Equities Apprentice Review

I am an apprentice within global markets. I sit within Franchise sales working on the prime brokerage sales team. We work with hedge funds to finance their portfolios. On day-to-day basis I join multiple meetings to track the status of different clients. Its involves relationship management and facilitating new products the client wishes to trade or working with new launches to help them set up.

I have learnt many new skills since working at UBS. My office application skills have been enhanced for example Excel, Word, PowerPoint. I have also learnt and enhanced my communication skills in terms of methods of communication and who I am communicating with. My knowledge also continues to grow on a daily basis.

I enjoy my programmer greatly as I am getting a lot of exposure to client work and client meetings and events. The balance between study and work can sometimes be challenging but this is expected given the role I am in. The portfolio of evidence side can be time consuming but is done to show our progress.

My program is structured well as it involves me gaining qualifications whilst I work which a lot of places do not offer. This means I am gaining exposure to a front office role. The structuring could be slightly better from our study provider in terms of portfolio construction details but this is expected as it is fairly new.

We receive lots of support from out employee whether it be the direct team we work in, other apprentice or contacts across the back. We have many people in HR we can also approach with any help we need for anything apprenticeship related. Many people are very supportive of the apprenticeship scheme.

We received lots of support from our training provider for our exams with workshops and revision sessions both at the beginning and in the days running up to an exam. We also received lots of support from our skills coach during our gateway evidencing period which helped me to create a good portfolio and prepare correctly for my end point reflective discussion.

The qualification has lots of very helpful content and the order of exams was helpful as my knowledge progressed as it fitted what I was learning within my role. The option for the third unit to be tailored to your role was very helpful as it meant I could learn specifics that would have been difficult to learn through shadowing.

There are lots of extra-curricular activities with networks across the bank to become involved with especially the apprentice network which is for apprentices run by apprentices. The social activities have taken a virtual format this year given remote working which has made it a bit more difficult to network but they have still been successful and fun.

Yes

UBS has such an amazing culture and are very inclusive no matter what level of knowledge you enter the bank at. Everyone is very supportive and willing to teach you and understand you are not full of knowledge. They are also very receptive to feedback and make the necessary changes to continue improving work life.

Ensure you research the company (including their values), the role you are applying for and recent financial news. Make sure you are interested in the role and area as the interviewer will be able to pick up on this is you are not. Relax and be yourself in the interview and don't be afraid to say you do not the answer to a question is you are unsure.