Customer Service Advisor Review

Answering phone calls from customers in regards with general banking queries, answering phone calls from colleagues and helping them solving banking queries, Identifying risks and issues for banking and reporting them to relevant departments when necessary, regular team and individual meetings with line managers to discuss new changes and processes.

I have improved and gained many skills whilst working with Santander, an example of these have been listed below; Improved communication skills, gained knowledge in the financial and banking industry, developed my customer service skills, gained teamwork skills, developed computer skills, improved organisation skills, improved listening skills, improved problem solving skills.

The programme was enjoyable in terms of the way the training was delivered, this is because it was classroom based and it allowed us to work with other apprentices to learn the processes and skills we will need for when we are doing the job. The programme at sometimes was repetitive and felt more like a job rather than an apprenticeship as there was a lot of tasks to do.

The structure of the programme could have been improved as there wasn't a clear communication between the training provider and the company which meant there were issues and confusions at times as apprentices were left on their own. A more structured communication would have made a lot of difference.

I received a fair amount of support from my employer which meant I did receive some help but not too much as there were only certain people who knew about this apprenticeship and understood what we needed to do for example line managers. In the future this can be improved if there were certain people within the company who knew how to offer the relevant support needed.

I did receive most of the support from my training provider in regards with working towards the qualifications as they were the only people who knew what we had to do in order to get these qualifications. The downside was the frequency of when we got support as we only received it once a month.

Most of the skills and knowledge we needed were learnt from the actual role and by the employer rather than the training provider. This meant the only thing we were doing were reviewing the skills and knowledge that we received instead of learning more skills. The qualification did not make me perform any better or worse at my role.

There are many activities to get involved with in and outside of work, for example joining networks and sports competitions. There were also chances to go out and help the local community by going in schools/care homes and giving presentations about banking or helping them if they needed any physical work such as building fences.

No

The overall environment of the job can cause health issues such as stress and emotional issues. The work environment could be improved as sometimes colleagues struggle to get the help they need and this could cause problems with dealing with customers as advisors can be frustrated with not receiving help and therefore not be able to provide customers with the service they need.

Learn to be independent and confident to solve problems on your own because if you don't then you will really struggle in some situations. The overall knowledge and skills you receive will be highly recognised and you will be able to progress easier in the future. Make sure you pay attention in the training as the information you learn are VERY important for the role.