student Review

i was given the chance to complete a work experience placement in santander. as part of this i would see the work a normal employee would do day to day and the different things around the bank they would have to do. i also observed different client meetings and got to see a range of different difficult financial situations

i learnt how to deal with difficult customers and how important reasoning skills are. i got to experience a confrontation with a customer first hand and picked up different ways to prevent the situation from escalating further. everyone worked together to come up with a solution, which is very important in customer service.

i enjoyed my placement but it would get boring very quickly. nothing was really organised me, and i was just really invited to come see what people do on the daily. none of the technical terms were really explained to me on the placement and i had to research them in depth myself. i would've liked to talk to more employees about the accounting aspect of their jobs rather than just the customer service side

it was not well organised at all, and nothing was really arranged for me specifically. sometimes when i came in for the morning the staff would forget i was even registered to come in. the staff were kind, but not too worried about whether i understood what was going on.

the staff are kind, but are not well suited to teaching or explaining. i would like to work in a local branch bank like santander, but not as part of the customer service department. the placement helped me decide that i do not want to work in this type of company in the future

it was helpful in terms of helping me decide that i do not want to work in customer service part of banking and finance. although i am not completely sure what i want to do in the future, this placement has helped me eliminate the path of working in retail banking.

i was not paid or reimbursed at all i expected not to be paid or reimbursed but it was not exactly made clear and it would not be appropriate to ask i would have appreciated clarification beforehand as i live about an hour and half from the bank and would have asked for travel reimbursement

no not really, i didnt really have the chance to talk to anyone outside of the bank staff, and the staff didnt seen interesting in talking further outside of the placement. although i did not mind as this is not a career path i want to pursue in the future.

No

the placement was not very useful in giving an insight into what happens behind the scenes of the bank, or any further training that staff need to undertake to keep their knowledge up to date. a lot of things i learnt, i researched on my own, and looking into further.

make sure the bank you are shadowing gives you a timetable or list of events so you know what will be happening throughout the day try to arrange a range of placements so you can get a feel for a range of different banks and cultures of each and make an education decision.