Corporate Apprentice Review

During my time on the scheme I held two roles within the Bank. The first was as a relationship manager, the second a service manager. As an RM I was required to engage with our corporate clients acting as a first point of contact for them within the business, my role included everything from improving our relationship with them to solving their problems. I was also involved in the product opening process (from current accounts to debt) which involved KYC and meeting my business' high standards of diligence. My team were very social and friendly, and we had more than one night out enjoying our time and building our own internal networks. As an SM I was involved primarily with out vendors and those who provide services to the bank. This involved managing the risks that come with third-party engagement, payment of invoice terms and acting as an escalation point for our vendors. I was also heavily involved in project work and improving our internal processes, whilst developing my teams own processes. I am also involved in contract management, ensuring all relevant regulatory/legal terms are present in our contracts and that they meet the standard set by our risk management teams. If they did not then we were required to provide action plans and mitigating actions to help reduce the risk profile to a more acceptable level. Like the RM team, my SM team were also very friendly and social.

During my time, skills that I have improved include: - Interpersonal - Communicating with internal and external stakeholders at all levels of seniority. - Networking - Developing a professional network and internal network - Microsoft Office - In particular excel in my case, but skills have improved across the board. - Attention to detail - An essential skill in financial services, has led to a decrease in my own human errors. - Time management - I have largely been left to manage myself, you do not go to your manager and ask what to do next, you are proactive. - Problem Solving - A huge part of my SM role, finding an issue, identifying what the root cause is and then taking action to remedy the issue. During my time, skills that I have developed include: - Contract Management - Familiarity with key laws, regulatory obligations, data protection and cyber security. - Risk Analysis - Capable of looking at a situation and outlining risks, including details as to why they are risks and providing action plans to mitigate those risks. - Corporate knowledge - I originally worked in personal banking, and corporate is a very different world. One that I am more familiar with now and happy to continue working in. - Invoicing - As the name suggests, producing and approving invoices. - Credit Analysis - Defining risk from a credit point of view. Including defaulting events, exposures, interest calculations and predictive cash flows. - Know Your Customer - A thorough understanding of the KYC process, why we do it, what key issues should be red flags, what warrants further investigation etc - Financial Analysis - Ability to interpret financial figures into a well-thought out business case, this includes trend analysis, financial statement analysis, cash flow generation amongst other skills.

I could not ask for a better programme. I am an older apprentice but this has not impacted my experience at all. I have been treated just as well as any other apprentice and given the support required to not only survive in my roles but thrive. The fact I was an apprentice has never once impacted anyone's reliance on my decisions or my point of view, and if my POV is challenged there is always a good business/logical reason why. The teams have been incredibly supportive of my learning, and respected those times when I was under increasing pressure (from coursework or exams) and allowed more flexibility in my role to compensate for this.

The programme structure was simple, 3 years, rotating roles throughout the bank (in either 6 month or 12 month chunks). 1st year of the course is spent on the front lines for valuable customer experience and also includes the 1 year course for my professional qualification. Organisation could have been better, but will likely have improved since I started the programme. I was in the first corporate cohort, as such it had never been done before. This caused teething issues as you can imagine (not being registered for then correct course, not receiving training materials, not having our internal system access updated) which caused problems for some in my cohort in the opening months of the scheme. There was also no formal training period, this was not a problem for myself but does mean you are essentially dropped in the deep end. I am certain my experience through this part of the course is heavily impacted by my first team, who were nothing but supportive and understanding.

Santander was incredibly supportive throughout. During my first year (whilst I was studying) my team helped me organise my schedule, ensured my workload was not to high at the start, and eased me into the more complex nature of their work slowly. This allowed me to adjust to my new role (having come from personal banking) and adjust to my studies. Not only that, they included me in all team meetings/socials and were always keen to hear my opinion or view. This made me feel like I was not just an apprentice, but a valued member of the team. They were also very patient with me, and my cascade of questions, which meant I was never afraid to ask them about something. This wasn't just my manager either, but anyone in the team, including our regional director. After coming to the end of my course, and moving into an FT role the team responsible for the apprentices have organised calls with different teams in the bank, shown opportunities that match preferences and given us exposure to different business units who appear very happy to accept us into role. Couldn't ask for much more if I'm honest.

Similar levels of support as that which were offered by my business. Though fewer contacts. I had 2 in particular, my tutor and a sort of manager for my cohort. I cannot speak for the tutor's support too much as I rarely used it, I am confident in my learning capabilities and was good at managing my time. Plus I understood the content well enough that my own revision was normally plenty to help build my understanding. My manager/support officer was brilliant. He was there from day 1 and was our escalation point for any issues. Throughout the course he provided support and made sure our concerns were heard by the learning provider. During the closing months of study (when we were required to complete a business project) he was supportive there too, having regular meetings to check in with us and providing a point of feedback for any documents we produced. That being said I think their resources were maybe stretched a little thin and as a result there could be delays in responses some times. On the rare occasion the concern raised was forgotten. However, that was incredibly rare and I cannot remember any time when I was impacted by this.

I am not sure parts of the qualification are entirely relevant. Some of the study included developing our practical skills (such as financial analysis) but one module was dedicated entirely to the history/background of the financial services industry. Useful to know, but not entirely relevant. Professionalism and Ethics were also covered in this, again interesting to know but not entirely relevant. A lot of this content was common-sense and knowing all the iterations of an act is irrelevant given we only abide by the most recent iteration. When you consider there were only 3 modules in total, that means 33% is not particularly useful. It is my opinion that the Chartered Bankers Institute required this for accreditation, to ensure all members are on the same page. However, from a practical point of view it was not too helpful.

I was involved in a number of social activities, ranging from lunches to playing darts. The teams are always keen to enjoy themselves, and given the industry it is nice to be able to relax and forget about finances briefly. I have also been to professional webinars/seminars which then doubled as networking events afterwards. I have also been involved in community work, helping out deserving causes across the UK, and better still is these are still considered paid work days. Not only do you get the opportunity to give something back, but your salary isn't impacted. These community days range from charity work to public services, i have been involved in food banks myself.

Yes

I consider it a great place to work, the people I've had to fortune of meeting are all very respectful (even as you go up the seniority ladder). There are also plenty of opportunities to grow or network, I have been fortunate enough to host an internal call for our Graduate and Apprentice population with the deputy CEO of San UK, and my colleagues on the scheme have been involved in similar activities. You are also recognised for the work you put in, and if you create a solution or an excellent business case to be put forward to senior management you are recognised for doing so. This is important because it makes you feel like you are being treated fairly, and provides more material benefits such as increased bonuses. There are a number of initiatives within the business to help peoples from all backgrounds and beliefs, including multiple support networks. This includes programmes designed to assist in your career path, support for those who may need it but most importantly those at the top pay attention to this and are very interested in developing these schemes, providing these opportunities further.

Do not be afraid to question or challenge. Santander is an environment that is very accepting of challenges. The business wants to innovate and evolve and they cannot do this by following the status quo. Just be mindful when you do challenge that you do so appropriately and through the correct channels. Likewise, you will also be challenged and questioned, the important thing here is to know it is not a personal attack on you or your beliefs. As you are free to challenge those in the business, so to are they free to challenge you. This stimulates conversations and discussions and helps drive that innovation the business is looking for.