Barclays holds career talks for secondary students |15 November 2013

Barclays Bank has started a series of career talks for secondary students under the theme ‘Empower youth to make informed career choices’.

As the theme says, the talks are aimed at helping students make wise career choices when they finish school and explaining to them what the banking sector entails.

Secondary four (S4) students of Plaisance are among those who have benefitted from the talk.

Although the talks were planned for S5 students, it was not possible for them to attend as they were sitting their exams at that time.
 
Barclays Bank Seychelles’ employees are this year joining the rest of Barclays employees globally in sharing their personal or professional skills to improve enterprise, employability and financial skills of young people, with the ultimate goal of  ‘Changing 5 Million Young Futures’.

The 2013 Make a Difference (Mad) activities in Seychelles started on November 4 and will end on the 16th.

The bank is targeting the young people in their career talks, an activity which will continue next year.

“Our aim is to help school leavers make wise career choices, especially in the banking sector. We also want to get rid of the perception that working in a bank is only about being a cashier or being in the ‘front office’ of the bank.  We also want to show them that there’s also the ‘back office’ or behind-the-scene work as well. Even we were not aware of such work when we were looking for a career in a bank,” said lead presenter Patricia Fantaisie, head of securities at Barclays Bank.

Ms Fantaisie explained to students that there is no such school where they can study banking here in Seychelles, and one could have been in finance, law, teaching and still make a career in the banking sector.

“For example I studied law and management but now I am head of securities although this job has some law involved,” said Ms Fantaisie.

Referring to the career route in place within the bank, Barclays Bank believes that even if you start by doing a certain job it does not mean it’s the one you would settle for in your lifetime. In the bank there are staff members who are now in a totally different section than the one they chose before and are very satisfied.

The talks also concentrated on work ethics like the bank’s values and behaviour that employees of Barclays Bank should abide by as these have an impact on the evaluation of the staff by the manager.

She said the bank found it appropriate to show the future school leavers about Barclays Bank especially the banking sector and what it entails so that when they make their career choice they have a better idea what they want or they would like to become.

Apart from career opportunities, the talks also featured products and services offered by Barclays Bank and three main sectors were discussed – corporate, retail and operations.

There were interactions from both sides where the presenters asked students on what they know about Barclays Bank and also students asked questions about the bank.

Opportunities for growth and career prospects in Barclays Bank were very much emphasised on and it was explained to students that one can start at the bottom of the ladder and can make it to the highest level if he or she has the potential and shows devotion in his/her work.

A video of staff members explaining how they have reached managerial positions in various posts available at the bank was also aired.