Universal Banker Review

Front facing customer service in branch, dealing from financial difficulty, business enquiries, bereavements, to high valued customers. Providing them with premium customer service throughout their banking experience. A universal banker is to be a digital advocate, a problem solver and a trusted partner for our customers. I am their to create a good rapport with our customers and ensure we meet or exceeds their expectations and needs.

The only highlight from this program is the Retail Banking Conduct of Business certificate, this is a qualification that you can do through the bank. It really helps you strengthen your knowledge within banking, this will give you fantastic confidence to help your customers in the most appropriate way. The program does attempt to work on skills you develop already, however HSBC have set up a very good program to develop you in role anyway. The apprenticeship has in no way added to the program that already exists within the company. You may be able to argue that the apprenticeship allows you to gain a qualification from the work you put in to gain your expert status in branch; therefore making you more desirable on a CV outside of HSBC, but the reality is these skills were not developed through the apprenticeship scheme but through a scheme HSBC already have in place.

During my apprenticeship I had three different talent coaches, the continuity from knowledgepool was lacking. At one point I didn't see someone for over seven to eight months. It started with a lot of false promises at the beginning, that very quickly fell through. I do believe you can complete this apprenticeship in a year or less yet it has taken me nearly three years to complete. It took an incredible amount of my own time to complete the scheme. This was only enabled because I stayed late and worked on my days off to ensure I completed the program. At the beginning when I did have a talent coach who was working with me I used to have every Wednesday afternoon off to work towards the scheme. I was also allowed the morning off for my RBCB exam in the afternoon. It ultimately made the scheme very stressful. My manager and I were not aware that 70% of the overall grading was based on the final interview until three days prior to the interview, rather then the portfolio that I had worked incredibly hard on. I was given a half an hour session to prepare for the interview. The only enjoyable element of this program was the RBCBcert.

As stated above there was a serious lack of organisation from knowledgepool in regards to talent coaches. I do understand that there are always circumstances that I may not fully understand. At the beginning it appeared well structured, as soon as that talent coach disappeared though the program seemed to fall through. I wasn't sure what I was meant to be doing and when I was meant to be doing it by. As commented above until I was three days away from completion I wasn't even aware of the actual grading of the scheme.

HSBC were never going to fulfil the time allowance required from the program, I had fantastic managers who helped me and stayed late in branch with me so I could work on my portfolio. I felt guilty asking for time to complete the program during work hours as in branch you are lacking staff at the best of time.

As stated previously at the beginning the talent coach was organised, helped me with my RBCB cert, after this point though the whole thing came to a grinding halt. I wasn't sure what I was meant to do. I had one email from the provider stating I would get a new coach in the future. I worked on my portfolio on my own and submitted it with a couple of sheets guidance from one of the coaches. Without these sheets though I would not have been able to complete the scheme at all, so I am very grateful for these. The interview preparation, well there really wasn't any, I had no idea how important the interview was. this also could be my fault for getting so involved in my day to day job in branch. It may have been nice for the talent coach to highlight the importance of the interview sooner though.

I think what the qualification really does is essentially re-write what you already have to in your universal banker tracker which is run by HSBC, therefore I guess repetition reinforces what you've learnt. I do credit my improvement to performance through HSBC and not the qualification though.

We do leaving meals, escape night evenings, volunteering together and plan to do some local pub quiz nights. I am part of the RAFAC so am allowed to get involved in this during work hours, as they provide me with military leave so I can assist with the cadets activities.

Yes

I would recommend the company on the basis of not in branch, I think the grad scheme is one of the best in the country. Front facing staff members are undervalued, if you are looking to work for HSBC look into non branch roles. Branch banking is no longer the role it used to be, the bank does not support this.

As mentioned above if you are looking to work for the company I would strongly suggest trying to find a role not in branch. The company is set up very well for non branch staff. Retail banking is going to cease to exist in the future, some forward thinking would be very apt when considering the role.