Account Manager Support Review

Branch was very welcoming and it was a relatively sociable team, creating a nice working environment. Sometimes the work became repetitive and tedious making the days less enjoyable - but overall a good experience. I never felt I was put under pressure or had too much responsibility as people were always available to ask questions to and to have my work checked over.

Everyone always thankful for my efforts - especially after a couple of weeks when I was able to work a lot more independently and complete tasks on the work tracker, hence actually helping to cut down the workload for everyone else. There was never a sense of hierarchy in the office - so never felt underneath anyone.

As much or as little as I needed. People always on hand to ask questions and would always be willing to put on hold the task they are doing in order to help and support me. Didn't spend much time with our account managers/branch manager - but this wasn't needed for the majority of tasks I was completing

Varied from day to day - some days I felt I had very little to do, which made the days very long and boring. Towards the end I had a few guaranteed daily tasks to get on with, and I was more capable to pick up tasks with less guidance from the others.

All work was approved / checked over by other staff members. Felt some of the time the work I was doing was very basic and was only needed so that certain things would fall in line with regulations. Didn't get to experience/shadow the managers much so didn't get to see any of the more important tasks much.

As Handelsbanken is quite different to other banks, I feel the procedures I learnt here may not be applicable to other banks/firms/jobs in the future - and potentially other Handelsbanken branches if they do things slightly differently. I also don't feel I've gained much industry knowledge or much about the core of banking and the systems within it.

Everyone very friendly and sociable - always chatting amongst the office and everyone always made specific effort to ask how you are/what you've been up to

Not much structure of what I should have been doing/what was expected of me - was mainly down the branch and what needed doing for what I would learn. The introduction day at head office was good to help create a network with the other interns so we were all able to compare the sorts of things we'd been up to.

I had no specific training other than the general online 'My Development' courses. Everything was down to team members in the branch to inform me on the procedures and systems used for different tasks. I do however think this was the best way to learn rather than been lectured on these things.

They are not willing/able to create new positions in any departments/branches for interns they would potentially like to keep on. It all depends on vacancies around the region, so no job is guaranteed when the time comes to it. There is also no specific graduate programme for people after uni.

Only social events were for leaving drinks as the branch is located on a business park there isn't much nearby and most people had to drive to work - so there were no opportunities to do things after work. After the group intern days at head office we'd all go for drinks together which was helpful for creating a network amongst us.

Standard - Birmingham food/drinks prices are what you expect for nights out

The branch doesn't have much near it but it wasn't too far away from Birmingham city centre for nights out etc

Nothing - other than people's work leaving drinks