Higher Apprentice Review

On a daily basis I am currently doing root cause analysis to understand how time off schedule financially impacts the business and what the cause behind this missing time is. This involves looking at statuses of colleagues, listening to calls and system issues.

I have developed existing skills in root cause analysis and I have been improving relationships with team leaders and in making recommendations to improve the experience of colleagues and customers, as well as looking at whether issues are driven by external forces or behavioural choices.

I really enjoy it and would recommend this type of course to anyone who wants to go down the leadership route but are not sure what it truly entails. The ability to move around the business and learn new aspects of the bank every 6 months so I can also find where my niche is enhances the programme.

I have felt very valued by the team here that I have worked with. The rpojects I am given to work on are relevant to the course and to the department and the feedback I receive is always helpful.

The programme is well structured. There are some modules I have fedback that I would have found beneficial earlier than they were taught. Within the work place I know where my placements are each 6 months for the whole 3 years of the course, however I also have the flexibility to find my own placement if there is an area I want to move into.

I have received support from Anglia Ruskin whenever I have asked for it and they have been very aware of my extra needs. My personla tutor ensures she emails me to keep abrest of if I need more support due to these needs and that I am coping.

I have received a lot of support from my employer. They allow extra time if assignements are due and help with the assignments where they can, such as with the team analysis report I did my manager was able to recommend approaches and teams to work with to focus the report and get the best out of it.

My costs for the course are covered more than sufficiently by my salary. All the core course costs are covered by the business and they also provide experiences outside of the work place and course, such as self-development through an outward bounds experience.

There are a few opportunities outside of work. Barclays encourages all staff to get involved with activites outside of work. These opportunities are things like working with charities and going to charitable events. Organising a team to go on one of these and being involved is great fun and allows you to develop yourself professionally away from the office as well.

Yes

Barclays care about their staff welfare, whether they are an apprentice or not, and have always been amazing with me. It is a very supportive company to all staff.

The application process has a video interview stage where you have to record your answers. To make sure this works first time use an email address that you can access on a device with a camera. I sent it to my work email and then had trouble as I forwarded it to my personal email and the interview process didn't work until the back office team resent the interview to my personal email address directly. The process can take a while as there are a lot of stages but the final assessment day is great fun. The study blocks are held in a hotel as colleagues on the course can be located anywhere around the country in branches or call centres. These are great opportunities to learn about other areas and colleagues different journeys & experiences.