Rating
- 1. Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:
- 2. Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
- 3. To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
- 4. How well organised/structured is your programme?
- 5. How much support do you receive from your employer?
- 6. How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
- 7. How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
- 8. Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
- 9a. Would you recommend Direct Line to a friend?
- 9b. Why?
- 10. What tips or advice would you give to others applying to Direct Line?
Answering the phones to customers, Third Party Insurances or Representatives, Third Party Customers, Garages, Hire companies. We must answer all queries thrown at us and log this on our system to show what was discuss. On some days we get pulled off the phones to help with the email work.
I have definitely developed my customer services skills, changing from face to face to on the phone was a big change for me and a big challenge as my previous experience was only face to face, however I feel I have taken this challenge on very well and improved my own skills.
I found it difficult when COVID disrupted everything. We were told we would not have to do the exam by Babbington due to COVID and we would still pass as long as our coursework was good. However Direct Line then told us we had to do the exam months after Babbington told us we did not have to which meant months of no learning the exam questions.
I think it would have been good if COVID had not happened and complicated everything. Due to this disruption I am unsure whether I will pass my exam because we were told we would not have to sit it so we weren't months not needing to learn the text
We get a lot of support from our Manager however Planners are not great at organising our Reading time. Sometimes they don't schedule enough time which can be annoying to sort out. For 3 weeks they did not schedule it at all and I missed out on hours of work.
Babbington was really brilliant, the only issue I had was that we had 4 different tutors which was understandably annoying. Our last tutor, was brilliant though, she really helped with our coursework and was always on hand for help and support, no matter the time. She was the best.
I don't feel the FIT booklet had much to do with our day to day role, it was really just background knowledge of things. I don't feel like anything I learnt from the FIT booklet helped with any day to day conversation with customers however I felt the coursework did help my conversations.
Not that I am aware of, we did have the Cultural club where we'd do activities in the office like at Halloween we did a Ghost hunt, which was printed ghosts hidden around the office. However with COVID causing us to Homework we only have quizzes now and occasionally lottery or bingo.
Yes
I would not recommend doing the apprenticeship as I felt it was a bit pointless but Direct Line is a good company to work for. They do care about their staff and have a good group of staff as well. There are mental and physical first aiders at hand which I feel it very important.
Be honest and yourself, Direct Line seem to love that as they want to see whether you'd fit in. As long as you have some customer services experience, the job won't be too hard as the training is a long process and they take their time to ensure you have everything you need.
Details
Level 2 Apprenticeship
Business Operations
Leeds
April 2021