Getting the job done: graduate boosts Barclaycard sales in Egypt

Ryan’s first placement as a graduate trainee was, he says, ‘completely not what I’d done before’. He was given the job of selling Barclaycards in Egypt. ‘I knew nothing about Egypt, local customs or what the credit market was like. And, coming straight from university, I hadn’t managed a team before.’ Joining the Africa team for Barclaycard International, Ryan was given the job of country manager for Egypt for four months. This was a new market for the company and Ryan had the responsibility for increasing sales (he is happy to report he came in just under target). He was in charge of a team of three Egyptian colleagues, along with eight branches, managing them remotely from the Barclaycard head office in Northampton – although he did get a few business trips to Egypt.

'The four months taught Ryan a lot: how to grasp a lot of information quickly, how to coach and motivate people, and how to give direct and honest feedback about performance.'

Cultural differences

A typical day involved looking at sales figures across the branches and making sure the teams were on target. That meant a lot of phone calls and e-mails, as well as a conference call each morning to the team. ‘There was a lot of micro managing, talking to them about which branch they were going to visit that day. They prefer to be managed in a hands-on way rather than being given free rein.’ That was one cultural difference Ryan noticed. And he had to learn quickly. He recalls, ‘The first week I phoned the office on Friday and couldn’t understand why no-one answered. Their weekend is Friday and Saturday.’ 

As well as different working practices, there were also issues like having to make sure marketing material was in both English and Arabic, and being sensitive to Islamic law around credit. Armed with a country profile from the Foreign Office, Ryan started to learn. And he also discovered some things in common. ‘Chatting to one of the lads on the phone, I found out they are really into football,’ remembers Ryan. ‘So to encourage friendly competition I set up a champions league for the branches and each week sent round an e-mail showing their position in the league. The best personal banker for sales won a football-related prize, and the winning branch got a trophy.’

Learning curve

The four months taught Ryan a lot: how to grasp a lot of information quickly, how to coach and motivate people, and how to give direct and honest feedback about performance. Learning people management skills was the hardest part of the project. ‘I got a lot of excuses for slow sales in the early part of the project, but once I learnt to be confident and take a stand it was fine,’ says Ryan, ‘and at the end of my review I got excellent feedback from the team.’ Managing people was also rewarding – so much so that Ryan has decided that this is where he wants his career to go. After the Egypt project, his next placement was in fraud detection, managing a team of 11. His advice to other trainees: ‘If you get a chance to do something different, jump in and take it. It is excellent fun.’

Ryan is a graduate trainee at Barclays Bank.