Barclays HireVue Interview Questions and How to Answer Them
Barclays uses a recorded HireVue interview after its online assessments for many early careers programmes. These are the questions candidates report, grouped by type, with how to answer them.
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How the Barclays HireVue works
Barclays HireVue questions candidates report
18 questions from Barclays HireVue interviews. Prepare a story for each type rather than a script for each question.
Motivation and fit
Why investment banking, and why Barclays specifically?
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Tell me something not on your resume.
Explain one of the projects on your resume in detail: your role, the technologies used, the challenges you faced and how you solved them.
Behavioural
Describe a situation where you had to overcome a significant challenge at work, and how you handled it.
How do you prioritise multiple tasks or projects when they all seem equally important?
Tell me about a time you managed to persuade someone to take your point of view.
How do you deal with a difficult customer?
Give an example of when you have promoted diversity and inclusion.
What are your soft skills?
Tell me about a time you faced a risk.
Tell us about a time you displayed initiative.
Tell me about a time you worked in a difficult team and what you personally contributed.
Tell me about a time you performed under pressure and how you structured your response.
Markets and industry
What has happened in markets this past year?
Do you have a portfolio? What’s in it?
What do you think are the biggest challenges facing the finance industry in the next five years?
Where do you think the industry is heading, and why does that interest you?
How to answer Barclays HireVue questions
Use the five values as your evidence list
Barclays names five values: Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship, under the purpose “Working together for a better financial future.” Before recording, match one story from your own experience to each value. Most reported questions (a challenge, a risk, initiative, a difficult team) can then be answered with the story that fits best.
Answer the diversity question with something you did
Respect, in Barclays’ words, means harnessing “the power of inclusion and opportunity” and valuing everyone’s contribution. When asked how you have promoted diversity and inclusion, describe one action you took, such as changing how a society recruited or making sure a quieter teammate was heard, and what changed because of it.
Put the customer at the centre
Service is described as acting “with empathy and humility, putting the people and businesses we serve at the centre.” For the difficult customer question, show that you listened first, stayed calm, solved the actual problem and followed up, rather than only that you kept your temper.
Show integrity when you talk about risk
Integrity is “honesty, courage, transparency and fairness in all we do”. In the risk question, say what you weighed up, who you told and why the risk was worth taking. If it went wrong, say so plainly and explain what you would do differently.
Take a side on the markets question
The markets prompts (the past year, your portfolio, the industry’s biggest challenges) are where candidates report the most difficulty. Pick two real pressures, such as interest rates, regulation, AI or deal flow, give your view on each and back it with one concrete example. If you hold a portfolio, explain why you bought one position and what would make you sell it.
Keep your “Why Barclays” consistent
Later interviewers probe the same motivation in more depth, so the reasons you give here need to hold up at the Superday or assessment centre. Base them on the business you applied to and what you have done to learn about it, not on the bank’s size or name.
Tips for recording your answers
- Check the invitation for the deadline and the number of attempts on your track. Some report one take, others two.
- If you get a second attempt, keep it for a real glitch rather than chasing a slightly better answer.
- Use the thinking time to note three words: the situation, what you did and the result.
- Aim to finish just inside the answer time. A complete answer beats one the timer cuts off mid-sentence.
- Look at the lens, not your own picture, with the camera at eye level and the light in front of you.
- On a technology track, allow time for the scenario section and email before the video questions start.
Frequently asked questions
Does Barclays use HireVue?
Yes. Candidates report a recorded HireVue interview after the online assessments for Summer Analyst and graduate programmes, before the live interviews.
How many questions are in the Barclays HireVue?
Barclays does not publish a number. Candidates report five to eight questions, taking about 20 minutes in all.
How long do you get to answer Barclays HireVue questions?
Candidates report 30 seconds to one minute to think and one to two minutes to answer each question.
Can you retake answers in the Barclays HireVue?
It depends on the track. Candidates report one take on some and two attempts per question on others.
What happens after the Barclays HireVue?
Candidates report live interviews next, ending in a Superday or an assessment centre with a motivational interview.
Practise for the Barclays HireVue
Our AI interview practice uses the same one-way format: five questions on screen, 60 seconds to prepare, then up to a minute to answer on camera. Choose the finance focus and the questions lean towards finance, with feedback on relevance, clarity and structure and on what finance assessors look for, such as commercial awareness and integrity. You also get a model answer to your weakest question.
The questions are ours, not Barclays’s. Start answering before the 60 seconds are up to match a shorter thinking time, and since practice lets you re-record, do one session in a single take.
Your first session is free with a free account. After that, Interview Access is £5 once for up to 20 sessions, with no subscription.