Sources checked
Barclays
The one bulge bracket whose published process is UK-shaped: an application, two short interactive assessments, and an assessment centre of two or three stages including a motivational interview with a member of the leadership team. The technicals start with accounting and carry a visible financial-institutions slant.
The Barclays process
3 of 6 stages you can practise here
- 01Your application
Complete the application form on the Barclays careers site. Barclays asks for clear examples of good judgment, innovation, teamwork, commitment and leadership, tells candidates to pull keywords out of the job description, and warns against pasting text from its own site back at it.
- 02Initial assessments (not simulated here)
Two short interactive assessments that read how you might perform in the workplace and your typical or preferred ways of working, completable on a phone or tablet. Only the technical programmes, such as Explorer Developer, add an assessment of technical skills, so the banking track carries no coding test.
- 03
The video screen: motivation and evidenced examples, straight to camera
motivationcommunicationbackground fit - 04
Accounting-first technicals with a visible financial-institutions slant
accountingvaluationfig - 05Assessment centre
Barclays publishes this as the deciding stage, held in person or virtually and involving two or three stages including a motivational interview with a member of the leadership team. In the Americas the equivalent final day is usually run as a superday of back-to-back banker interviews. Third-party AI tools are banned outright: a transcription bot or meeting assistant stops the interview and withdraws the application.
2 rounds you can practise
The published leadership seat inside the assessment centre; motivation decides it
motivationvaluesmaturityThe deciding technical seat: multi-part accounting, a paper LBO and bank mechanics
accountinglbomerger model - 06Offer
Performance across all the exercises is taken into account rather than any single one, so a weak exercise is not automatically fatal.
Common questions
- Is there a coding round in the Barclays investment banking interview?
- No. Barclays adds a technical skills assessment only for technical programmes such as Explorer Developer. The investment banking analyst route runs application, two short interactive assessments and an assessment centre, all spoken or written prose.
- What are the stages of the Barclays application process?
- Barclays publishes three: your application, initial assessments (two short interactive assessments you can do on a phone or tablet), and an assessment centre held in person or virtually. The centre involves two or three stages, including a motivational interview with a member of the leadership team.
- Does Barclays run a superday or an assessment centre?
- Barclays publishes one global process built on an assessment centre rather than a US-style superday. In the Americas the equivalent final day is usually run as a superday of back-to-back banker interviews, and the US summer analyst process also adds a first round before it.
- Can I use AI tools in a Barclays interview?
- No. Barclays states that third-party AI tools are not permitted during your interview, including transcription bots and meeting assistants or any application that records, transcribes or analyses conversations. Any use stops the interview and withdraws the application.
Sources
Built from what Barclays publishes about its own process and from real interview data. No leaked question lists. The questions you get are generated against your own resume, so they are not from anyone else's interview.
The three published steps (application, initial assessments, assessment centre); the initial assessments being two short interactive assessments completable on a phone or tablet, with a technical assessment added only for technical programmes such as Explorer Developer; the assessment centre running in person or virtually across two or three stages including a motivational interview with a member of the leadership team; and the outright ban on third-party AI tools in interviews and assessments.
What Barclays asks candidates to evidence (clear examples of good judgment, innovation, teamwork, commitment and leadership), its guidance written for video interviews (camera, quiet private space, dress as for a face-to-face interview), and its statement that performance across all exercises is taken into account rather than any single one.
The graduate programme families, including Investment Banking, and the Expert versus Explorer programme split.
Analyst compensation and level context. No interview-process content.
Sources last checked . Hiring loops change, so this date is the honest limit on everything above.