Every round of the Barclays early-careers process, why there is no game list to practice, what the two interactive assessments are and are not confirmed to be, and where to practice honestly.
By the Game Assessment Prep research teamUpdated September 12, 2026How we research
There is no game list on this page, because no game-based assessment is documented at Barclays in any track or region. That is a finding, not a gap: we read Barclays' own application-process, apprentice-journey, hints-and-tips and experienced-hire pages, searched specifically for pymetrics, Arctic Shores, Aon and Criteria batteries, and checked the prep sites that usually assert vendor links — and none of them claims a game battery here. Barclays' phrase "two short interactive assessments" is its wording for the online testing stage, not a description of games, and reading it as a game claim is the single most common mistake about this process. What Barclays does run is an unnamed pair of online assessments, possibly a recorded video interview, and an assessment centre. If you were sent here expecting a Barclays game set to practice, the useful redirect is the video-interview preparation and the question bank below. If your own invitation names a game, that is new evidence and we would like to know.
Barclays is unusually specific about the shape of its early-careers process and unusually silent about who builds it. The official application-process page gives three steps: the application form, then "two short interactive assessments, which will tell us how you might perform in the workplace, and your typical or preferred ways of working", then an assessment centre that "will involve two or three stages, including a motivational interview with a member of the leadership team." That is the whole published description. No vendor is named, no test is named, no module count or timing is given for the graduate and internship tracks, and no game appears anywhere.
On games specifically, the finding is clean: there is no evidence that Barclays uses a game-based assessment of any kind. We checked Barclays' own application-process, apprentice-journey, hints-and-tips and experienced-hire pages, and searched for pymetrics, Arctic Shores, Aon and Criteria batteries. Nothing. This makes Barclays a different animal from the game-based employers on this site — /employers/pwc-cee, /employers/blackstone, /pymetrics/jpmorgan, /pymetrics/bcg and the Arctic Shores employers all have evidenced game batteries, and Barclays does not belong in that category. The one "Barclays game" story that circulates is the Global Markets Insight Game, a 2015 Stockfuse stock-trading contest whose prize was a conversation with Barclays professionals. It was recruitment marketing, never part of selection, and it is long retired.
On the video interview, the evidence is real but narrower than most pages claim. A Barclays-branded HireVue tenant is live at barclays.hirevue.com — vendor-side infrastructure, which outranks any prep-site guess — and candidates in earlier cycles described a recorded interview. What that proves is that HireVue is provisioned for Barclays. It does not prove the 2026-27 early-careers funnel routes through it, or for which roles and regions, and Barclays' current process page lists no separate video stage. Trade press from November 2023 discusses HireVue video interviews at European investment banks including Barclays, but does not document Barclays' process directly.
On the tests themselves, be skeptical of everything you read. Prep sites variously guess SHL (Verify G+, OPQ32) or Cappfinity, hedge with "typically", contradict each other, and cite no candidate report or invitation email. No SHL or Cappfinity case study names Barclays. The provider is simply unconfirmed, and this page says so rather than picking a side.
Three tracks sit outside the graduate program and should not be read together with it. Experienced hires run a separate four-step journey. Barclays' India technology and analyst campus drives are coding-first with no games and no one-way video in any candidate report we could read. And US banking hiring is reported to end in a Superday rather than a UK-style assessment centre, which we could not verify from a primary source and therefore do not assert.
Two-year rotational graduate programs giving "broad, hands-on experience in a key area of the business", rotating across teams with mentorship and job-specific training. Business areas include Consumer & Retail Banking, Developer, Enabling Functions, Operations & Technology, US Consumer Bank, Private Banking & Wealth Management, UK Corporate Banking, and Global Transaction Banking.
Specialized graduate tracks described as a "fast-paced programme designed to develop deep, practical knowledge", with role-specific training and live project work from day one. Business areas include Developer, Data & Analytics, Investment Banking, Quantitative Finance, International Corporate Banking, Investing & Lending, Internal Audit, Markets, and Research.
An "in-depth introduction to a business area of your choice" with a mentor and line manager, across Data and Analytics, Enabling Functions, Quantitative Finance, Investment Banking, Markets, Operations, Private Banking and Wealth Management, Research, Retail Banking, Technology, US Consumer Bank, UK Corporate Banking, Global Transaction Banking, International Corporate Banking, and Investing and Lending. The 2027 London Banking summer internship is a 10-week program running June to August 2027, open to penultimate- or final-year students in any discipline.
"3-6 months working within our Investment Banking or Quantitative Analytics business areas", also covering International Corporate Banking, Markets, Quantitative Finance, Global Transaction Banking, Private Banking and Wealth Management, and Investing and Lending.
An insight-style program aimed at students who are up to two years away from graduating. Barclays does not publish a separate assessment description for it.
Apprenticeship programs running up to Master's-level qualifications, including degree apprenticeships such as a 2027 Business Banking Degree Apprenticeship in London. This is the one track where Barclays publishes hard assessment numbers: two interactive assessments, about 60 minutes, to be completed within five calendar days of the invitation, followed by a motivational interview plus a group activity.
An investment banking graduate role working with Coverage and M&A teams on live deals, client pitches and strategic advisory, performing financial analysis, valuation and industry research. Intake dates are February or July 2027, with employment extending to July 2029. Open to recent or soon-to-be graduates, based at Canary Wharf. The posting states no application closing date.
Source: Barclays careers, Banking Graduate Programme 2027 London posting
Application; assessment (online assessments "carefully designed to see how you align to our Barclays Values and ways of working", which "can take up to an hour", or a telephone interview of about half an hour); interview, face-to-face or virtual; then next steps and screening. Some roles add role plays, case studies and presentations, and Barclays offers practice tests. No vendor is named here either, and no games appear.
Source: Barclays careers, experienced hire application journey
Announced September 2015: a Stockfuse-built stock-trading game open to university students in the Americas, Asia-Pacific and EMEA, where two winners per region per game period won the opportunity to meet Barclays professionals and discuss graduate programmes. This was recruitment marketing and talent discovery, not part of the formal application process, and there is no evidence it still runs. It is the single item most often mistaken for "a Barclays game", and it is not one.
Source: FStech, Barclays turns to gamification in talent search, 14 September 2015
Barclays' India campus drives (Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai) are genuinely different. A candidate report from a 2019 all-India drive describes a three-hour, three-question online coding round taken in teams of three, then a technical interview during a hackathon in Pune covering Java, OOP, C++, data structures, DBMS and ACID, REST and HTTP, then an HR interview. No assessment platform is named in those reports, and no games or one-way video interview appear in them. The evidence is several years old.
Source: GeeksforGeeks, Barclays All India Campus Hiring (Analyst 3), 2019 drive
The official application-process page says: "It all starts with two short interactive assessments, which will tell us how you might perform in the workplace, and your typical or preferred ways of working." That is as specific as Barclays gets. No vendor, no test name, no module list, no question count, no pass mark, and no game. This is not a gap in our research — we read the page and that is what it says.
Source: Barclays careers, internship and graduate application process
We searched specifically for pymetrics, Arctic Shores, Aon and Criteria game batteries at Barclays and found nothing in any source — official, candidate or prep. Not one of Barclays' own pages mentions games, simulations, or "interactive" in the game sense; "interactive assessments" is Barclays' phrase for the online testing stage, not a game claim. Even the prep sites that habitually over-claim vendor links do not assert a game battery here. Preparing for one would be preparing for something nothing suggests exists.
Source: Targeted searches for pymetrics, Arctic Shores, Aon and Criteria games at Barclays, September 2026
A Barclays-branded HireVue tenant is live and responds from HireVue's EU production environment. That is vendor-side infrastructure, the strongest tier of evidence short of an employer naming its own vendor, and it is why this page treats HireVue as Barclays' recorded-interview platform rather than a guess. But it proves provisioning, not routing: it does not tell you that the 2026-27 early-careers funnel goes through HireVue, or for which roles and regions. Barclays' current process page lists no separate video stage at all.
Source: HireVue, live Barclays-branded interview tenant (verified September 2026)
Candidates in past cycles reported a recorded video interview at Barclays, and trade press from November 2023 discusses HireVue video interviews at European investment banks including Barclays — though that article speaks generically about banks and does not document Barclays' process directly. Reported themes for bank video interviews include overcoming a workplace challenge, five-year plans, something not on your resume, and promoting diversity and inclusion. Preparation time is short; the exact allowance is not documented for Barclays. Treat a recorded stage as possible and worth preparing, not as a confirmed current step.
Source: eFinancialCareers, HireVue questions European banks ask, November 2023 (generic to banks)
Barclays does not name the provider behind its two interactive assessments. Prep sites variously guess SHL (Verify G+, OPQ32) or Cappfinity, but they contradict each other on the vendor, hedge with "typically", and cite no candidate evidence, so the provider is unconfirmed. One widely-read prep page asserts Cappfinity and lists SHL modules on the same page. No SHL or Cappfinity case study naming Barclays exists. Do not prepare for a specific branded test on this basis.
Source: Review of prep-site vendor claims against primary sources, September 2026
Barclays' apprentice application journey states: "you will need to complete the assessment within five calendar days from the date of your invitation", and suggests allowing 60 minutes for completion. This is the only firm, officially stated assessment timing Barclays publishes. It is stated for the apprenticeship track; the graduate and internship pages give no timing, so treat 60 minutes and five days as a sensible planning assumption there rather than a published rule, and read your own invitation.
Barclays states the interactive assessments can be taken on a mobile phone or tablet. That is genuinely unusual and worth knowing, but a stable connection and an uninterrupted hour still matter more than the device. If any part of your invitation requires a laptop, the invitation wins.
Source: Barclays careers, internship and graduate application process
Barclays says the assessment centre is attended in person or virtually and "will involve two or three stages, including a motivational interview with a member of the leadership team." That is the entire official description. Candidates in past cycles have described additional exercises — case study, group exercise, presentation, e-tray inbox prioritization — and used the name "Business Insight" for the online stages, but Barclays does not publish those details and they may reflect older cycles. Treat the reported timings you will find elsewhere as unconfirmed.
Source: Barclays careers, internship and graduate application process
Barclays states plainly that third-party AI tools are banned during its interviews, including transcription bots, meeting assistants, and any application that records, transcribes or analyzes conversations. Any use results in the interview being stopped and the application withdrawn, and may affect eligibility for future Barclays roles. Practicing with whatever you like beforehand is fine; sitting the real thing alone is not optional.
Source: Barclays careers, hints and tips
Barclays offers adjustments on request, including extra time for assessments and offline assessments. It also states that candidates receive full instructions by email about the structure and timings of the assessments, plus hints and tips, and tells applicants to complete all practice and example questions. That email is the only document that binds — everything on this page is context for it.
Source: Barclays careers, hints and tips
This is Barclays' own three-step description for internships and graduate programs, with nothing added.
Source: Barclays careers, internship and graduate application process
The apprentice journey is the most specific thing Barclays publishes, and the only place with a stated deadline and duration.
Barclays does not list a video stage in its current published process, but HireVue hosts a Barclays interview portal and past candidates reported a recorded interview — so it may appear for some roles, possibly inside the second interactive assessment. Prepare for it as a contingency. The researched question bank is at /hirevue/questions/barclays, and you can rehearse under a clock at /mock-interviews/barclays.
Source: Barclays careers, Banking Graduate Programme 2027 London posting
Barclays names one stage of the two or three and leaves the rest unpublished. The motivational interview is the part you can prepare with confidence.
Source: Barclays careers, internship and graduate application process
Several widely repeated descriptions of Barclays assessments do not survive contact with the primary sources. Knowing which ones are hollow saves you from preparing for the wrong thing.
Source: Barclays careers, hints and tips
Barclays publishes almost no dates, and this is the single most important thing to understand about its calendar: the 2027 graduate and internship postings were checked and state no application closing date. Barclays says the process depends on the role and that you receive full instructions by email. Any page giving you a confident Barclays deadline is guessing. Everything below was checked in September 2026.
| Cycle | Application dates | Likely assessment window | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apprenticeship initial assessment | Five calendar days from the date of your invitation | Allow about 60 minutes for completion | Official source This is the only hard, officially stated assessment deadline Barclays publishes anywhere. Barclays' apprentice application journey says: "you will need to complete the assessment within five calendar days from the date of your invitation", and suggests allowing 60 minutes. Book the hour in the first two days rather than the last — there is no published grace period. |
| 2027 Banking Graduate Programme, London | None stated on the official posting | Not stated | Official source The posting gives intake dates of February or July 2027 with employment extending to July 2029, and describes Coverage and M&A work at Canary Wharf. It states no application closing date. Check the live posting for your specific program rather than relying on a circulated date. Source: Barclays careers, Banking Graduate Programme 2027 London posting |
| 2027 Banking Summer Internship, London | None stated on the official posting | Not stated | Official source A June 2027 start and a 10-week duration through August 2027, open to penultimate- or final-year students in any discipline, based at Canary Wharf. The posting describes the process only as application, assessment, interview, next steps, and notes that "the application process depends on the role". No closing date. |
| The circulating 2027 cycle dates | Not confirmed by Barclays — do not plan around them | Not confirmed | Single source Aggregator and prep sites claim the 2027 graduate intake opens in early September 2026 and closes between 30 November 2026 and 31 January 2027 depending on division, with technology closing earlier, and that review is rolling. None of this is confirmed by any Barclays page, and the 2027 postings we checked state no closing date. Treat these as unverified. Missing a real deadline because you trusted an invented one is the specific harm here. Source: Aggregator and prep-site claims, contradicted by Barclays' own 2027 postings |
| Your invitation email, whatever it says | Whatever your invitation states | Whatever your invitation states | Official source Barclays' own guidance emphasizes that the process varies by role and that candidates receive full instructions by email covering the structure and timings of the assessments, plus hints and tips. Read the instructions in your invitation rather than relying on generic cycle dates from anywhere, including this page. Source: Barclays careers, hints and tips |
| India campus season | Campus-specific | Coding round and interviews typically run across the campus visit, per candidate accounts | Single source Barclays' India technology and analyst drives follow each campus's own calendar rather than a published global one. The available candidate evidence is dated — a 2019 all-India drive — so treat both the process description and any timing as historical until a current account appears. Source: GeeksforGeeks, Barclays All India Campus Hiring (Analyst 3), 2019 drive |
| Experienced hires | Per vacancy | Online assessments "can take up to an hour"; telephone interviews "usually last about half an hour" | Official source The experienced-hire journey runs on its own four steps and its own timings, with practice tests offered before the assessment. Some roles add role plays, case studies and presentations. This is not the early-careers funnel described elsewhere on this page. Source: Barclays careers, experienced hire application journey |
Start by accepting what this process is, because that alone redirects most people's preparation time correctly. There is no Barclays game battery to practice. The two interactive assessments come from a provider Barclays does not name, so you cannot drill a branded test — you can only build familiarity with the general formats and turn up rested. The stages you can genuinely prepare are the recorded answers, if a video stage appears, and the assessment centre, where Barclays names the one thing that matters most: a motivational interview with a member of the leadership team.
That makes the efficient plan unusual. Spend a short session on general reasoning formats so nothing on screen is unfamiliar, answer the work-style questions honestly and consistently rather than strategically, and then put the bulk of your hours into motivation and competency examples mapped to the Barclays Values and Mindset. Those examples carry you through the video stage if there is one, the motivational interview, and every later conversation. Our practice metrics track your improvement; Barclays publishes no scoring model and no cutoff.
Step 1
Barclays states that candidates receive full instructions by email about the structure and timings of the assessments, plus hints and tips, and that the process depends on the role. That email is the only document that binds. If it names a test, a platform, a timing or a deadline, it overrides everything on this page and every other page you will read.
Step 2
Nothing evidences a game-based assessment at Barclays. If you want general cognitive warm-up before an unnamed assessment, the reasoning practice at /shl/numerical-reasoning, /shl/verbal-reasoning and /shl/inductive-reasoning trains common formats — but be clear with yourself that this is format familiarity, not preparation for a known Barclays test. We are not claiming these are the tests Barclays uses, because nobody credible knows what they are.
Step 3
The only official timing Barclays gives is 60 minutes within five calendar days of the invitation, on the apprenticeship track. Treat that as the planning assumption for the graduate and internship tracks too until your invitation says otherwise. The assessments can be taken on a phone or tablet, but a stable connection, a quiet room and a single sitting matter more than the device.
Step 4
One of the two assessments is about "your typical or preferred ways of working". These formats check internal consistency across repeated, differently-worded items, so a candidate constructing an ideal persona tends to contradict themselves and score worse than one answering straight. Read each item as written and answer as you actually work.
Step 5
Why Barclays, why this business area, a teamwork or leadership example, and a time you overcame a significant challenge. Map each to the published Values — Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence, Stewardship — and the Mindset: Empower, Challenge, Drive. Barclays also names resilience, adaptability, confidence, drive, empathy and curiosity for graduate roles. A small set of well-built stories that flex across prompts beats a long list of memorized scripts.
Step 6
Barclays does not list a video stage in its current published process, but HireVue hosts a Barclays interview portal and past candidates reported a recorded interview, so one may appear — possibly inside the second interactive assessment. Work through /hirevue/questions/barclays for the researched question bank, then rehearse under a clock at /mock-interviews/barclays. Record yourself once and watch it back; most people find they finish far too early or run long, and both are fixable in a single session.
Step 7
Barclays offers extra time for assessments and offline assessments on request. Ask before the invitation window starts running rather than during it — five calendar days is not much room to arrange anything.
Step 8
Barclays bans third-party AI tools during its interviews, naming transcription bots, meeting assistants and any application that records, transcribes or analyzes conversations. Breach stops the interview, withdraws the application, and may affect eligibility for future Barclays roles. Practice with whatever you like beforehand; close everything for the live stages.
Step 9
If you are an experienced hire, your process is a separate four-step journey with up to an hour of values-aligned assessment or a roughly 30-minute telephone interview, and Barclays offers practice tests for it. If you are applying through an India campus drive, prepare coding problems and CS fundamentals — Java, OOP, data structures, DBMS, REST — rather than the early-careers guidance above. Neither is the graduate funnel described on the rest of this page.
No game-based assessment is documented at Barclays in any track or region. We read Barclays' own application-process, apprentice-journey, hints-and-tips and experienced-hire pages, searched specifically for pymetrics, Arctic Shores, Aon and Criteria batteries, and checked the prep sites that routinely assert vendor links — none of them claims a game battery here. Barclays' phrase "two short interactive assessments" is its wording for the online testing stage, not a game. The only "Barclays game" in the record is a 2015 Stockfuse trading contest that was recruitment marketing, never selection, and is long retired.
Barclays does not say. Its own words are that the process "starts with two short interactive assessments, which will tell us how you might perform in the workplace, and your typical or preferred ways of working" — no vendor, no test name, no module list, no question count, no pass mark. Prep sites variously guess SHL (Verify G+, OPQ32) or Cappfinity, but they contradict each other, hedge with "typically", and cite no candidate report or invitation. No SHL or Cappfinity case study names Barclays. The provider is genuinely unconfirmed.
HireVue hosts a live Barclays-branded interview portal, which is vendor-side infrastructure and stronger evidence than any prep-site claim. Candidates in earlier cycles also reported a recorded video interview. But Barclays' current published early-careers process lists only two interactive assessments and an assessment centre, with no separate video stage — so the honest position is that HireVue is provisioned for Barclays and a recorded interview may still appear for some roles, possibly inside the second interactive assessment, rather than being a confirmed current step. It is not evidence of a HireVue game battery.
On the apprenticeship track, Barclays says to allow about 60 minutes and to complete the assessment within five calendar days from the date of your invitation. That is the only hard timing Barclays publishes. The graduate and internship pages give no timing at all, so use 60 minutes and five days as a planning assumption there and read your invitation for the binding numbers. You can sit the assessments on a mobile phone or tablet.
Barclays publishes none. We checked the 2027 Banking Graduate Programme and 2027 Banking Summer Internship postings and neither states a closing date; Barclays says only that the process depends on the role. Aggregator sites circulate dates between 30 November 2026 and 31 January 2027 by division, with technology earlier — none of that is confirmed by Barclays, and planning around an invented deadline is how people miss a real one. Check your live posting.
Barclays says it is attended in person or virtually and "will involve two or three stages, including a motivational interview with a member of the leadership team." On the apprenticeship track it is a motivational interview plus a group activity. Barclays does not publish what the other stages are. Candidates in past cycles reported case studies, group exercises, presentations and e-tray exercises, and used names like "Business Insight" and "Business Meeting" — that is candidate terminology, some of it traceable to 2017, and not confirmed for the current cycle.
No. Barclays bans third-party AI tools during its interviews, explicitly naming transcription bots, meeting assistants and any application that records, transcribes or analyzes conversations. Any use results in the interview being stopped and the application withdrawn, and may affect eligibility for future Barclays roles. Adjustments, including extra time and offline assessments, are a separate matter and available on request.
No. India technology and analyst campus drives are a separate, coding-first track. A candidate report from a 2019 all-India drive describes a three-hour, three-question online coding round taken in teams of three, then a technical interview during a hackathon in Pune covering Java, OOP, C++, data structures, DBMS and ACID, and REST and HTTP, then an HR interview. No assessment platform is named in those reports, and no games or one-way video interview appear in them. The evidence is several years old, so treat it as historical.
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