Apprentice Assistant Relationship Manager Review

On a day to day basis I will act as an assistant while shadowing and supporting my assigned Relationship Manager. I will prepare meetings for them with our customers and deal with day to day admin and customer requests. This involves interacting over email, telephone and in person.

I have been able to develop my communication and customer service skills that I had already obtained in my previous working experience by interacting more frequently with colleagues and customers. My team working skills have also been improved further by working as part of a team to deliver results and provide excellent service for our customers. I have also gained new skills such as company and industry understanding as this was an area that was completely new to me prior to starting the apprenticeship.

The programme is thoroughly enjoyable as it is challenging and encourages us to improve and develop further on a daily basis. Being able to develop your skills to enhance your own personal development is really exciting as it can lead to great career progression, especially in a large company such as this one where there are endless opportunities.

The programme is very well structured. All timescales for each module are all planned out and given to us at the beginning of the apprenticeship so that we know what modules we will be completing when and what will be following this so we can prepare for the next stages in advance.

My employer is extremely supportive towards working on my apprenticeship. It is agreed between myself and my line manager that they will give me 20% of my working hours each week in order to focus on apprenticeship work and this time is respected so that i can maintain a good balance and meet my deadlines.

The training provider provides frequent support. Each apprentice is assigned a coach who will do regular catch up calls with us over zoom to discuss our progress to date and also helps guide us if there is anything we need to improve on in order to reach our desired grade.

The qualification is key to me perfoirming my role. I had very little industry understanding coming into the role so a lot of the procedures and policies were new to me. The apprenticeship course helps me to build this knowledge so that i can become a good financial services advisor to our customers.

We have numerous professional networking events arranged at our work and they are always keen to involve myself as an apprentice in order to develop my networking and interpersonal skills and also to start building a network of my own. We also do charity focused days where we can build our team working skills and work together to do some good in the community.

Yes

NatWest is a huge organisation meaning not only are there endless opportunities for you to develop as far as you are willing to, but there are also endless support teams in place to ensure that you feel welcomed into the business and to help you thrive and achieve your personal and career goals.

I would definitely recommend going on an apprentice scheme at NatWest, even if financial services isn't the career path for you, there are multiple other apprenticeship schemes on offer in all areas of the business. By entering as an apprentice, you get incredible support irrespective of your entry capabilities and they will push you to be the best you can be and succeed.