I recently spent a day at Barclays Capital for a Career Services conference. The day was especially insightful, as the recruiting team at Barclays is smart, full of energy, and on top of their game. Watch this space to hear more from what the Barclays team will do in the future. I learned a great deal about banking and why a student would want to work there. A highlight at the conference was a visit from CEO Bob Diamond and hearing his insights into the areas of growth in the banking industry in the next few years.
But the most important and insightful tidbit I heard all day was from London-based, Global Head of Recruiting and Graduate Development Tim Peat. Tim discussed the characteristics of Barclays that make the bank unique and a great place to work. Many are obvious, but I was impressed with the life he brought to even the obvious ones. Traits like client focused, diversity, innovation, teamwork/collaboration, meritocracy, honesty, and careful approach to risk taking, oh, and don’t forget fun—these things really are important to the firm. I heard them from Tim, and then I saw them in Bob Diamond and Tara Udul and her entire team.
But in the middle of the list was my favorite: Barclays’ “no jerk” policy.
Jerks need not apply, and if accidently brought on board, will be weeded out quickly.
In my six years in Career Management, I have seen many alumni and recruiters express the same sentiment, though not quite as eloquently. When companies hire someone, they want to hire someone with whom they want to work, someone who’ll pass the “15 hours stuck in Newark” test. No one wants to work with a jerk.
So, banker wannabes: in your recruiting process, or even in your current summer internship, be sure to impress them with your Excel skills, and your late night ambition. But more than anything, be a real person, be interesting and interested. Don’t be a jerk. Don’t make it about you. Read Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum.
All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten
by Robert Fulghum
- an excerpt from the book, All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten
All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten.
ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW about how to live and what to do
and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not
at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the
sand pile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life - learn some and think some
and draw and paint and sing and dance and play
and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic,
hold hands, and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.
Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup:
The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody
really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even
the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die.
So do we.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books
and the first word you learned - the biggest
word of all - LOOK.