Apprentice Relationship Manager Review

I work in the real estate finance team who provide debt and banking facilities to housing associations, real estate businesses, house developers, property developers and investors. on a Day to day basis i am in contact with customers and colleagues arranging new facilities, solving any problems/queries and maintaining good relationships with customers.

My numerical skills have improved greatly. My team working skills have improved given the vast array of people i work with. My communication skills have improved as i am contacting a wide variety of customers and colleagues. My analytical skills have improved given i am involved in looking at financial information to understand a prospective customers business.

I do enjoy the programme however the organisation/administration of it has been very poor. Additionally, the content of the course is very basic and monotonous but given i have worked previously, I may be at a slight advantage. I imagine straight from school the programme would be very beneficial however for more experienced apprentices it is not appropriate.

Very poorly organised. I was left chasing multiple people to find out dates of when seminars were supposed to start only to discover they had already started. Additionally, I was not registered with BPP for many months and in that time I could have been doing work for the qualification. Moreover, i have not yet met my assessor and have only met someone from BPP once when we were told that we would be meeting frequently; I have only just found out who my assessor is and when I will meet them, 7 months after starting. Overall very poorly organised and left in limbo for some time. The only reason it is 2 stars and not 1 is because when someone does get back to you they do provide clarity and apologise for the inconvenience.

Reasonable amounts. We had two induction days which helped somewhat with soft skills and the company as a whole but it was not entirely appropriate for people who had worked previously/been to university. In terms of guidance on the actual programme RBS has been very poor as noted in the previous answer given there was no direction at all about timings and registrations. My line manager and the people i work with however are very supportive in every aspect and always offer help.

Not a great deal - IO have only just found out who my assessor is and have yet to meet them (after 7 months on the programme) so have no comment on them. In terms of BPP, they can be slow to respond but when they do, they are helpful and clarify any queries.

Not hugely. it helps with my knowledge of the financial services industry and prpvides some basic information on my employer (as i have had to find things out for taskbooks etc) but in terms of actually performing my role, I dont see a direct correlation. I have learned much more on the job from my colleagues and doing the work as opposed to the qualification.

Yes there is a huge amount. my team have very active golf players and so they regularly go out and play. There are networking events regularly in RBS and externally which we can get involved in. The team itself is also social so we get on well with each other.

Yes

The employee culture I have experienced has been positive and generally speaking, people are keen to help and keen to see you do well. I do feel there is a genuine culture of supportiveness in both a personal and professional capacity within RBS given there is a multidue of resources for professional and personal development available to us.

I think its important to show that you can work well within a team as this is what you'll be doing constantly. It important to show you are enthusiastic, keen and open minded about the role and that you want to learn as there is a wealth of development opportunities available if you seize them.