More Good News!

During my absence from blog writing, I began looking at internal vacancies within Rathbones to secure a permanent job.

There were a number of vacancies that were circulated internally which, after some research into them, I didn't feel matched what I was looking for. I didn't want to apply for a position just to be made permanent. I was willing to wait until I felt a good opportunity came up. I wanted to work in a team that has a wide range of responsibilities to prevent the work from becoming repetitive. Luckily, an email about a vacant role on the Provider Business Support team was circulated to everyone in the office.  After speaking to various employees throughout the company about the role, including the manager, I decided to go for it. 

I was offered an interview for a Friday morning. I had studied the job description and thought of as many questions as I could think of that related to the role. This allowed me to prepare several examples for each aspect of the job. I was also lucky that the experienced I had gained throughout the apprenticeship meant I had a decent understanding of some of the tasks performed by the department. 

I felt the interview went as well as it could have gone. There were no questions I couldn't provide an answer for. The interview was also only supposed to last an hour and we exceeded that by half an hour - which I thought was a good sign! I was expecting to find out whether I was successful by the following Monday but received a phone call the same day and found out the good news then - result! 

This team is exactly what I was looking for, in terms of a wide range of responsibilities. Provider Business Support are the contact point for Self Invested Personal Pensions and Offshore Bond providers. Running and distributing various reports, ensure any ad hoc requests are met and maintaining a good relationship between the advisors are all amongst our responsibilities. I have since settled in perfectly and the team are great. I am really enjoying this position. 

Exciting Times...

Apologies for my lack of blogs as of late. Things have been very eventful and so much has happened! First things first, I am currently writing this blog from the main office of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments in London! The reason for this is due to me recently securing a role as the first ever CISI Apprenticeships Ambassador - not too shabby!

The position basically allows me to represent the CISI and contribute to the services they provide in working with employers to promote apprenticeships. My role will require me to give presentations at events to give my view and tell my experiences about apprenticeships. These presentations could range from being delivered to students deciding between an apprenticeship and university, to employers who could potentially take on apprentices. This means I have a great opportunity to speak to a vast scope of audiences.

This week is my first week of this new post and it has already seen me travel to London, give a presentation about my apprenticeship experience and meet the entire CISI team. Later on this week I will be required to travel back home to Liverpool and give another presentation in the Liver Building. This week has already proved to be a very busy one but a very exciting one at the same time and I am very much looking forward to see what being the CISI Apprenticeship Ambassador entails in the forthcoming months!