Graduate Trainee Review

In my current role I am managing ten advisors in a contact centre. They service a range of products and are a highly skilled team. On a day to day basis I score calls for them, develop them as people through coaching and 121s, and manage their day to day roles.

I have developed lots of skills, including presentation skills, leadership skills and time management. I have be very organised to do my role and I have to be confident in my ability as a leader to be able to manage the team. This role is perfect for enabling me to develop myself.

I am really enjoying my programme so far. I feel I have had the opportunity to explore different business areas and will continue to do so on the scheme. I love the culture at my current workplace and really get on with my manager. My team are great and I have loving the role and what it entails.

The programme has been very well structured. We have 6 months in each placement which I feel is a perfect amount of time to experience that business area and get a flavour of what is like to do that sort of work. We had a good induction which set us up for the rest of the programme. For my current placement in particular, I had a month of training to ensure I was ready for the role and had all the support I needed to succeed.

I receive the required support from my employer - if I ever need help with an issue, I know I have a support network around me to ask for guidance. I have different sources of support - the grad scheme, a grad buddy, our placement managers and apprenticeship coach as well. I know that I can speak up if I need to.

With qualifications, I receive enough support from our training provider. Kaplan has a pool of resources on their website and organise development days to support our knowledge build further. It would be beneficial to have a timeline of when things would happen throughout the course of the qualification as we haven't had access to anything like this, but on the whole the talent coaches are very supportive.

I do not feel that the qualification particularly helps me perform better in my role as it is not tailored to my role as such. As it isn't related to my role, it hasn't particularly affected how I perform at work, but it is a 'nice to have' qualification.

There are lots of extra-curricular activities to get involved with at work which is great! Each city has a social rep who organises socials to do after work. There are various committees to get involved with on the programme as well as the wider business. And some offices have sport's clubs.

Yes

I would recommend HSBC because I truly believe that they try to make the graduate programme as best as it can be. They regularly ask for and take onboard feedback so that they can continually improve for the next intake. The culture is fantastic and there is plenty of opportunities to get involved with things. I cannot recommend it enough!

I would recommend applying early!! I would say make sure you have plenty of examples to use in an interview and ensure you prepare for it and research the job role. My biggest piece of advice though is to be yourself and have confidence you will succeed.