Apprentice Assistant Relationship Manager Review

Contacting customers by email and telephone. Helping customers with their banking queries. Looking at accounts daily. Conducting account openings, calling cards center. Attending customer meetings with senior Relationship Managers. Attending apprentice webinars and conducting learning towards apprentice qualification. I maintain and keep a check on records management. I conduct occasional presentations as well.

I have improved my interpersonal skills. I have a better understanding of bank structures and the services they provide to customers. I have learned how to use banking systems as well. I have also learned how to deal with difficult customers and de escalate situations in order to provide a good service and maintain customer good will even when things go wrong.

I think the programme is good and what is on offer to learn is fantastic for people who want to make a career in financial services. It offers a chartered banker qualification and assessments on how to improve interpersonal, team building, and customer relationship skills. I am enjoying the depth that the course covers of banking services.

The programme its self is a bit all over the place in terms of its structure with lots of gaps in communication between the providers at various stages of the course. I think it would benefit NatWest to regularly check in with the provider to make its apprentices do not get confused with tasks centered around their learning.

I would say NatWest is good at the beginning of the apprenticeship with a three day induction allowing you to meet and chat with your fellow apprentices. They also set up a useful regular check in after the induction to take any questions or concerns. Some apprentice events also take place during the year to allow some building of skills for your role and socialising with other apprentices. However, there are very few events which can make apprentices feel a little out of touch with each other. On top of this the actual learning side of the apprenticeship is completely left to the provider of the course so the bank does not regularly check in with apprentices to see if they are happy with how everything is going. In regards to my team and managers they are super supportive of my apprenticeship and allow me to have the time to do my learning.

One session every two weeks or so is given for learning the content. A six week catch up is also held by your personal BPP coach who will help you with anything you are struggling with. I think the support for pushing towards getting the qualifications to achieve your apprenticeship is very good.

It gives you a good scope of banking products and services. Which allows you to understand your day to day job much better as the queries I see on a day to day basis are normally reflective of a service or issue that I have learned about. It also upskills you by helping you use excel and word which is useful for all roles in the bank.

There are networking events which happen quarterly and can be good for you to find out other areas of the bank. However to my knowledge there are no sports teams in the bank which is a shame as I would have liked to have joined one. There are groups for social activities especially those who fit into certain groups such as climate.

Yes

I think NatWest has a lot to offer in terms of career progression in the financial services sector. I think this company is very good to work for as it offers supportive services, group benefits such as private healthcare and everyone that works their is very friendly, approachable and helpful. There are multiple opportunities with this company to push yourself.

Make sure you research the role you are applying for and see what other opportunities in the bank you would want to do. NatWest is very keen to push their staff to move up through their time there. If you are applying to the apprenticeship be prepared to juggle the balance of work and learning alongside that. Also be prepared that you will be working on a hybrid structure unless you are in a branch.