Recent joiners talk about their experiences
Name: Ed
RBS Business Area: Lombard
Role within RBS: Business Manager
Time with RBS: 10 months
"On the graduate programme with Lombard I was given responsibility for a number of specific projects, and these really gave me the opportunity to demonstrate what I could do. In fact the success of these projects has led to my new role as Business Manager; it feels great when you receive such recognition.
One of the projects was preparing our entry for the UK Customer Experience Awards 2007. This gave me the chance to talk to people in just about every part of the business about the things they were doing for our customers. Lombard has been shortlisted, which presented me with an opportunity to create the team to present to the awards people. So I'm leader of a team which includes some quite senior people! I also ran an IT project called Customer Dashboard, which was also all about relationships - presenting to the sales people who’d use the tool, asking what they wanted, working closely with the external supplier.
Being on the graduate programme meant people had heard of me before I'd even met them, which is pretty unique for someone in a junior role. So the expectations of your performance are high, but the support and training you receive will prepare you well for this. Ultimately, you get out of it what you put in and I'd encourage anyone to make the most of the fantastic opportunity the graduate programme provides."
Name: Philippa
RBS Business Area: Lombard
Role within RBS: Summer Intern
Time with RBS: 10 Weeks
"I spent my summer on the internship programme at Lombard in Redhill. The programme allowed me to experience working life in a fast growing organisation, one where you are always learning.
During the ten week programme I worked alongside the Relationship Managers learning how they structure asset finance deals and leasing facilities for their clients. These transactions allowed me to understand how important it is for the customer to have a key contact who they can come to with questions and needs as they arise. It was a fast-paced environment and you have to be ready to make changes extremely quickly. I now feel much more confident in my communication skills.
As part of the induction, you get access to a portal which offers e-learning tools where you can focus on more specific skills. I will be working hard at university to secure the 2.1 I need to join the UKCB graduate programme in September 2008."
