Customer Service Assistant Review

My role is to serve customers on counter by completing simple transactions, answering complex queries and looking to try and meet customer needs by making or saving them money with our products and services.

My cash handling skills have greatly improved since beginning this role. Also as I am customer facing my communication skills have also improved significantly.

I enjoyed the apprenticeship programme as it gave me the support I needed to be successful in my role and provided guidence on how to develop and grow my career.

Bank of Scotland have good intentions with their staff and their training, however I think that sometimes day to day requirements and a lack of staff prevent time off counter to work on your development.

My apprenticeship programme was a bit of a shambles to begin with, but after about 6 months it became more regular and a better structure appeared.

My apprentice trainer was lovely and I knew that she was always just a phonecall/ text/ email away if I needed help.

My manager tried to support me throughout my programme, however things like staff shortages (as mentioned above) caused me problems when arrranging meetings/ time to work on my coursework in branch. I had to do alot of the work at home in my own time.

I think that considering the amount of responsibility and risk we have in the banking industry, the entry roles are poorly paid. My friend earns more than me as a waiter serving food even though I have completed my qualification and am responsible for handling very large sums of cash and personal data on a daily basis. If I made a significant error I could be serverly punished, and the wage does not reflect this.

I enjoyed the mid/ end of year events held on the apprenticeship programme. These were good to help apprentices network and meet people from other areas of the business.

Yes

Overall, they are a company which tries to support and develop their staff, however which branch you work in seems to affect how quickly you will progress.

You need to be comfortable with serving the general public and flexible with your location/ times in order to progress further up the line.