Business Admin Apprentice Review

I work in the Entrepreneur hub within the Royal Bank. Day-to-day i help organise events, keep track of attendees, make comms and communicate regularly with the entrepreneurs through manning various mailboxes across RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank. I am usually the first point of contact for entrepreneur queries so i have grown my network across the 12 hubs in the UK, helping out our central team and communicating withe the IT team to help resolve issues encountered. In regards to the apprenticeship workload, there averagely a workbook a month with plenty time to complete these and the help and support from my team and BPP has been amazing.

I had a background working with excel and word, but i had the chance to take part in three 1-hour excel courses with has grown my knowledge and helped me complete my ICT workbook more effectively. The area i work in is extremely fast paced and i have grown in confidence within my role as i have been given a lot of responsibility. my people skills and communication are areas where i have noticed the most improvement, with my organisation and process skills a close second.

Overall, i am extremely happy i applied and got accepted into this role. the team is very supportive and are always willing to help and identify areas where growth can be made. there are plenty opportunities to learn about your weaknesses with suggestions to grow, using our CPC behaviours to show what kind of person you are. At the end of my apprenticeship i will need to look for another area/role to apply for and i will be sad to leave the role i am in now.

The apprenticeship is very well structured as i know the last Friday of every month i have a submission and so i can plan my diary around this. My assessor is very understanding and supportive with my busy schedule and has always allowed extra time when needed. Some of the workbooks are not structured how i would normally work, but that is not the fault of BPP or RBS and i have always managed to complete these with great feedback. they have to be structured so that they can be adapted to every role, so this is very understandable.

The support of my employer is amazing, i have monthly 1:1s with my line manager and with my BPP assessor. My manager is always looking for ways i can develop and pushing me to do my best. our intranet is full of webinars and courses which i can sign up to and add to my learning academy. it is mandatory that i complete 50 hours per year of learning, which should be focused on areas that i need development. i always feel like no matter the problem, there are people around me to help

i have 1:1 every month which i can bring questions and she will answer. she always lets me know i can email her at any point with questions, and i always get a prompt reply. they have recently set up a central mailbox which i CC into my emails so that someone will always be there to answer my query. they are very understanding about workload and are flexible with their deadlines. the feedback is constructive so i know where i need to improve.

I think that the role is is teaching me more than the workbooks - i feel like the workbooks is more of a demonstration of your role. if i was to do the workbooks alone I'm unsure i would learn much more than i already know, but what I'm learning day-to-day enables me to complete the workbooks to a higher standard. i think they need to be hand in hand, as i wouldn't have the role without the apprenticeship, but the workbooks are needed to demonstrate my learning

we have Employee Led Networks which enable you to grow your network and take part in workshops on various topics. i am part of RBS Woman and RBS Aspire which regularly have events i can come along to, although now they are run digitally, it means i can attend more that otherwise i would not travel to. i am also part of our great place to work board for my department where we haev regular meetings and plan topic weeks to help our team reflect on what they have achieved and how we can help them do better

Yes

RBS has demonstrated that they are very inclusive, they care about my wellbeing and they have been very supportive in everything i have done. i have been made to feel very welcome and was instantly part of the team and not just and apprentice. i have been given just as much responsibility as the graduates which has boosted my confidence and pushed me on to do better in my role. the apprenticeship has been a great introduction to RBS and i hope to further my career within RBS.

my top tips would be to be yourself! after my interview i thought i had blown it but received a call later that day to tell me i had the job. i recently asked my manager why they hired me and his response was that i took my time to think about the questions they asked before i gave my answer. i wrote down a few notes before speaking which helped structure my answer and allowed me to think of the best example rather than the first one that popped into my head. Also, remember the CBC behaviours as they mark you on these, so make sure you mention them in your answer, or at very least show that you can demonstrate these within your responses.