Assistant Relationship Manager Review

My role is to assist commercial business customer with any queries they have relating to their everyday banking and either dealing with the request myself or referring the customer to other departments that can assist. I also take tasks from the relationship manager which I would be required to complete.

Since beginning my apprenticeship I have gained loads of skills which include; communicating more effectively with customers, organisational skills- which are important in my specific job role, the ability to work under pressure- recent staff shortages has meant that I have had to work under more pressure to complete tasks for not just my portfolio of customers but for other managers customers also.

I enjoy the programme as it has broadened my skills within the bank. I used to work in branch banking as part of the bank so I didn't have a lot of knowledge regarding work in the commercial team so the apprenticeship has made it more enjoyable as I understand more about my job, role, the bank as a whole.

There has been a few communication issues with BPP regarding books and material to start the apprenticeship which had delayed it, however the apprenticeship is well structured and clear on targets and goals, as we have a structure chart which tells us when we have to have workbooks submitted and when there are webinars on to watch.

My employer is very supportive. I have regular 1-1 meetings with my employer on a weekly basis regarding my progress, my apprenticeship programme and my wellbeing. In these meeting we discuss all of the above topics and allows me to receive any additional feedback or support for the following week.

We currently have webinars uploaded onto our designated log in page with BPP. These webinars last 3 hours and go into detail about each chapter of the book we are using to study for our exam. We also have mock papers/ questions and passcards to use as study material also.

The qualification helps me perform better in my role hugely as it allows me to understand more in depth about the bank, other banks and the rules and regulations. When speaking to customers I can understand more clearly what they are after and even though I may not be able to help I would know who to refer them on to.

Sometimes.... We quite regularly have social evenings with colleagues because our role is often busy and you don't always have time to sit with colleagues and have a conversation so we hold social events to build team relations. For more senior colleagues there are professional networking events that managers go on to build relations within each others customers.

Yes

I would recommend this company to a friend because I love coming to work. It is inclusive, supportive and you feel a sense of satisfaction when things go right for a customer. Like all jobs work isn't always enjoyable and can be stressful but I work with a great team who are very supportive and enjoyable to be around.

Tips I would advise to people is give it time... When I first moved over from branch to commercial the first few weeks I had cold feet as there were problems with IT systems so I couldn't log on, and because I didn't know very much I spend a lot of time shadowing which can be long, but once I got logged on and the tasks started building it became much more enjoyable! Just a case of waiting it out.