Hrishikesh Unni

Q: What have you been doing since you joined?
A: I started at Barclays in February 2007, so it has just been about three months since I have been here. The first six weeks of those three months was heavy intense classroom training that we had. Thereafter, I was placed in the Africa team in the international private bank, basically shadowing private bankers and private banking executives to understand the roles and responsibilities of a private banker. And I think later on this year I will have the opportunity to travel to East Africa - again that is a learning process with the aim of becoming a private banker within a year.

Q: What other areas of the business do you work with regularly?
A: In the three months that I’ve been here I have interacted with people in Barclays Premier, I’ve interacted with people in the credit divisions, in our wealth structuring business, which of course involves talking to people in our off-shore trust centres, Cayman Islands, Isle of Man, Jersey, and also other areas within Barclays, such as Barclays Global Investors. I think it’s in line with the whole idea of leveraging the family silver as people talk about in Barclays, where you leverage and you use products and services that other areas of Barclays can actually develop to bring to your clients. So this is a flavour of the kinds of the divisions that I’ve interacted with.

Q: What support and training have you received?
A: I think the training has been excellent. There were two phases. The first phase was intense classroom training which took about six weeks, and there we were introduced to what Barclays Wealth was about, the basics of finance and basically what Barclays Wealth offers our clients – so that was the first six weeks. There was also training for the Investment Management Certificate exam which is a regulatory exam that we all need to pass in order to perform in the roles that we are in as a private banker. The second phase of the training was on the job training which is currently what I am doing. It involves shadowing private bankers and private banking executives to understand their roles so you know what you need to know as you transition into the role of a private banker. I think the third element which is support - I think that’s been tremendous not only in helping us transition to Barclays Wealth as an organisation but also having done my MBA outside of the UK last year to transition to the UK. I think the staff generally in the HR divisions, in the learning and development divisions, have been very supportive, they’ve been tolerant with my questions and also the people that I work with I think they’ve been very patient in addressing the questions that I’ve had. Given that this is a new organisation to me I’ve had tons of those questions to ask – so I think overall, I those three elements, the first two phases, plus the support I have received, have helped me make a smooth transition into my role here.

Q: What excites you about your future here?
A: Barclays Wealth is growing tremendously and I only see opportunities increasing from here on, so that’s something that is very appealing about working here. The second is my aim is to become a private banker, and currently I am in the Africa team. I am from India, but I have spent a significant amount of time in East and Southern Africa so the idea of being reintroduced to the East African continent as a private banker is something that I really look forward to. And I think finally the kind of people and the culture that people encourage here is something that will continue at Barclays Wealth and I think working in that kind of environment in the future is also something that is appealing to me.

Q: Why should someone come and work at Barclays Wealth?
A: Barclays Wealth should be your top choice because given that it’s on a very high growth trajectory it provides a very entrepreneurial environment, giving you lots of opportunities for you to grow and shape a very significant business within Barclays while working with very interesting and qualified people.

Q: Did you do an internship, and what were the benefits?
A: I did an internship while doing my MBA at INSEAD. I did an internship with the Citygroup Wealth Management in their strategy division in Singapore. I strongly recommend doing an internship if you are in a mode of study. The benefits are that it gives you a flavour of a certain type of business – say it is something new that you want to explore, so you do get to know if this something that you really want to do after you graduate The second thing is, if you do end up liking it it gives you the opportunity to make a good impression, to perhaps say a future employer. So the idea of getting your foot in the door and making an impact is another benefit of doing an internship. And I think finally, INSEAD is a very fast one year program and we had about 8 weeks to do an internship. Most students did take advantage of that. To try to do all this, having gone through a rigorous programme, when probably you should be taking a break, shows something when you’ve got it on your resume. It shows your commitment to actually making the maximum use of a one year program.