Apprentice Assistant Relationship Manager Review

I act as an Assistant Relationship Manager, supporting a Relationship Manager and their portfolio of customers. I answer queries via email and telephone, deal with admin tasks, help plan, book and prepare for customer meetings, and support with new and existing lending. I also support the whole local team to achieve our yearly targets for customer satisfaction, and new business.

I have improved on my existing customer skills, such as answering telephone queries and dealing with complaints. I have also improved my relationship management skills, by learning how to maintain a contact strategy and planner, and developing trust and rapport through repeated interactions with the same customers. I have learnt a lot of new skills related to lending money and deal management.

I have really enjoyed the apprenticeship programme, as I have been very fortunate to work within a team who have allowed me the responsibility of managing my own portfolio, which has greatly increased my confidence and my ability to deal with lots of different issues and tasks. I have also been able to meet and work with apprentices from different offices, which has helped me build a very useful network when applying for new roles.

I feel valued by RBS as a whole, as they have given me a lot of opportunity and support throughout the programme, and there is now support available for me whilst I look for a permanent role. However when I first started the programme I did not feel there was a particularly good structure in place for integrating apprentices into teams, this was left to each individual team to decide, which over time has ended up working really well, but took a few months to get going properly.

The learning elements of the programme are very well organised and structured, with the exam learning being delivered over a specific timescale with the webinars and the mock exams needing to be completed before the real exam could be booked. The workbooks also have a good structure, you know you need to do one each month if possible.

I received a lot of support throughout the exam learning period, I could always get an email reply within 24 hours to a question, and the webinars were really good and you could ask questions there if needed. My workbook assessor was really supportive, she made sure I knew exactly what was expected from each workbook so that I could meet the standards first time, and tailor my answers properly.

My managers have been extremely supportive, giving me as much time as I needed for exam learning and workbook preparation, time off for the exam, and also allowing me to spend days out of the office to complete job shadowing. From the wider bank there has been support with training days organised, and interview help offered.

My salary has been exactly what I needed, it was a lot more generous than other apprenticeship packages which really helps to support it as a long term career initiative, and I have felt that I am being adequately rewarded for the work I do everyday, which is a good incentive to always work as hard as I can, and be treated the same as any other full time employee

As I have completed my apprenticeship in a small local office, there has been limited opportunities outside my day to day role due to the fact of me being located a considerable distance from any main offices. However I have still been able to visit the Manchester and Leeds offices for training days and job shadowing, and I have played an active role in local networking events, such as Women in Business.

Yes

RBS have supported me to achieve a qualification whilst giving me the opportunity to build a great set of useful and relevant skills and knowledge within my specific area of the bank, which I can now use when I move into a permanent relationship management role. I have been given lots of learning opportunities and have always been included as an important member of the team.

When applying, make sure to mention any transferrable skills you have that could be relevant, for example if you have worked in a shop and enjoy speaking to customers, then this can be transferred to any customer facing role within the bank. Also put an emphasis on the fact that you are keen to learn, as learning is a big part of an apprenticeship, and the more enthusiasm you can have to try new things and have a go, the more you will learn and progress.