TEANECK, N.J. – Fairleigh Dickinson University senior Gabby Garcia experienced a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity over the summer as an intern at Barclays Bank.
Garcia, a midfielder on the women's soccer team and a marketing major, worked as an operations summer analyst. This was Garcia's second internship in her college career after having an internship with a marketing research firm in Teaneck from February-July.
"I was very excited when I received the news I'd be working for Barclays," said Garcia. "Going into the internship, I was telling myself to expect the unexpected and with the mentality that I wanted to learn more about finance at a major corporation as well as take on as many projects as I could have."
COVID-19 certainly threw her internship for a loop as she was originally planned to work for 10 weeks and at the Whippany campus, but had it changed to six weeks and fully remote.
"Being remote was a little more challenging as I couldn't speak with anyone in person," stated Garcia. "In my first week with Barclays, there were some technical difficulties, but the company was great with working with me and helping me settle in."
A typical day for Garcia started at 7 a.m. and concluded around 4 p.m. "At 8 a.m., I would have a meeting with my manager who lived in the UK, then I'd check my email, attend a webinar with employees, and then end my day working on my projects." Garcia was a member of the procurement team, I worked with third party suppliers and sold goods and services.
The largest project that Garcia took on was preparing for and hosting an interview with billionaire David Steward, the founder and chairman of World Wide Technology. Garcia and three other interns worked together to put on the interview in front of 800 people. "It was a great experience to get to talk with Steward, a man who grew up in a segregated America was a once in a lifetime experience. Being able to network with the people he worked with was also a nice bonus. We put a lot of time and effort into preparing for the interview and it was nice to be recognized by Barclays for a job well done."
Garcia also worked closely with Harvey Butler, the Global Head of Supplier Diversity. "About 8% of Barclay's suppliers are either a female, black, LGBTQ, minority, I learned a lot from Butler and enjoyed my time I got to spend with him."
When asked what her biggest takeaways, Garcia stated, "One of them was the opportunity that a big company offers. Working at a smaller internship at the marketing research firm and then moving to a giant bank, opens your eyes to different careers. I also got an opportunity to talk to big-time people working for a huge corporate bank. I liked Barclays and the work environment was great. I never felt like I was talking to a senior leader, everyone was nice."
In terms of how the Barclays internship will impact Garcia on the field, she said, "I think the experience helped with teamwork and team-building exercises. With our team meeting through Zoom, there is tons of communication needed and I learned to see things through other perspectives."
"While I am still exploring what I want to do as a career, this internship made me realize to not limit yourself to a limited role. It was crazy when it ended and I enjoyed my time. Barclays put things into perspectives and I want to be somewhere that I can see myself moving up in. I want to be at a company for a long time and I want to be able to work for a company that offers internal mobility and who's values align with my own."
Garcia, who is also a member of the Knights Lead Program, an ambassador for the Silberman College of Business, in the Women in Business Club, and a freshman peer mentor will graduate in May with a degree in marketing.
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