Customer service advisor Review

After arriving and logging into my account, I spend 5 minutes a day reading about the changes that have occurred within Santander. These changes can range from large business changes such as ring-fencing and the GDPR (General data protection act) to small process changes such as reduced timescales. I spend most of the day sitting at my desk taking calls. The majority of these calls are from customers who need a new card sending out or need to know where there money has gone. I do occasionally receive calls from branch and solicitors. I will occasionally speak to my colleagues and managers when I require assistance if I am having a difficult time dealing with a customers issue. I will also speak with my colleagues when they require help, teamwork is important in this job as a manager is not always available. I occasionally have a one-to-one with my manager where we go through past calls and see what I need to improve upon and what I have been doing well at. I also take part in team meetings where we discuss changes within the business and go through things which could impact how we do our job.

I have developed my communication skills and improved my confidence in speaking with customers. I am also familiar with the processes within Santander and I know how to deal with most queries that I receive. I have also learned how to work together with different colleagues. This skill is essential because it means that we can provide each other with help whenever one of us requires it.

I enjoyed this program more during the first month of the course and the first month of the traineeship. I also enjoyed the first month on the phone taking calls. Since 2 months after taking calls, I have not learnt many new skills and I have mainly been dealing with the same repetitive calls. This can get boring and it leaves me sighing after each call. What makes this this job more enjoyable is the people you work as they can improve your day considerably.

I feel as if Santander wants to make sure that I am reaching the targets and goals that have been set out for me. I also feel as if Santander put in a lot of time and effort into making sure that their employees have a certain air of freedom. Santander do this by providing the following: - Allowing people to choose what days/ hours they want to book off. - Allowing people to swap shifts with each other - Having themed days in which people are provided with snakes and drinks. I would say that I do feel valued by Santander as they wouldn't put all this effort into their employees if the believed they were worthless.

The programme is well structured as we are provided with a timetable that tells us what hours/days we are working. We are also provided with a timetable for our VLE which tells us what work we should be doing for each week. The timetable for our VLE work has changed which and we are now provided with feedback. Our timetable for work is easily accessible from work with the only issue being that you cant access it from at home to find out you working hours. The time table is colour coded with a legend that provides you with a description of what each colour means.

With my apprenticeship I am provided with support from both Santander and BPP. There are two sides of my apprenticeship. 1. The work side. 2. The coursework side. in regards to the work side of the business I am mainly provided with support from Santander, this support includes making sure that I am following the processes correctly and that I am reaching my goals. In regards to the coursework side of the business, I am provided with support from BPP. They actively monitor VLE usage and provide a timetable of when work should be completed. The only issue with the VLE work is that it does not regularly get checked which means that it is difficult to tell what you have done well on. This has now changed since last week and we are provided with face to face support once a week.

As I mentioned in the previous question, the support that I receive from my training provider has changed recently and I now receive weekly feedback from my provider who goes through what I need to achieve each grade. The VLE work that was previously provided will still be used even though the course has changed. My VLE work is regularly checked now and I am provided feedback accordingly. So overall I would say that as long as the current report is consistent, I would say that I am receiving a lot of support.

I am receiving a great salary for an apprenticeship as 14,000 is at the top for what people tend to receive for these types of jobs. I am the type of person who doesn't spend much money but around 40% of my wages are spent on rent and council tax. The job also provides occasional bonuses on top of your wages as well as the occasional benefits such as no charge on the 123 current account. The job also provides discounts to several places which while most of them are useless, there are a few good ones occasionally.

Santander do offer a couple of events outside the company, but I don't think that they would be the type of thing that I would participate in. Santander do offer a few events to certain call centres. Santander do like to actively promote a few health and fitness events as well as large changes to the business. I was told from a few colleagues that voluntary work events were common a few years ago and that they have recently been reduced somewhat.

Yes

I would recommend Santander to a friend because the job is simple as the only difficult thing is learning the processes which becomes much easier after spending a month taking calls. I would also recommend the job as you get paid a great wage for an apprenticeship and it can be useful for a young person to develop skills that can help them in the future, skills such as: communication, teamwork, confidence.

Make sure that this is the type of job you want as it can get fairly repetitive. I would also recommend that they spend at least a month on the apprenticeship so that they can develop knowledge in regards to the banking industry which can help them later in life. I would also say that as long as they get in on time and do the job properly by following the processes, they cant go wrong. I would also say that the job is only difficult during the first month of taking calls as you still need to learn the processes and portals to complete the job properly.