Relationship Support Manager Review

On the corporate programme you have 3 one year rotations, although this is more likely to be 1 one year and 1 two year rotations, both in client facing roles. The first role was a more generic servicing role dealing with general servicing queries, the second role comes with more responsibility getting involved with client deals, finance queries and credit requests. There is possibility to go out and visit clients, although this can be dependent upon your team, clients and willingness to put yourself forwards and ask for the experience. Overall the roles are very useful and build a lot of skills, however if you don't enjoy roles or teams you are unlikely to be able to move and have little say in where you go. However a really positive learning and work experience.

There's a lot of opportunities to learn and develop skills in the roles, with continuous on the job training. There will be certain skills or situations you will have to push to develop more (like in any job) especially if they are not directly related to your specific role. However having a good network internally and externally will help with this and there is always someone who is willing to help. I have learnt how to deal with difficult situations or clients, how to use pricing systems and creating pricing cases to be able to provide clients with pricing on loan or product requests.

I have enjoyed the programme and the positions it has given me. However i do think there is a negative view of apprentices by some colleagues and they dont appreciate the hard work that we have to do within the role and the study side as well. In addition there have been times where apprentices have really had to push for change and the changes have been implemented but it was met with a lot of resistance and took a long time to change.

The application process is well structured and clear. However the Barclays apprenticeship team are not great, they often ignore emails, forget to respond to people, push deadlines back by months and then reach out to apprentices with lots of requests and requirements in very small (sometimes unrealistic time frames) because they haven't managed themselves properly. Sometimes you can feel like an issue to the apprenticeship leaders rather than them happy to help. There has often been times where there is no communciation from the aprenticeship team at really integral points of the scheme (for example before a study block or role rotations) which was completely unacceptable. However feedback was never worked upon and the issues frequently arise.

When pushed for extra support Barclays do help the apprentices, but i wouldn't say that it's top of the agenda and sometimes apprentices feel forgotten about as if that now we're here it doesn't really matter. Line manager support really depends on the manager you get in the role, I've had really good managers and I've had really bad. Sometimes there seems to be negative connotations with apprentices due to the 1 study day per week making them less visible in the office, however this is often due to jealousy (i think) that we are developed really well. There's a lot of opportunities within Barclays to develop and learn and get involved with the wider community- sometimes you do have to find these for yourself but it's not too difficult

I think sometimes the London Institute of Banking and Finance forget that we are apprentices, working full time and we don't have the full time study capacity of many of their full time learners. We have often asked for more support and been told that 'they are giving us enough and don't need to help us any more'. The feedback on coursework and exams is extremely short and completely insufficient. Sometimes it purely comes down to how willing each lecturer is to help you. I think if you appear driven and determined to do well it can be a bit easier to get support. It is difficult doing a long distance learning course with only 4 days for each module of face to face learning and it's not for everybody.

It has made me realise why there are a lot of regulations and processes in place in the financial services and I think a lot of the theory could easily be transferred to other businesses or industries (i.e. risk, management of processes etc). The qualification will, regardless, look really good on anyone's CV as it is sponsored / paid-for by a well-regarded financial institution therefore will look good when applying for jobs in the future

There are a lot more social events and sports teams in London, in the regions it can sometimes depend on which office you are in or the people around you and can often mean that you need to organise some yourself (but that's a good way to meet new people!) There are a lot of communities and networks within Barclays that are really easy to get involved in. Also there is Barclays life skills and citizenship events that you can get involved in to give back and help others.

Yes

Although there are some parts of their apprenticeship scheme that Barclays REALLY need to look at, its a well-regarded institution and there is no clause in the contract that says you have to stay working for them once you complete the scheme and obtain the degree. However the full-time working with a full-time degree is not for the faint hearted and is extremely difficult to balance and can sometimes feel a bit stressful.

Understand what your applying for and what you are agreeing to take on. Show yourself in the best light.