Degree Apprentice Review

Technology & Operations Degree Apprentice. The job role entails the building of numerous soft and hard skills through rotating across different departments within the bank. You are expected to display excellent; communication (verbal & written), team working, active listening, organisational, time management, leadership, presentational, networking skills etc. through collaborating with different teams, presenting to board members, getting involved with live projects, communicating governance with external suppliers etc. Meanwhile, building up a strong knowledge foundation for financial services and technological operations.

The work-side of the scheme creates the perfect environment to develop professional knowledge and skills. The experience you get from working within the business enables you to exercise and develop different skills on a daily basis. The learning aspect of the scheme is executed through the degree learning that takes place alongside work. You are trained to be efficient in providing technological solutions, exploring different subjects such as; Information systems, marketing, Python coding, Mathematics for computing etc. This scheme highly encourages self-development and is very supportive in providing the frame work for an individual to develop skills.

I find the programme has a challenging and a very enjoyable nature to it. As an Apprentice we are very much encouraged to take part in discovery days and to organise many social events to promote healthy networks. You are able to travel to different sites and take part in entertaining/engaging conferences! You do truly get to work hard and play hard afterwards with this scheme.

I feel I am extremely valued and appreciated. You do feel welcomed to a team and treated as a member rather than an 'add-on'. As you are working with live projects, the effects you have on the team are easily noticed and appreciated. Development days are there to expand your growth mind-set and there are many rewards/benefits available to colleagues.

The programme is very structured as events are communicated well in advance, placements have preparations for new apprentices before the arrive and there is always something to do! If you feel the above statement isn't true as an apprentice then you definitely know who to communicate this too and you can be assured that your feedback will be heard and taken on board.

Support is always on-going and readily available. You are able to rely on your team members, managers and other Apprentices' on your cohort.

Support is always on-going and readily available.

Very appropriate and enables those who may have had to move from home to afford living costs as well as travel expenses. Pay progression is also very well structured.

There are and this is well communicated to us as apprentices. In addition to this, we are welcome to set-up such activities and promote these ideas internally as well.

Yes

Very lovely working environment with an excellent ethos and focus on the development of real people.

I would recommend that an individual strictly does extensive research on the organisation and the financial sector in general. Learn about what Santander is all about behind the scenes and become familiar with the competition on the market. If you are applying for the technological role, brush up on all things techy in terms of where the world is heading within this sector. Always have pros and cons for technological advances to hand, so your are able to discuss and critique if asked e.g. Digital banking has created a brand new market and has invited convenience but on the flip side it has given a rise to vulnerable assets through cyber crime. Be confident and a team player when invited to interviews and assessment centres. Have well prepared concepts to talk about (revolving around the nature of the questions to be asked) and display passion and optimism. Try to find examples of Santander recruit processes online to get a feel of what might be asked/expected during the application process. Be a little creative and think about things that you could bring to the bank, challenging processes sparks innovation so don't be afraid to say that "Things could be better if..." when asked to evaluate business methodologies or ways of working. If you have a passion for something relevant to Santander or technology, make sure you talk about it in your interview when appropriate as this is something that you will naturally feel more confident discussing anyways and it will truly show how much knowledge or skill you have for this particular subject. The more you be yourself is the more you will stand out from the crowd as a pillar of diversity. The bank is always striving for new ideas and better innovations, we can't progress and be innovative if we are all the same and pitching the same ideas; so try to demonstrate why YOU are suitable for the position as well as, why Santander will benefit from having you as part of their team.