SanServ Apprentice L6 (S2) Review

Santander offers a placement rotation scheme meaning our roles change every 6-12 months allowing us to get brilliant exposure to all areas of the business. In my current placement, I am a project manager working on a large ATM upgrade programme with high levels of responsibility working with external vendors to deliver a whole new solution. This means I take some responsibility for requirement collection and processing, incident management, replacement scheduling and budgeting. I am expected to carry out the same role as some of my qualified colleagues - which is great as it exposes me to great opportunities and means I have to report directly in to a senior manager and have conversations with directors. While the team are aware of the additional time requirements for university etc, you are not treated as an apprentice and the responsibility is given - which I think is a really great thing.

Yes - Lots Degree teaching was provided by BPP until 11/01/2020 and from 11/01/2020 teaching was then provided Nottingham Trent University. In the course of this we have studied, Information Security, Project Management, Maths for Computing, Programming, Network Design and Professional Competency. Alongside this, for each placement we have been expected to learn the technologies used by each department and team to expert level including Cloud Systems, API technologies, server and configuration management tools. This provides valuable experience learning practical applications of these systems rather than just the theory behind them. Additional training such as on PluralSight / LinkedIn Learning is highly encouraged to further develop practical skills.

Much as it sounds cliche, I really do love my job and rarely do I find myself unmotivated or demoralised. Within our business area, there is a dedicated apprenticeship management team who can escalate issues affecting the whole cohort directly to the university partners and can also support the allocation of any placements, and the potential issues that come with some of them. Individual placement teams have their own cultures, but these are normally very positive particularly within the business. The corporate culture is goo and you get the impression that the vast majority of colleagues enjoy their job and the company and the recognition of individual staff is important through global recognition programmes. When it comes to my initial expectations when I started, these were very different and I didn't expect to get so much exposure so quickly, but I am really glad that I have as I am able to build up large amounts of knowledge that often help as I rotate through different placements. There were previously some frustrations with the old university provider but the company have taken swift action to change providers and provide a better experience. I really do enjoy my job, particularity the placement side rather than the education side but that comes down to my individual personality.

I think the programme is well structured, and part of this comes down to the close collaboration between the company and the university which means that schedules, plans and reviews are built in to the schedule well enough in advance not to disrupt any placement work. The university blocks are specified for the whole year in advance which means we know exactly when we will be out of the business and this is good because it allows us to plan holiday and BAU activity without impacting study. The corporate induction was a big affair with grads, interns and apprentices which allowed us to make connections from day one but also meant that we spent lots of time as a cohort together before we separated in to our individual offices and placements. The university training is good, well structured and very relevant to the actual work we do in the business. Training within placement teams really come down to the particular manager and while there are sometimes challenges regarding workload but these are rare and most placement managers have a genuine ambition to help and develop apprentices realising also the resourcing help that apprentices can provide to their teams. Regular placement reviews are conducted by the central apprenticeship team which means that when there are problems, these are identified and other apprentices get a much better experience when they go in to that placement. Occasionally, for specific university queries it is not always the easiest to determine if to discuss with the apprenticeship team or the university directly, but both are always happy to point in the right direction.

The support provided is fantastic with a apprentice manager being appointed for each apprentice, these people work within the business but take the overall management responsibilities for the particular apprentice. This means that we can use their knowledge, experience and connections to help when there are problems or questions and there is a consistent person to provide feedback and mentoring irrespective of the placement you are in. The business are apprenticeship team know each of us very well but also understand the challenges of the particular business area and its apprentices in a high level of detail when compared to central HR. This means that they are in a great position to give support and if they don't know the specific answer they do always know who to speak to.

NTU provide a good amount of support specific to apprentices while still providing the support that they would provide to the rest of their full time students and this has been great. They are very accommodating of our BAU roles and are always happy to try to support the specific needs of a apprentice in a large corporate organisation. Teaching varies by module but is normally OK. Occasionally the teaching is too basic because the module was designed for full time students with no experience, but the module leaders always try to adapt their teaching. A benefit of working for a company with a large amount of apprentices is that module leaders often tailor their examples and assignments towards our specific organisation and the challenges that it presents. Within the university there is a course leader who provides the central support from the university and advises who is best to speak to within the university to resolve specific issues and concerns, they are always happy to help.

i have found the most important aspect when answering this question is considering the fact that the university will teach you the general concepts, best practises and principles and it is important that your placement manager explains the specific implementation within the organisation. With this in mind, the teaching in university has often provided me with additional skills and knowledge which I often found I need to use within my placement roles, particularly from the project management role. It can however sometimes be frustrating when the technologies and fundamental ideas the university teach, do not match those used by the organisation, but its always important to consider the pace of change and ensure that the transferable skills and knowledge is captured.

Within my current placement, I work within a very small team and we have regular social functions, Christmas parties, monthly team lunches etc and this really helps us to work better as we are all good friends alongside colleagues. Within the apprenticeship cohort there several activities as menial as going to the pub but these all help to build the strong relationships we need in order to rely on eachother when we need support. The company has a massive emphasis on being healthy and provides regular support (lectures/coffee and chat sessions) in a range of health areas from mental well-being to company fitness competitions . The ongoing corona-virus pandemic has really demonstrated the importance of the communities and networks, within the business, which include dedicated LGBTQ+, Disability and Women in Business networks. Each of these present great networking opportunities and apprentices are encouraged to join them.

Yes

Santander is a global organisation and is incredibly powerful. On completion of the apprenticeship programmes there are opportunities to work in our other divisions around the world. I regularly work with employees in Spain and America and am building a global network of contacts and experts. The company is also more than willing to spend money on tools to support working and learning from disability software to pluralsight likenesses. Job security is also good and flexible working is strongly encouraged with the best tools being provided in order to support this. Annual leave allowance of 27 days is also pretty fantastic. I love my job and know countless others who share the same view, I regularly encourage others to look at our programmes.

Be yourself and learn about the company not only internationally but the UK division (formed out of Abbey, B&B and A&L). Learn about the behaviours which are all on the santanderjobs.co.uk website as these are INCREDIBLY important to the company and it will do no end of good to demonstrate these in your application. Learn about the challenges of the finance industry and especially a large "legacy" bank, and feel free to discuss these challenges and some of the solutions you think will help resolve that. We don't live in the darkness and understand we need to remain competitive, recruitment will be looking for other people who can help on that mission.