Assistant Relationship Manager Review

My Job Title is 'Assistant Relationship Manager' I deal with Commercial customers who have a turnover of £2-25 Million. We help the customer with their banking requirements, overdrafts, loans and general business needs. I am the frontline for the customer so, I book the meetings with the customer to meet the Relationship Manager, I am the customers first point of contact to do help with anything to do with banking and I will send the information/customer to the correct place for the item to be processed. I have a responsibility of ensuring we have a 9 or above in our surveys on customer service, book meetings in for the customers facilities to be reviewed and be available for the customers to ask questions.

I have gained 2 qualifications in this apprenticeship. Professional Banker Certificate which is part of the Chartered Banking Institute, it is a well known qualification. I have also gained a Providing Financial Services Level 3 qualification. I have received a greater knowledge on lending and developed my analysing of financial accounts skill. I have increased my excellent communication skills due to having to talk to customers on a daily basis. By being in a professional environment I have also have an understanding of FCA and PRA as the customers information I deal with is very confidential and I have to ensure I act professional in and out of work

I enjoy the apprenticeship programme due to having an opportunity to work in a Commercial environment is very difficult to get into. I am the youngest in my office due to not having these schemes before and every employee I speak to are very intrigued in the Apprenticeship scheme and are always asking questions. I the office I work in are all very helpful with the apprenticeship however, due to being the first one in my office on the scheme it was difficult for them to know when to give me work and when I am needing to revise. RBs culture is very helpful and giving towards young apprentices due to wanting us to proceed and progress in the bank as we have new/different ideas. The Scheme is much harder than expected but that's because it is a professional environment and a competitive job role.

My manager has always praised and encouraged me in our 1 to 1 meetings, we have these regularly to ensure I am enjoying what I am doing and if there is anything else he can help. I have received a LOV Award - which is Living Our Values, I was recognised from another team for doing well and being helpful. I have been on a number of apprentice events to help other young students understand their options for the future, we have gained lots of great feedback not only from my employees but from schools. I feel very valued in my workplace.

The programme is very organised and structured in the such that in my induction they gave us clear instructions of what the workbooks are going to be like and that we will have a one on one assessor. The only downfall is that it took a while for books to come through for the exam, our log ins took a while to get onto the VLE and it didn't always work. However, all the help via emails and phone calls are so quick to respond and are always available when needing to talk to someone about a query. The help team were excellent. As we were the first apprentices on this programme, a lot of things changed throughout the first year so we did feel like 'guinea pigs' but now they know what works and doesn't. I have a 'buddy' who has taken the apprenticeship for 2016 and he has not had any problems as of yet. It would be more helpful if my employees knew exactly what I needed to complete the apprenticeship as I feel like for some of the tasks I had to ask for someone to complete something for me or sign something, it is difficult for them to do as well as their everyday job.

My Training Provider was Caroline Bull and she was excellent. So quick to respond to emails/ phone calls and any questions I had. She understood how busy it was for my line manager to join our calls and she always followed him up with an email so he was always in the loop. I have ensured my 'buddy' has the same assessor so that when I join the call I have a familiar voice and help out where I can. Caroline had great attitude when helping me. BPP helpdesk was extremely helpful when replying to emails/phone calls. Any technical problem I had they will be quick to find out the reason and fix it for me.

My manager was excellent in giving support, he would ensure I am having enough revision time and completion of my workbooks. The employee I was aligned to always helped with completing the parts of the workbook that he needed to, and completed them early enough for me to send them back. When I had my exam, my colleagues would take some work of my hands so that I can just focus on passing the exam.

The salary is not Apprentice Wage, they cater for you to afford travel, living and daily costs. The wages is as if you were similar to a full time 'Assistant Relationship Manager.' The package which RBS add on is the pension package, you can determine how much a month you would like to contribute to your pensions. This is great to start early, more money in there for the future.

There have been lots of events that I have been fortunate to attend. In the beginning of Feb 2017 I attended a Women in Business event for our customers where inspiring successful women talked about how they got where they are now and it was a great event to network. I have volunteered for many apprentice events, for Skills of London in the Excel centre and skills event in Tower Hamlets event. All apprentices got taken on a 2 day course to understand lending and credit which was great to broaden our knowledge. I have worked for a different team 'Retail and Wholesale' for 2 weeks for a cover as another colleague was away. This was great to meet a different sector of people and broaden my Network.

Yes

The company is very eager to help young apprentices succeed in the bank, the scheme is an advantage on other outsiders as you get a greater knowledge at a young age that can only progress within in the bank. At the end of the experience, you have 1 years experience in commercial banking, Professional Banker Certificate and a Providing Financial Services qualification level 3. Great opportunity to understand if Banking is what you would like to do in the future.

Understand this is a 'Job' and not just education, it is a great opportunity to get the 'foot in the door' with a bank and if a particular role isn't for you then there are plenty more within the bank that could be more suited for you. Great experience to put on the CV.