Collections Advisor Review

As a collections advisor on a day to day basis I speak to customers who are in financial difficulty in order to gain a better understanding of their situation, complete budget planners and input the most appropriate support or plan for their accounts/ debts. On the other hand I can also speak to customers who have just forgotten to make payments or are not in financial difficulty, I take payments and help avoid this from happening in future.

I have learnt many new skills in this role and am constantly developing. the main skill I have learnt is how to empathise as this is vital to my role and think outside the box for possible solutions for customer. The main skill I continue to develop everyday is my confidence, speaking to different customers who are sometimes irate on the phone can be very difficult. By being confident on my calls I am able to calm down customers and ensure them that I am able to help.

The apprenticeship programme can be stressful at times where there are deadlines but not enough time to complete them. Having enough off the job time is vital to allow me to complete the apprenticeship to the best of my ability. However, even after explaining why we need the time we were still not able to get more than 3hours per month of apprenticeship time. Overall however I have really enjoyed studying the book independently and taking initiative to create resources to help others in my team. Unfortunately, I have received no recognition or support form my talent coach in anything that I have done and it seems like managers have ben clueless about what the apprenticeship is about and what it involves and nothing has been done about this also.

There is no organisation/ structure to the programme and this is mainly due to the training provider and my talent coach. My line manager has been great with scheduling time out for apprenticeship and making sure we get the time that is promised. However, I feel that my talent coach has not advised me of many things that are very important for the apprenticeship and hasn't been completing monthly meetings or providing individual support too. There has been little to no support in regards to revising for the exam and checking up on wellbeing as they should be doing.

I think I do receive a lot of support form HSBC. After expressing our dissatisfaction with our training provider, the apprenticeship leads in HSBC have done their utmost best to improve things and make change. As well as this I have always received positive recognition and support from my line manager about my work for the apprenticeship.

I do not receive any support from my training provider/talent coach when working towards my qualifications. No feedback is given and there are no revision sessions that take place to match my style of learning. I have had to study and revise at home mostly and without any other support I am expected to complete an exam for revision purposes, with no preparation with my talent coach before or any support after. It does seem quite pointless to do this and therefore I have had to create my own revision material and deliver it to other member s in my team to help them learn

The qualification I am completing overall related very well to what I do in my day to day role. It has given me a wealth of knowledge that I am able to use to better service our customers and provide alternative solutions. Some parts of the qualification are not as relevant but it is still interesting to learn as they may do so in future.

There are not many extra curricular activities to get involved in at work. However the activities that are available do not interest me. They are generally sports based and there aren't any opportunities to do anything different. I try to get involved in as much as I can in work like charity bake sales, but after work there isn't many options for networking or other activities.

Yes

I would recommend HSBC to a friend because although the apprenticeship programme hasn't ben great I feel like managers and other leads in HSBC have provided me with a lot of support. Also there are so many opportunities within HSBC to go to different departments and for personal developments. I have always felt happy and cared for at work

The tips I would give is to be prepared to do work at home and use your free time to complete your apprenticeship work as we do not get enough time to complete it on the job. It will be very stressful as there are deadlines to meet but not enough time to complete the work so stay calm.