Apprentice Assistant Relationship Manager Review

Day to day I deal with customer excesses and incoming queries, manage risk by acquiring financial accounts on time, conduct fraud and security training with customers, go out on site visits, discuss lending and manage customer due diligence reviews. Overall we are the main point of contact for our commercial customers and work with many internal teams on a variety of tasks.

I have learnt so many new skills from this apprenticeship! My time management and ability to juggle various workloads has really strengthened as you need to be able to prioritize time-sensitive tasks whilst still responding and dealing with all customer queries on time. I have also really developed in terms of my knowledge of how businesses operate, alongside my understanding of financial accounts. Every day is a learning day and you are constantly learning new things about business and finance!

I have really enjoyed my experience with NatWest as an employer and my line management have been excellent in assisting me. I do however believe the Programme provided by BPP can be disjointed and I have heard many mixed things from fellow apprentices as different BPP coaches provide different levels of support which has often been really confusing. The exam material is interesting and challenging but overall I would say the coursework and support provided by coaches could be improved on.

Again, to reiterate my comments, the organization of the BPP Programme has been disjointed and confusing. Coaches tend to have vastly different approaches to one another and provide different materials which I know many apprentices have found challenging. The exam (which is sat earlier on in the Programme) content is well structured but in terms of coursework we were given many mixed messages.

My line management and colleagues have been fantastic throughout and NatWest really is a great employer. I started my job and course during lockdown and they spent lots of time keeping me engaged and ensuring I had lots of support. All my colleagues have always been open to sitting down and working through tasks I am stuck on together and my line manager has always ensured I am being pushed to the best of my ability!

I feel support from BPP coaches could be improved on, at times I have not heard from my coach after a few months and as I have mentioned, many apprentices on my course feel the level of support varies from coach to coach. I think more regular check-ins would be beneficial alongside sessions to sit down with coaches and work through examples of coursework answers would be really beneficial to future apprentices.

The Chartered Banker Certificate sat with BPP is useful in terms of giving you an overview of how Banks and businesses work, however I do not feel it is really useful in my role, I think a better overview of how financial accounts work and more detail on managing credit risk would be relevant. Overall my employer NatWest have been far better at providing me with useful knowledge to perform and they have been fantastic at developing me!

There are tons of activities to get involved with at my work! Lots of employee led networks (gender, disability, sustainability ect) to join who regularly host webinars and events. There are also a huge range of networking events you can join to meet employees across the bank and outside of the bank. I am currently a sustainability champion and help to organize events within my team which is great for your CV!

Yes

NatWest is a brilliant place to work and there are so many opportunities to grow. Finance and Banking is never a sector I thought I could join without some kind of degree or similar but they actively encourage apprentices and provide so much support. Pay is incredibly fair and much higher than the usual apprentice rate, alongside a fantastic pension and benefits. There is a great working culture and everyone across the bank is so supportive.

Be yourself in the interview! The Bank really aren't focused on your qualifications and they are happy to provide training and support - they just want open minded enthusiastic people who can grow and develop within the Bank. Ask lots of questions and think about how your previous experiences fit the Banks Critical People Capabilities. The application process was really slick and if you're doing a pre-recorded interview make sure to smile and keep eye contact with the webcam!