told that eveything was going well and that this was the final hurdle. I attended the interview, which I thought went well, although I could have done to establish rapport, only to be told that they wanted someone with prior experience - not a satisfactory answer for someone on a programme aimed at people new to the industry.
