Assistant Relationship Manager Review

My role involves supporting relationship managers with building and maintaining excellent relationships with clients within their client portfolio. I also have to process payment requests which involves making a decision in the best interests of the client. I also take telephone and email queries or requests from clients and supporting them where needed.

During the course of my apprenticeship I have learnt to adopt a professional approach within my job role such as contacting clients. I have also developed my time management and multitasking skills as a result of tasks overlapping. However, I ensure that I complete all tasks to my best abilities and high standards.

I enjoy my apprenticeship very much in terms of learning new skills and job role within a good organisation. The only negatives are the task books set by BPP which can be tedious and repetitive and they seem to have no importance compared to learning the job role or revising for the Chartered Banker exam.

In terms of BPP, the apprenticeship is not very well structured as when I started it took 2 months when I chased BPP in regards to not receiving my log in details that there were problems with my application. This resulted in me starting 2 months after the other apprentices and I was told I would not be given extra time to complete the work.

I have received loads of support from my employer since starting my apprenticeship. An example of this is having regular performance reviews with my line manager which together we look at my strengths and weaknesses and areas I can improve on. My employer also asks for any thoughts or concerns I may have as a way of allowing my voice to be heard.

Not very much support as I rarely hear from my skills coach or BPP in general. The on boarding process was very long, complex and painful followed by lack of communication which resulted in myself starting the apprencticeship 2 months late. In addition to this, I was also told I would not be allocated extra time to catch up and that I had the same deadline as other apprentices that started 2 months before me. The VLE is also very complicated to navigate and received no help from BPP on how to actually use the VLE.

Not much, if anything my organisation has helped and supported more than BPP have. My line manager dedicated time within his job role if I need any support where as when I've asked BPP for help they're unsure on finding a solution which is not very helpful at all.

I have participated in 5 a side football with teams in other areas of the bank and all colleagues within the organisation have been very welcoming towards me. I have also attended networking events too which helps to get me recognised in different areas of the bank and potentially get considered for future opportunities.

Yes

RBS is full of very welcoming colleagues who make you feel part of the team straight away. Having been new to not only the job role but also the banking sector no one every made me feel stupid for asking questions about tasks I did not know about. The many individuals have also voluntary planned me into their day, for example taking me along with them to meet clients.

The advice I'd give to others who are applying is to make the most of the opportunities that come your way! At first you may feel overwhelmed and stupid if you are new to the sector as everyone around you know what they're talking about and you may feel like they're talking another language but after a while everything you've learned pieces together and you build your confidence. Go for it!